That's Fit

If your kid has a big neck, he or she may be more likely to develop a sleep-related breathing disorder, say researchers at the University of Virginia. Translation for big: Obese.

Of 215 children, ages 18 months to 18 years, who were referred to a pediatric sleep clinic, 37.3 percent were obese and snored more than not-so-heavy kids, says this Virginia study. Basically, neck size showed a strong inverse correlation with oxygen saturation and was an even better indicator of breathing problems than BMI, weight, or tonsil size.

One implication of this finding, says study author Dr. Pearl L. Yu, is this: "Children with bigger neck sizes for age should be queried about snoring, apnea, excessive sleepiness, and hyperactivity. Neck size should be considered in the clinical evaluation of children with a history of snoring and apnea."

Burgers are a thing of the past for me -- I stopped eating red meat a little more than a year ago, which struck burgers right from my diet. Turkey burgers never really did anything for me so a burger-free girl I am. Makes me think I'm in the minority when I stumbled upon this statistic in the June 2008 Redbook magazine: Americans eat 13 billion burgers per year. Now that's a lot of beef. Check out these other stats:

• The year a burger was first served on a bun: 1891

• Ounces of meat in a Wendy's "Where's the beef?" hamburger: 4

• The cost of a hamburger at White Castle when the chain first opened its doors in 1921: 5 cents

• Pounds gained by Super Size Me star Morgan Spurlock after eating McDonald's for one month: 25
  
  

This site has some more burger stats. Got any of your own?

It's a healthy step, says larger-than-average model Emme -- she wore a size 14/16 at her career high -- of the "plus-size" crowning of 20-year-old Whitney Thompson. But it's still ridiculous, she says. "In our society, she's normal."

What does the big winner have to say about all of this? Here are a few of her thoughts.

• Revenge is sweet, she says, after being called "fat" by mean girls in her Atlantic Beach, Florida hometown.

• Despite teasing, she's never obsessed about her diet. "You don't have to starve to be beautiful," she says. "I made that decision in seventh grade, when my friends were drinking Slim-Fast."

• About speculation that she hasn't always been a size 10 but once fit into size 4 clothing: Never, she reports. She was once a size 6 but shot up to her current 10 in college. She has no plans for slimming down.
  
  

• Thompson also says she was never asked by ANTM staffers to put on weight to fit into the "plus-size" category. Had they asked, she says, she would not have done it.

The world of plus-size modeling may not be large, but here are a few celebs known for strutting their full-figured selves.

Tyra Banks' and her America's Next Top Model panel of judges just crowned another winner. Her name is Whitney Thompson, and there's nothing skin and bones about the girl who says she feels validated after so many years of being judged.

The 20-year-old Thompson is the first plus-sized model to win Top Model honors and the first of the show's winners to kind of resemble the average American woman. Media reports peg Thompson as a size 8/10.

Thompson said she's already heard from boys and girls all over the world who are struggling with weight and eating issues. "They're thanking me for standing up and saying, 'I am a plus-size model and I am beautiful,'" says this Florida gal who is the lucky recipient of an Elite modeling contract and a fashion spread in Seventeen magazine.

Who says you have to be a size zero to be beautiful? Not singer Natasha Bedingfield.

The British Bedingfield, age 26 and size six, says she'll never be stick thin. Still, she's committed to staying fit and like many celebs, credits her small waist and flat stomach to good genes. To keep it all is shape, though, she follows the Zone Diet and a strenuous exercise schedule.

Bedingfield reports that she exercises every day, using a Swiss Ball and pumping out lots of lunges and sit-ups. She has a trainer too. And she plans to begin working out with singer Pink one of these days.

Oprah's favorite medical guy Dr. Oz tells Reader's Digest (March 2008) about four lifesaving numbers we simply must know if we plan to say on top of our heart health. Do you know them? If not, you should.

• Blood pressure: It's a major driver of heart disease risk. The lower it is, the better off you are. In a perfect world, yours would be under 115/75 mm/Hg.
  
  

• Cholesterol: HDL is the important type and the higher the better on this one -- strive for over 40mg/dL. While LDL is less important, you should ideally keep it under 100 mg/dL.
  
  

• Blood sugar: Keep this one under 100 mg/dL too. If you can't maintain this, it's likely you'll acquire some form of diabetes.
  
  

• Waist size: Measure at the level of your belly button and make sure it's half your height or less. That's 33 inches if you're 5'6".

Do you remember back (way back for some of us) around the time we were about 11- or 12-years-old when sexual education started to be a regular unit in health class? Our fearless teachers managed to sit through all of the giggling long enough to explain the many technical details about growing up into men and women. As I've gotten older, I've learned a few things (whether through the experiences of friends or on my own) that I really wish they'd covered back then.

One of those things is the basics behind buying a bra. OK, I suppose it isn't really the education system's responsibility to make sure that you know how to get the right fit but it's still something that I think we girls need to learn as early as possible in order to save years of struggling through life in ill-fitting, uncomfortable brassieres.

