When it comes to her weight, Zoe Stark does not consider herself to be the perfect woman. She is 5'5" and weighs 163 pounds. She's trying hard to lose 20 of those pounds.

But 100 years ago, "perfect" is exactly how The New York Times described a woman with Zoe's body type. Elsie Scheel was 5'7" and weighed 171 pounds giving her a Body Mass Index of 27, just like Zoe. The 1913 article printed Miss Scheel's measurements and gushed that in her "physical makeup there is not a single defect."

Today a BMI between 25 and 30 is considered overweight. A BMI above 30 is considered obese. By those standards, both Elsie and Zoe are too heavy.

But new research suggests they may have had it right in 1913.

Researchers compared mortality rates among the different weight classes. Only the two highest grades of obesity (people with a BMI above 35) were at greater risk of dying. People in the overweight category actually did a little better than those in the "normal" weight category.

"Sometimes that surprises people," says lead researcher Katherine Flegal, PhD with the CDC. "We found that overweight was associated with a slightly reduced mortality."

It wouldn't have surprised the "medical examiner" who chose Elsie Scheel as an example of the "perfect" woman in 1913.

But, as Zoe points out, "It's just not 100 years ago today." Zoe is active, eats well and feels just fine. But she still wants to lose weight. "I don't like how I look in clothes," she says.