Screenland (May-Oct 1931)

86 SCREENLAND The ^ight of Weigh ! * You can be just as slim as you will— and will is the right word SOMETIMES I am persuaded that there are only two real beauty problems — blackheads and overweight. I get scores of letters, of course, about hands and faces, about hair and eyes, and makeup. But they are never unhappy, overwrought letters. They are simple letters, simple to answer. Only on the subject of blackheads and reducing do I get heartbroken epistles that sound as though the world would end for my correspondents if I couldn't do something to help them. And really, without meaning to sound just too severe, I can't see why these terrible problems should exist for the average girl, or even why, when they do exist, they should seem so dreadful. For blackheads can be cured, absolutely. And figures can be reduced. One can be as slim and lovely as you will — and will is the right word. So here I am, all set on this lovely early summer day, to try to solve one of those problems for you, to tell you how to become a sylph, or to stay a sylph. I'll even be generous and give you two simple little truths to memorize and then tell you how to go about making them true for you. Here they are. Too much food and too little exercise make you overweight. Less food and more exercise make you slender. Now isn't that simple? But let's suppose you are — well, let's be honest about it — plain fat. You want to reduce. You've tried dieting— a little; and exercising — a very little. But nothing much happens to your weight. You did cheat on a couple of ice cream sodas, one day, and ate macaroni one dinner time; but still you tried. And it didn't get you anywhere. All right. Let's look your problem severely in its round, comfortable lace. The most important thing to find out, before you start to reduce, is what is causing your overweight. The chances are a hundred to one that you are eating more than you need and not exercising at all. The one chance is that your overweight is caused by glandular disturbances — that is, genuine ill health — but that chance is so remote you do not need to worry about it unless you are really ill. The next thing to find out is how much overweight you really are. Some girls have exaggerated ideas on this score. Only this morning I got a letter from a fourteen-year-old, five feet in height, who was worried because she weighed ninety-five pounds. She only wanted to weigh eighty! If that youngster should go on a diet that would reduce her to eighty pounds, she'd be a doctor's patient within a month ! Remember that your height and the actual weight of your skeleton has a tremendous lot to do with what you weigh. Your temperament influences poundage, too. Very nervous people are almost always thin. Then consider your age. It is best to be a bit overweight up until thirty, while after that you should be a little underweight. That's for your heart. After maturity it doesn't like the strain of carrying excess pounds. By Anne Van Alstyne Get a good scales, if you can, preferably one without springs. One of those old-fashioned affairs like they have in freight offices, or the swank kind doctors use are best — the kind with the weights. The spring ones are always springing — and forgetting to come back. Weigh yourself before and after meals. You'll be surprised to find how much heavier you are after a hearty dinner. Then rate yourself on a standard that gives you five to ten pounds for each inch of height over five feet, the five feet being about one hundred pounds. This is an accurate enough gauge, allowing for differences in large and small bones, age and such things. Also allow for your type of work. If you are a sedentary worker, an office or shop girl, or a home maker, the chances are that your day will provide you with very little muscular exercise. If you are an exec