I don’t pay much attention to the BMI. According to it I am close to being obese…I am @ 219 @ 6’ 1"…and am far from being fat. But like you said it is a good place to start for a reference. Once/if you start building more muscle the BMI will become irrelevant.
It’s good you took the big first steps to getting in shape, changed your diet, trying to be more active. That is an awesome start, but I would lean off the cardio a little and maybe start a workout routine using mostly compound movements. You will burn the same and maybe more calories (see one of my post above) and I would throw in some HIIT to replace the cardio. HIIT is more efficient and will focus on fat loss, where performing cardio will cause fat loss and muscle loss.
Good job so far and good luck!!!