Monday 27 April 2015

Body Composition Measurement and its Role in Monitoring the Efficacy of Dietary Control for Disciplinary Purposes and the Tailoring of the Female Figure Enforced by Corporal Punishment

Hi all you authoritarian and disciplnarian types out there.

It's over two weeks since my last posting here. It's also a couple of days past my new knee's first birthday – all together now: 'Happy birthday, Mr Toyntanen's right knee' – but that's another story!

But isn't that weird? Consider: In the future - as more and more of us have more and more parts replaced, rebuilt or whatever – more and more often the tentative, hesitant query as to a person's years will likely be met with the counter-query: Which bit?

Sorry! I digress. What I had planned for my net posting was another piece on admission procedures. But then, a few days back, I received an email notification of a comment (actually two left in quick succession) which had been left on a blog entry I'd made way back in 2011 (Friday, 15 April 2011, to be exact).

I must say it's gratifying to see there are those who are willing to trawl through the archive. Especially as last time I looked the search facility didn't seem to be working properly. But, boy, that was a long way back! Although I have to say, it's just scratching the surface; after all, this blog's archive stretches way back to August 2008, to just after INSTITUTIONALISED VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE STANFORD EXPERIMENT, went 'live' on the self publishing site, LULU!

The subject at the time had been enforced weight gain (though I've since become more interested in enforced weight reduction and strictly-supervised dietary restriction – a subject touched upon in the new book, though not in the tightly-regulated, planned clinical / institutional way you might imagine.) The title was - 'WEIGHT GAIN AND THE RECALCITRANT TEENAGER: ENCOURAGED RATHER THAN FORCED –DISCUSS' – and posited the idea that through psychological manipulation it is possible to encourage overeating and that this approach was potentially more rewarding to the true authoritarian, with the application of a little imagination, then the methods often expounded by other authors and published elsewhere (involving force feeding and the like) or even the “clear the plate or get across my lap for a few stripes from my belt” type of approach. Perhaps some of you may remember - but if not; may I suggest a quick read through before going any further (click here or on the blog article tittle, above to visit). 

The anonymous commentator was talking about weighing and measuring and awarding penalties and so on, and in reply I found myself extoling the virtues of acquiring body composition data– fat percentage etc - rather than just relying on weighing scales and the tape measure. I pasted up a couple of quick replies – the found myself penning the missive presented below. Far too large for use as a comment, I thought I'd run it up the flagpole here and see who salutes.

BODY COMPOSITION MEASUREMENT

To ascertain the subject's body composition on one of those domestic 'bio-impedance'-measuring bathroom weighing scale type devices merely requires that she be weighed barefoot and standing with her the soles of her feet in contact with two conductive areas or pads – typically footprint-shaped metallic areas.

Obviously there is a requirement for a standard set of stipulations governing the subject's state of undress and so on for the sake of precision and reproducibility of results as regards the recording of her weight, but not the bio-impedance measurement, per se, which will be unchanged. Having said that, it is important to understand that any discrepancy in weight (and height measurement) will be mirrored by a discrepancy in the deduced fat percentage, lean mass and so on based on the impedance measurement. But as most will only be interested in the CHANGE in weight and body composition recorded over time rather than in absolute values, all that is really required is that she should be identically clothed for each weighing. The point is this: Nudity - whether partial or total - is not strictly speaking a requirement, though of course that is open to the discretion of the disciplinarian.

Callipers for assaying or estimating body composition based on the measurement of skin fold thickness are inexpensive, easily available, whether for home or institutional use, but of course need a modicum of skill in use. The latter comes with a little practice – as I said before – but the details can be gleaned from the internet or (at the risk of being branded a Luddite) just about any good dietetics or human nutrition textbook.

The point is, whereas the bio-impedance method – for domestic use – requires only a few moments standing on what amount to glorified bathroom scales, the estimation of body composition by skin fold thickness measurement is far more personally invasive and intrusive, involved and long winded and a little bit tedious to be honest – aspects one might think advantageous, given the context within which our discussion is taking place. Skin fold thickness measurement using callipers - if it is to be a reliable and repeatable indicator of body fat percentage - involves repeated measurements taken at several different sites on the body.

For a quick easy rough and ready estimate the traditional site is sub-scapular, which involves taking a reading of the thickness of what amounts to a pinch of that fleshy bit we all have just below the shoulder blades – thus the term, 'sub-scapular'; below the bloody shoulder blades, you see. Now at the very least, if dressed that is going to entail her holding up her top. But without too much difficulty a compelling case can be made for removing her upper half entirely – and it goes without saying the presence of bra straps etc can seriously hamper obtaining a reliable measurement, especially as the pounds pile on and she becomes a little more fleshier (bountiful?) 'up top'.

