Part 12 (1/2)

This for a few minutes, followed by this, the hot preferably at night.

8

At Last! How to Reduce

The t.i.tle of this chapter indicates to whom it is addressed. All others please refrain from reading, for it is strictly private and confidential, and is intended only for those who need it.

You thin and you normal had better save it, though, for you may qualify later. You are keeping right on reading now! I'm surprised. I wanted to tell my fat friends that the first thing they have to do is to get control of their will power, and now I can't do it.

Somehow, will power with a layer of fat on it gets feeble. Don't laugh, you too thin! It gets worse than feeble, if there is no fat at all and the nervous system is starved, it--well, I won't say what it does, for I don't want to worry you.

[Sidenote: _Now That Order Is Restored I Will Resume_]

Will power, being feeble to a greater or less degree, must be bolstered and aided a bit, to begin with, so--

_First Order_

[Sidenote: _Watch Your Weight!_]

[Sidenote: _Nature Always Counts_]

Tell loudly and frequently to all your friends that you realize that it is unpatriotic to be fat while many thousands are starving, that you are going to reduce to normal, and will be there in the allotted time. If you belong to a club, round up the overweights and form a section. Call it the ”Watch Your Weight--Anti-Kaiser Cla.s.s.” Tax the members sufficiently to buy a good, accurate pair of scales. Meet once a week to weigh. Wear approximately the same weight clothes, and weigh at the same time in relation to eating. Do this whether or not you belong to a club.

Once or twice a week is often enough to weigh. Scales vary, so try to use the same ones.

Don't be discouraged if some day after you have dieted well you seem to have gained. Nature sometimes seems fiendish that way. The excess weight is probably due to a retention of water, and will not be permanent.

However, don't depend upon this too often! Usually, if you have gained when you think you ought not to, it is because Nature has been counting calories and you haven't.

Have the members listed on a weight chart conspicuously placed near the scales, and record accurately the weight weekly.

+-------------------------------------------------------+ | WATCH YOUR WEIGHT ANTI-KAISER CLa.s.s | +-------------------------------------------------------+ | |Normal| Weight on | +------------------+------+-----------------------------+ | Members' Names |Weight|Date|Date|Date|Date|Date|Date| +------------------+------+----+----+----+----+----+----+ | | | | | | | | | +------------------+------+----+----+----+----+----+----+ || | | | | | | | +------------------+------+----+----+----+----+----+----+ | | | | | | | | | +------------------+------+----+----+----+----+----+----+ | | | | | | | | | +------------------+------+----+----+----+----+----+----+ | | | | | | | | | +------------------+------+----+----+----+----+----+----+

[Sidenote: _No Funds for the Red Cross_]

Those not reducing at least one pound per week to be fined soundly and the proceeds given to the Red Cross. That won't be a good way to raise funds for the chapter, though, for there will be no fines after the first week or so, when the members find what their maintenance diet should be and are consuming less than that.

I will explain this maintenance diet business. You shameless thin ones, call back your more polite comrades--this is important for all of you.

(I shall also tell you more fully about this in the last chapter.)

[Sidenote: _Maintenance Diet_]

The maintenance diet is one which maintains you at your present weight, _i.e.,_ you are not gaining or losing. You may be over or under normal, but are staying there. The intake equals the outgo.

When you eat less than your maintenance diet, you are going to supply the deficiency with your own fat.

So commit yourself on your honor that you are going to reduce or perish--no joke; you can't tell how near you are to it if you are much overweight. There are two general stages of fatty heart. In the first stage the heart is surrounded by a blanket of fat, and it also penetrates between the muscles. Later, if it goes on too long, the heart muscle itself degenerates to fat, then--