Neck Measurement of a 6 year Old Boy

[talon]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/07/06/bmi.neck.fitness/index.html?hpt=Sbin

A while back, a friend asked for neck measurements of her friends in order to determine the average length of chokers she was making.

So I obliged by measuring my neck with a flexible tailor's tape measure.

My neck measured 11", so I added a half inch for comfort.

Now, today, here comes this article that compares neck measurements to health conditions such as sleep apnea, diabetes, and cardiac issues as well as a propensity for being overweight. And reading the chart, my neck measurement places me at a 6 year old boy's size, or an 8 year old girl's.

People who know me in person know I am overweight (by choice), but that I have absurdly small head, hands, and feet. They are connected to equally ridiculously small wrists, ankles, and neck. From there I zoom from the average size of a 6 year old boy or 8 year old girl to the size of a 19 year old male linebacker. Wearing pads.

If one followed BMI, I would be morbidly obese, presumably with a host of health problems. Since I don't hesitate to post what few health issues I have (mostly injuries like the knees from the car accident and the wrist from the ice fall), a regular reader would know I am never sick. When doctors treating the injuries comment on my weight (they all do, of course, you can't be pleasingly plump in America without someone calling you names or making snide comments or demanding you lose weight before they can treat you), they were always expressing astonishment that my blood pressure was on the low side of normal, my cholesterol and triglycerides well inside the normal ranges, heart sounds normal for someone born with a prolapsed mitral valve, blood sugars perfectly normal, sleep patterns within the normal range, lungs normal, with exceedingly good strength and endurance levels. I mean, these doctors actively seek any reason to find fault with my weight and are disappointed when they have to admit my weight isn't the issue, my injuries are. I know it's quick, cheap, and easy to tell someone "lose weight and you'll be fine", and the doctors all seem so - sad - when they can't take that approach with me. They have to actually - you know - pay attention to the injury and actually do something about it.

And here's this study now that says if my neck is thin, I'm not really overweight. My big thighs, upper arms, hips, belly, and boobs are "normal" for me because I have a thin neck.

I'm sorry to disappoint the authors of this study, but I think neck measurements are as inaccurate as BMI, and therefore yet another "fat measurement" tool I will ignore.

I mean honestly - my neck is the size of a 6 year old's?