Usually – as commonly the case in scientific measurement and data gathering – the average of three independent readings would be taken (and how long the disciplinarian might care to fuss over this processes is completely up to their discretion, and the time they might have on their hands - after all, no responsible 'care-giver' would want to risk errors creeping in where their charge's health is concerned).

This averaging of three readings would ordinarily be the case for each sampling site used where a multi-site assessment regimen is used – and the latter is by far the most reliable and repeatable method. Other sites commonly used in body fat assessment by skin fold thickness measurement include the lower belly and 'supra-iliac crest' (just above the 'horns' forming the outermost part of the upper pelvic region – those bits that protrude in bony-hipped women).

Just three sites and three readings taken per site and already our heroine's weight gain monitoring programme is turning into something of a ritual, with nine painstaking measurements required. And the same approach is equally efficacious for monitoring weight loss of course, or the efficacy of an enforced program of exercise: After all, unless you're one of those whose aim it is to create a flesh monster – not MY kind of thing at ALL – there will be times when switching her over to a reducing diet will be desired.

In addition one must take into account the fact that there are several other sites on the body which are more or less commonly used for body fat percentage assessment by this method. Two such sites are the triceps (rear of the upper arm) and biceps. The latter two sites are of course easily assessable without any special preparation if something short sleaved is worn. But one would hope that within a home schooling environment – for example - setup to cater for the older girl or young woman beyond the legally decreed minimum school leaving age and who has been taken out from mainstream education as a consequence, the private tutor or governess hired to oversee the continuing education process would possess the sense to insist on the wearing of a school uniform, at least for schooling, to encourage the correct pedagogic mindset.

Under such circumstances one might not be surprised to find certain old fashioned values still being held as to what constitutes a ‘traditional’ school uniform, with the resulting styling easily harking back quite a few decades. Thus it wouldn’t be surprising to find her in a long-sleaved starched blouse during the colder months and a long-sleeved variation on the traditional school summer dress as the weather warms. I know this seems a digression from the point of monitoring weight gain (or loss) but there IS a point; and it is this:

If her governess or tutor knows her stuff It will doubtless have been drummed into the girl the importance of maintaining her uniform in an absolutely pristine condition - clean, mark and crease-free - enforced, of course, by frequent uniform inspections and backed up by suitable penalties and repercussions for transgressions, necessitated by the choice of fabrics which crease at the drop of a hat. Razor-sharp knife pleats must remain just that and stiff starched ironed blouses must remain stiff and as blemish-free as if they just left the ironing board.

Under such circumstances as these, On NO ACCOUNT should she be allowed to crumple the sleaves of her blouse or dress by rolling them up to give access to her upper arm. Nor will she want to, if she has been properly trained. And by properly trained, it is meant to the point at which, other than when focused on written impositions and the like, the majority of her waking moments revolve around checking and rechecking her appearance, from time to time nervously glancing up from the school desk at the floor mirror deliberately angled towards her for exactly that purpose, always the same questions running through her mind as she catches sight of herself:

Am I slouching? Is my blouse getting crumpled? Is my back straight enough to prevent it? Am I siting on my skirt, creasing the pleats? Did I remember to lift the hem as I sat down so only my knickers are touching the seat? Are my knees and ankles pressed together sufficiently closely?

From this you can take that even for the least personally intrusive measurement sites a substantial level of undress will be required. In the case of the long-sleaved dress, even measurements involving the upper arm will necessitate her stripping right down to her underwear. If she is wearing a gymslip and blouse ensemble then in order to take off her blouse the top half of the gymslip – the shoulder straps - will have to be undone and although the bodice can be folded down fore and aft there is potential for creasing the fabric and thus it might not be surprising to find the girl herself to prefer to step out of the skirt and to take the whole thing off. Of course the blouse would be expected to be neatly folded, in the way it had been when it first arrived in its cellophane wrapper and the gymslip placed on a hanger as neatly as if arrived freshly-pressed from the cleaners. All this adds to the ritual, the tedium serving as a reminder that she is no longer free to do as she pleases, she is not like other girls her own age, that she is under supervision and controlled to an extent that most of her peers wouldn’t think possible.

