How I Lost 60 lbs. Or
From " Ama to Skinny"
By Caroline Bunting Klesh
time I have been able to wear and also could continue my'com-pulsive
eating in- between meals
( of the right foods) and still
lose weight.
Just a short nine months ago, this overweight woman looked
matronly and was a very unhappy size 24- 1/ 2.
Every New Years Day, I would
include in my resolutions, a firm
resolve to lose weight, but to no
avail. I'd get started on a program
of losing weight, but would
soon find excuses to go back to
eating everything fattening
My children called me ' Ama'
- short for ' Fatty Amazon' referring
to my 202 1/ 2 pounds of
avoirdupois. For the past six
years I have remained at this
fat size 24 1/ 2 or 38 level varying
to size 18 happy only when I
was cooking fattening desserts
or eating at a gourmet restaurant.
I was unhappy about my clothes,'
my appearance and my loss of
pep. I've been a size 16 most
of my life- believing that I had
a large frame (. V8") and that I
was naturally slightly ' plump'.
Now, at my 44th birthday, my
youngest son, wrote me a birthday
card ' Dear Skinny'. I am
now a size 12- and my attention
has turned from cookbooks to
fashion magazines and at Saks
Fifth Avenue, they are now taking
dresses and suits directly
off models to fit mo. I feel
and look 20 years younger, but
the mxst remarkable part, is that
I know I shall maintain my present
weight and size, because I have
becom-.' reeducated on the way I
eat. I now have established
eating patterns which will enable
me to stay ' slim by design'.
Gone Up and Down in Size
For the past 13 years I have
gone up and down in size. I
have lost weight rapidly only to
regain the pounds plus a bonus.
I have tried Slenderella, ( it
worked, but I regained the 40
pounds loss in six weeks); appetite
depressant pills, ( I lost
weight rapidly, but put it right
back on); thyroid pills, ( ended
up with nerve problems and with
kidney stones); hypnotism,( didn't
really give it a fair try); all
kinds of diet fads including Calories
Don't Count when I doused
my diet with Safflower oil. All
of these methods resulted in my
having to buy various wardrobes,
which my husband referred to as
• big', ' bigger' and ' Biggest'.
Wardrobes in Big,
Bigger and Biggest
These wardrobes, which consisted
of fall, winter, spring,
summer and cruise wear clothes
were in sizes 16, 18, 20, 20 1/ 2,
22 1/ 2, 24 1/ 2 and 38. I kept
all mv clothes and would wear
them • as I w. oild go up and down
in size. No clothes were ever
worn out since 1 changed sizes
so frequently. These clothes
were carefully selected to give
an illusion of ' slimness. When
my husband often heard m2 say,
' But I don't have anything to
wear'. I was really being quite
truthful, because I didn't happen
to have anything to wear in that
particular size for that particular
occasion. I felt guilty about the
vast sums of money we had spent
on my clothes; so guilty I never
wanted to go up into the attic
to our large cedar closet or to
the other various closets
throughout the house and sortl
them I had spent huge sums of
money to look nice for my
husband and for all the Important
occasions that my work on
the newspaper took me.
Christian Dior Suit
For Christmas 1966, my husband
bought me an entire new
wardrobe in size 12. This included
dresses, suits and coats
with matching accessories. He
bought mJ a Christian Dior suit
of white felt; a white and silver
cocktail dress with matching
coat; a gold brocade long evening
gown with matching coat trimmed
with mink cuffs; a yellow velour
dress with coordinated plaid
tweed coat; royal blue sheath
with white bodice with matching
fabric coat; a navy blue coat
lined with a silk blue and red
paisley print with same fabric
dress; a green wool dress with
coordinated tweed knitted cuat
in pink and greens with leather
trim; a melon dress; a turquoise
chiffon dress- all from Saks
Fifth Avenue, Garfinkle's in
Washington D. C. and Rose Nielsen's
in Farmingdale. The colors
are bright- a change from my
basic black- and it is the first
plaids and fitted coats.
Tried Every Reducing Scheme
from Kynotism to P i l ls
Miss Universe on TV
Fi rial Straw
Pills had finally caught up with
mi'; they were a tragedy' to my
nerves; to m. y kidney problems
and the only way left for nr. 1 to
lose weight was dieting. This
I tried without success on my
own. I had heard about ' Think
Thin' from a dear politician
friend, but 1 sat on this knowledge
for a month. It was not
until my husband and youngest
son watched The Miss Universe
beauty contest on television and
were making snide remarks about
my appearance that I did anything
about it. The next day
I telephoned Think Thin' in Free-port
and that evening I was there.
I came with mild determinations,
not thinking that I was giving
up all my cherished gourmet
foods, but that I would give it a
try from day to day and from
week to week.
Go To Think Thin In Freeport
After being weighed in, I was
ushered into Murray Siegal's office
and given a list of foods
which he said to check off if
I wanted them back after I had
achieved my weight goal. I'm
sure that I checked off potatoes,
gravy; cakes of all kinds, chocolate
candy; cheese cake; pies;
wines, rolls bacon, ham;
duck, cream sauces and other
fattening gourmet dishes.