Fitzness Fiends is a section devoted to you, the reader! We all have learned so much on our path to becoming more fit, and now it's time to learn from and inspire each other! Fitzness Fiends are constantly working to better themselves. Some are perfect, some are not. All have health on the mind. Please send Fitz your answers to these questions with a photo of yourself. Time for you to be the motivator!

Name: Kristi Hill

Age:33

Occupation: Realtor

How often do you exercise? Monday - Friday for 1 to 1.5 hours at 8am.

What type of exercise do you do? Weight lifting (legs, biceps, triceps, back, chest), abs & cardio.

What gets you to workout, even when you're feeling lazy? Knowing that I always feel better afterward, and the fear of having to buy bigger clothes!

There has been a "growing" trend among women in recent years regarding their cup size, and scientists are trying to figure out where it is coming from. People point to early puberty as being a potential cause, but there's also another angle worth considering: lipstick.

Chemicals found in lipstick (and other cosmetic products) contain a false hormone called xeno-oestrogen. This mimicking chemical is added to things that are being applied directly to the human body, thus absorbed into women's systems. The artificial hormone acts like oestrogen, which has been known to increase bust size (even in men).

Now it's obvious that lipstick alone is not the culprit. But when taken in small quantities every day from dozens of products, xeno-oestrogen seems like an easy target. Who knows for sure what's affecting it? There's a chance it has nothing to do with these external influences at all. Any women out there with more insight and experience in this area?

For quite a while now there have been a lot of giggles and jokes happening about one of pop culture's favorite new phrases, "the muffin top". As I'm sure all of you know, but in case any of you have someone managed to not yet hear the description, a "muffin top" occurs when one wears pants with a waist-size that is too small, making their stomach spill over their belt so that their mid-section resembles the top of a muffin.

While I know a small group of people who find the muffin top attractive, as far as I know most don't and tend to snicker at the thought of it. The thing about it is, a muffin top doesn't necessarily have anything to do with how much extra weight you're carrying but it has everything to do with how your clothing fits. If you've chosen jeans or pants of an appropriate size, you shouldn't have too much trouble preventing your belly -- whether large or small -- from ballooning outward.

Eating healthy is only part of the weight loss equation -- keeping your portions in check is just as important. Too many whole grains, natural sugars and healthy fats can add extra weight onto your frame just as well as junk food.
Want some easy tricks to keep your portions reasonable? Here are some quick tips from Everyday Health:

• A serving of cereal or grains is the size of your fist.
  
• A serving of pasta, rice or potato is the size of a baseball, so a whole plate of spaghetti is three or four servings.
  
• A serving of fruit should be the size of a fist
• A serving of low far cheese is the size of for dices
• A serving of peanut butter is the size of a ping-pong ball.
  

Another easy tip? Use the smaller plates and bowls -- it's harder to go overboard with them, unless you go back for seconds and thirds.

Portions are important when it comes to matters of health and weight management. But it's hard to control our portions when measuring cups, spoons, and scales aren't readily available. Since guesswork can sometimes be dangerous, we need some sort of guide when estimating our serving sizes.

Try this on for size -- Well & Fit magazine, published by the Publix grocery chain, offers these tips for estimating serving sizes at a glance.

1 cup = a small fist
1 ounce of cheese = an index finger
1/2 cup of rice or oatmeal = a light bulb
3-ounce serving of fish or meat = a deck of cards
1 serving of fruit = a tennis ball

OK, now I've got a few visuals. How about you?

As Bethany recently revealed, we don't need to spend a fortune to end up with quality running shoes. But that doesn't mean we should jump on any pair of trainers that are on sale. Here are some tips for choosing the best sneakers for you:

• Wear shoes that are meant for the activity you usually do. For example, don't choose tennis shoes if you're a runner.
  
• Shop in the afternoon -- that way, your feet are naturally a bit swollen and you won't end up with something too small.
  
• Remember that your feet change size over the years -- get them measured before you spend money on shoes
• Don't think that you can break shoes in -- if they don't feel good at the store, leave 'em be.
• Bring socks with you so you can properly gage the size -- preferably the socks you wear to the gym. But remember to wash them first!

Sage advice, I think. Do you have any tips to add?

Competition is good, but you should play sports because you love them and not just to win. But if you both love a sport and really want to win, is hard work all you need? No, depending on your genes and your sport of choice you may be at a major disadvantage.

It all comes down to body size, and whether or not yours lines up with what you're asking your body to do. Swimming? You want to be bigger. Running? You want to be smaller. And it's not just about weight, either, your height plays a big part -- and all dieting aside there's no way to change how tall you are and your basic physical traits.

The Body Mass Index (BMI) measurement is not all it's cracked up to be. It's a good guide and can offer a general view of your placement on the obesity continuum, but it's based on height and weight alone -- and herein lies the problem.

BMI doesn't take into account body frame or muscle mass and in one recent study cited in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports, 60 percent of women were heavier or thinner than their BMI calculations indicated.

Next time you're in the market for determining your true size, ask for a skin fold test at your doctors office or your local fitness club. Let someone actually pinch that fat. Then, you'll know more clearly where you stand.