M or # of bb's

When you look at your stack do you use M or do you look at how many big bets you have ..... i was reading phil gordans little green book ... the ex. is .... 500-1000 blinds plus 200 ante 9 handed ... he says he has 40 big bets and that seems huge ... but his M is around 12 .. which isnt that great .... would u consider this a big stack for the blind and ante structure?? It seems like the little 200 dollar ante kills your M ... Very confused... trolls need not reply