Right now._ The sooner you get started, the better. The chief thing to
do, and the hardest, is to get started and to get the habit. After the
first three days you will not dread it; in fact; you will feel so much
better that you will not be willing to go back to your old habits of
overeating.

Now let's review a bit what you are to do.

[Sidenote: _Plan the Day Before_]

First: Pledge yourself to yourself, and to someone else, so you will be
ashamed to fail. There is a great deal of psychology to reducing. Use
strong auto-suggestion. Decide just how much you are going to eat in
advance of the meal--so many calories, _no more!_ This sounds foolish,
but it helps wonderfully.

Second: Begin with a fast or a low caloric diet for the first day; keep
it, if necessary, one day weekly.

[Sidenote: _Low Bridge on Fats and Pastries_]

Third: Study food list and make out menus the caloric totals of which
_are less_ than your maintenance diet. Have a fairly balanced diet, some
fat, some carbohydrates, some protein, and a good amount of green
vegetables and fruit. _Have 200-300 C's of protein._

Fourth: Masticate every morsel with such thoroughness that it is
automatically swallowed.

Fifth: Keep up your activities--Red Cross and other relief work.