Evening star., 1932-09-11

NM enough not to need to worry
v over the extra pounds Still, by
what standard are you meas
uring yourself?
Are you comparing yourself with Jean Harlow
or Johnny Weismuller? Maybe you are COM
pairing your actual weight with the average for
several hundred men women of your age and
height, such as appears above the penny-in-the-
slot scales However, none of this gives you the
correct figure for what you, yourself should
weigh, scientists now think.
Your weight is not only personal matter,
but an exclusive and individual affair. The key
to what you should weigh lies in your own ankle
girth.
Measure this circumference at the thinnest
part, take few other measurements, do some
calculations, and you will determine exactly
what you should weigh, not only for your age
and height but for your bony framework also.
If you have the skeletal equipment of Juno,
dieting yourself down to the average" weight
may give you thin, hungry look and figure
that is unattractively bony. On the other hand,
If your 1O-year old Jimmie weighs less than your
neighbor's 10-year-old Buster, Jimmies ideal
weight should be determined before you start
stufing him to make him catch up with Buster.
In California, where styles in figures are set
for the whole country new system for deter
mining ideal weight has been developed. It has
little or no connection with the screen stars and
studios, however.
ITS originator is David P. Willoughby, medical
artist Of Los Angeles. He has had no train
ing in medical sciences, but he has drawn
pictures to illustrate medical books. Through
constant study of the human body he is said to
have become far more familiar with its bony
framework and muscles than the average
physician.
Being an artist, he is primarily interested In
body proportions. In fact he considers correct
body proportions more important to health than
absolutely ideal weight.
THE possibility that an individual may be of
the correct weight prescribed for his height and
bony framework, does not insure that he Is
properly proportioned,' said Mr.. Willoughby
And since 1t Is tncontestable that the pro-
portions of the body are of far greater physio-
logic significance than is the mere measure of
his total bulk 1t follows that the distribution Of
the heshy tissues is the factor of most impor-
tance in connection with correct body-build."
= Physicians may not agree with him on this,
but they are interested in new and better meth
odS of determining ideal body weight such as
Mr. Wiloughby has worked out
The method is the result of many years labor,
during which time measurements were made of
a considerable number Of physically excellent
individuals of both sexes-52 men and 20
women. 1t has been indorsed by many
observers, and recently DR.. E. KoSt Shelton of
Santa Barara reported at a meeting of the
Society for the Study of Internal Secretions his
successful results with it. 1t may be applied to
all adults of the white race
1T is based upon the principle that the heshy
parts of the body should be Of bulk in direct
ratio to the size or thickness of the bony frame
work, irrespective Of the height at which this is
encountered" DR.. Shelton explained
1T therefore prescribes the most suitable, not
the average, girth and diameter measurements
skeletal and feshy, of every part of the body
and when considered with the height 1t pro-
poses body-weight to fit them"
While the bony framework is important in
determining your best weight, 1t Is not the
weight of the bones alone that must be con-
sidered DR.. Shelton pointed out. Doctors have
learned from long experience that there is some
relationship between your skeleton and your
weight.
1T has become a custom, when comparing
persons Of approximately the same height,