Fully one-half the women and one-fourth the men of adult age wish to change their weight, either up or down. Women, particularly, go to great lengths in order to lose weight. They do not, however, like to go to a great amount of trouble. They had rather take a pill, or starve, than to intelligently select their food with the correct calorie value to maintain, or lose, excess poundage.
There is NOTHING you can take, as a remedy, to reduce weight without flirting with the loss, also, of some years from the latter part of life. You do not interfere, without great cost, with your body metabolism. The damage done to the human system by “taking things” does not appear at once, and may not appear for years. But, the damage is sure to appear when it is entirely too late to remedy.
For those who are interested in gaining weight, or losing it, we point out some pertinent facts in maintaining health while controlling weight. You must build cellular tissue, destroyed by daily activity, even while you are getting rid of fat. When you eat more calories of food than you spend by activity, you are certain to grow a bank account of fat; just as you have more money in the bank if you earn more than you spend. So, you must spend the calories of food you eat, or your (Bay Window) bank will grow. Logically simple, don’t you think?
Shall we tackle this weight proposition together and put the figures down in such a manner that you may solve your own problem? Far better that you do your own figuring and plan your own method of eating for weight control, or eating to prevent digestive troubles. It is better that you know what to do instead of being told. Who wants to be told? And, nine times out of ten, if told, one will do it wrong anyway if one does not know WHY the thing is done.
We do not attempt to advise, nor drive any reader into doing anything about weight reduction. All we can do is present to you the necessary facts and let you follow a certain knowledge. Then, if there is a WILL, there is a WAY.
You have, within these pages, a chart showing foods rich in minerals, and foods rich in amino proteins; also a chart showing which vitamins are in what foods. You must have sufficient of these three food principals, and you have also found that you must have sufficient tart food to maintain digestive alkali. You can gain, or lose, and still eat sufficient food for good health. Good health comes first. Keep all these things in mind when you decide to change your weight.
To handle your weight problem intelligently you should know what your normal weight ought to be for your height and sex. You should also know the value of most foods expressed in calories. This measurement is the one which causes your gain or loss, or maintenance of weight. Of course the number of food calories which you need depend upon what you do.
We are arranging three charts showing proper weight for height, number of food calories you need, and how many calories of food value in various foods. With these three charts, any individual may select the weight and the number of calories they need to maintain, gain, or lose. Knowing your weight if you select the proper calories of food for your particular activity, you may easily know what and how much to eat.
If you select your proper activity; in other words, if you know how many calories of food, approximately, you will burn up by action in a day, then you will know how many calories of food you should eat. If you burn up all you eat, you will maintain weight; if not, you gain. You can only lose when you burn up more calories of food than you eat.
Now, if you eat 500 calories less than you use up in energy per day, you will lose approximately one pound per week. Like-wise, if you eat 500 calories more per day than you burn up in energy, you will gain one pound per week. You can see that your success in controlling weight will rest entirely upon your selection of the number of calories which your particular activity will use, or not use.
If, after three weeks, eating the number of calories you select, you have not lost at the rate of one pound per week, you have not properly selected your activity usage. Then, reduce your intake of food by another 500 calories a day. If you lose one pound, or more, by eating this new amount of food per week, then you will have a perfect knowledge of your need of food to control your weight at any poundage you desire.
Exercise for the sedentary individual is a controlling factor in the utilization of food calories. Two hours of moderate exercise will use up approximatey 200 calories of food. The same number of hours in vigorous exercise will use up from 400 to 600 calories of food. We believe, with the following charts, you can intelligently handle your weight problem without endangering your health.