Body mass index

Category	BMI range - kg/m2	BMI Prime
Starvation	less than 15	less than 0.60
Underweight	from 15 to 18.5	from 0.6 to 0.74
Normal	from 18.5 to 25	from 0.74 to 1.0
Overweight	from 25 to 30	from 1.0 to 1.2
Obese	from 30 to 40	from 1.2 to 1.6
Morbidly Obese	greater than 40	greater than 1.6

My BMI is 21.6 suprisingly. I thought I was near to overweight. I suddenly keep an eye on BMI because of the article from here.

"...One of the most important things a person can do to avoid cancer is to maintain a body mass index (BMI) of between 21 and 23. According to the WCRF's medical and scientific adviser, Martin Wiseman, each five BMI points above this range doubles the risk of post-menopausal breast cancer and colorectal cancer.

...BMI has been thought of as being between 18.5 and 24.9. The report implies that this range should be narrowed. It is not enough to avoid being clinically obese, or even just a bit overweight. To minimise your risk of cancer, you have to avoid getting fat at all."

Then I looked up in Wiki over here,I found something interesting about BMI:

"The BMI is meant to broadly categorize populations for purely statistical purposes. As noted, its accuracy in relation to actual levels of body fat is easily distorted by such factors as fitness level, muscle mass, bone structure, gender, and ethnicity. People who are mesomorphic tend to have higher BMI numbers than people who are endomorphic, because they have greater bone mass and greater muscle mass than do endomorphic individuals.

Similarly, ectomorphic individuals could conceivably receive a reading below the normal range, when in fact their body type makes it healthy for them to be thin. In fact, ectomorphs could obtain healthy readings even when their body fat percentage is higher than is healthy, as their low lean mass will lower the BMI."

"These recommended distinctions along the linear scale may vary from time to time and country to country, making global, longitudinal surveys problematic. In 1998, the U.S. National Institutes of Health brought U.S. definitions into line with World Health Organization guidelines, lowering the normal/overweight cut-off from BMI 27.8 to BMI 25. This had the effect of redefining approximately 30 million Americans, previously "technically healthy" to "technically overweight". It also recommends lowering the normal/overweight threshold for South East Asian body types to around BMI 23, and expects further revisions to emerge from clinical studies of different body types.

In Singapore, the BMI cut-off figures were revised in 2005 with an emphasis on health risks instead of weight. Adults whose BMI is between 18.5 and 22.9 have a low risk of developing heart disease and other health problems such as diabetes. Those with a BMI between 23 and 27.4 are at moderate risk while those with a BMI of 27.5 and above are at high risk of heart disease and other health problems."

Now, I don't feel surprised anymore. I start to rethink the accuracy of this number——21.6. I can't let such number to delude myself. My ideal BMI should be around 17-19. Give me three months and I will fix my body up.