Class was composed of about
15 fat men and women, many of
whom were husband and wife
teams. Murray lectured us on the
subject of obesity - explaining it
was a disease- not unlike that of
an alchoholic, but that it could
be overcoms. Unlike alcoholics
anonymous where there* was a
total abstention, obesity had to
be treated by intelligent'choice'.
Perseverance, Courage
and Intelligence Needed
• Three personality traits were
needed for success - ' perseverance*
- to keep coming once a
week to class even though it
might take a long time; ' courage*
to come to class and continue
on the program even though you
may have gained; and ' intelligence'
to choose food wisely
which means also wise marketing
and cooking. Following the
'• Think Thin" program does r e quire
some thought.
Hungry you are not. It was
often amazing to me that I could
eat such a large amount of food
The program or diet consists
of large amounts of protein; some
carbohydrates, virtually no fat
or sugars except the natural
sugar in fresh fruit.
How To Fat Thinking Thin
The program was specific,
which was a great help to someone
like me, yet it allowed for
food preferences. For breakfast
I was to eat a boiled egg ( or
poached or scrambled in a teflon
pan) and one piece of white
bread ( toasted without butter or
jam), Coffee with powdered dry
skim milk and artificial sweetening.
Every other morning I
would have 1/ 4 cup cottage
cheese or one and a half slices
of American cheese instead of
the egg. You shouldn't have more
than five eggs a week, according
to Murray. You could have 4 oz.
of orange juice, but I learned to
save my fruit allowance for in
between meal snacks. A woman
may have three fresh fruits a
day ( men five) and the following
could be counted as a fruit ( a
half of canteloupe - I'd always
choose the largest - an apple-my
favorite are Rome Beauties
baked with no- cal lemon or black
cherry soda) six strawberries -
one large peach or one large
pear - no bananas, grapes, cherries
or watermelon).
Think Thin Luncheon Menus
For lunch one must have four
ounces of lean meat, fish or
poultry plus one slice of bread.
I would usually choose 4 oz. of
roast beef or 4 oz of turkey roll -
or an individual 4 1/ 2 ounce can
of tuna fish or salmon. I could
add any of the ' unlimited vegetables'
which meant often a salad
with " think thin" salad dressing
( my favorite is a chicken boullion
powder, tarragon vinegar; garlic
salt and artificial sweetening).
Often I would add asparagus soup
made the " Think Thin" way -
( can of asparagus bits; water;
dry skim milk and chicken boullion
powder and nutmeg)- whirled
in blender and heated - equally
good with frozen spinach). If I
were really very hungry and desired
a hot dish I would heat a
can of Chinese bean sprouts and
add my tuna fish or chicken or
turkey). Shrimp was another of
my favorite lunches. The cocktail
sauce had to be the " Think Thin"
recipe.
" Think Thin" cocktail sauce is
made as follows. Take 4 oz. of
tomato juice ( I buy the small
cans) boil it down in half until
it is thick - add artificial sweetening,
a pinch of chili powder,
a drop of vinegar until it tastes
like catsup ( plain catsup is ver-botten)
- add a teaspoon of Wor-stershire
sauce; lemon juice and
horseradish to taste.
In mid afternoon I would have
one of my fresh fruits or baked
apple.
Dinners Could Be F i l l i ng
For dinner I would have six
ounces of cooked weight of beef,
fish or poultry. I would find
that this was a tremendous
amount and it was necessary to
weigh it on a scale to be sure
I had sufficient. It would take
three or four lamb chops to
equal six ounces; or six ounces
of broiled or baked flounder; six
ounces of roast beef or six
ounces of hamburger broiled or
cooked in a teflon pan. I would
always have my half cupof limited
vegetable ( peas, squash -
loved baked acorn squash with
cinnamon and sucaryl) or carrots).
I would add one or two
or even three unlimited vegetables
such as spinach, string
beans cut French style; broccoli,
cauliflower or a lettuce
salad. Varying your food is very
important for weight loss too.
I Still Had the
Refrigerator Habit
For an evening snack I usually
had a " think thin" milkshake
which was made in a blender
with three ice cubes; 1/ 3 cup
dry skim milk; 2/ 3 cup water
and either six strawberries or a
juicy peach or 1 tsp vanilla
or I tsp instant coffee. Itf have
another of my three fruits such
as 1/ 4 fresh pineapple. If I were
extra hungry I might eat a bowl
of sauerkraut; a bowl of bean-sprouts;
a can of asparagus or
think thin gelatin. This is made
with gelatin; no- cal soda and a
squeeze of lemon. It is always
wise to keep your refrigerator
fortified with such ' think- thin'
items- such as gelatin; and coleslaw
made their way.
Pounds began to fall off; two
pounds; four pounds a week; one
and a half; then there were weeks
I'd gain one pound - but for the
most part I kept steadily losing.
( Continued on Page 8)
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I
In a Persian Lamb fur coat size 24 1/ 2 large enough for two friends are Wilma Pokress of 205
Atlanta Avenue, North Massapequa and Joan Dow of 210 North Drive North Massapequa at the sale
of Mrs. Klesh's various ' big* " bigger' and " biggest* wardrobes.
The new
program of
Thin".
size 12 with measurements 37, 27, 36 is due to a
reeducation of eating patterns learned at " Think
l ' l i . j l n s liy J . i . k s u i i I'ukresn
Farmingdale OBSERVER, Thursday, January 5, 1967
Page 5