Just HOW intrusive these body composition investigations need be is up to whoever is making the decisions. There are other sites on the body where skin fold thickness may be measured. Ok, these might not be sites legitimately taken into account in mainstream medicine or dietetics – but the girl herself doesn’t need to know that. Thus measurements might be taken of the fold of flesh where the bottom meets with the top of the thighs or the upper parts of the inside of the thighs.

In terms of underwear, even the legitimate oft-used measurement sites of the lower tummy and at the sides at the top of the pelvis (iliac crest) will involve a bothersome level of disrobing if our chubby young lady is wearing a girdle (as ideally she should be, if being ‘plumped up’) and / or the sort of high-waisted short-legged bloomer-style knickers that somehow in my mind seem to fit the scenario. Taking measurements at the additional sites suggested – the upper inner thigh and that roll of tissue beneath the overhang of the bottom – will involve her having to peel down her knickers, at least in order to reach that latter site.

You’ll note I say ‘peel down’ rather than ‘take off’ or ‘remove’, as I believe there is something to be said for having her keep her knickers at ‘half mast’ rather than have her step out of them completly. A lot of fuss can be made about this, obliging her peel her knickers down to give access to her rear end – which she'll do while trying to keep the gusset in place as much as possible to spare her blushes – and then having her pull them back up again, of course insisting the backseam is pulled up snugly and her whole bottom covered as if by a drum skin, only to have to roll the legs (assuming a short-legged bloomer style) with their flesh-pinching elasticated openings up tight into the groin so the callipers can take a measurement of a pinch of skin taken as high up in the inner thigh as possible.

In an institutional environment how relevent all this ritualistic disciplined removal rearranging and replacing of items of clothing is to the actual procedure depends very much on the nature of the establishment we are talking about.

Given some kind of reformatory, workhouse or psudo-scholastic charity or church-run home for 'ruaways and waifs' the broad outline might be very much as outlined above, though the details will obviously differ somewhat dependent on attire.

Given the background of a secure care home or privately-run mental hospital, our unfortunate detainee might well be permantly in pyjamas, nightdress or other night attire in any case, but one can easily imagine her having to change into one of those brief-hemmed open-backed hospital examination gowns and being marched down the corriddor – or pushed along in a wheelchair – from the locked secure ward to the clinician's room or doctor's office; perhaps on a daily basis.

Actualy, given the ease with which such garments and various bits of medical equipment may be aquired nowadays, a hospital exam gown of the type and design outlined above could just as equally provide the answer in the domestic environment as in the clinical.... Just an idea.

I'm out and about today, working from a couple of coffee bars while moving around, so I hope you'll forgive me for not including illustrations (and also for the spelling / typo errors I KNOW will have slipped through, since the spell checker is not working on this machine; and as those regular visitors among you will know, I am very, VERY dyslexic).

It is my intention to return to this post and updated it with a few relevant pics (particularly as many among you may well be mystified by all this talk of callipers for measuring skinfold thickness) perhaps later today or, failing that, on Wednesday when next I am at home for any length of time... So keep 'em peeled!

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Weighing and measuring would be very helpful for a lady that has become obsessed with losing weight as well and doesn't need to. She would be required to get on the scale to be weighed daily.

Anonymous said...

A thick leather strap should be kept handy to deal with any losses below her normal body weight.

Toyntanen said...

Hi Anonymous

Yes, I quite agree. Once her weight has reached some predetermined target set by the disciplinarian - whatever that might be (and the young lady should have no say in the matter) - any deviation beyond set limits should be dealt with by a combination of dietary intervention and exercise (or enforced inactivity / bed-rest depending on the requisite outcome) enforced of course by the judicial application of corporal punishment.

Toyntanen said...

Writing that last reply made me think how one of the advantages of dietary / weight control in an institutional setting is the relative ease in dieting her down, if that be the wish of whoever's wing she's found herself under.

In a domestic setting, unless the young lady is under constant supervision or kept constantly confined to the house it is difficult to keep tabs on her intake, except through constant weighing and measuring and the application of the cane or other consequences, plus there is the ever-present threat of concerned individuals and do-gooders puting their oar in if some kind of extreme result is wanted, especialy in the weight-loss department. In today's overweight world here in the west weight gain will hardly be noticed, let alone commented on, unless taken to an extreme.

Toyntanen said...

...continued.... Weight GAIN in a domestic environment can be quite easily engineered in a number of ways, without actually sitting her down at mealtimes with the threat of the cane hanging over her.

One of more insidious techniques - both in terms of the way it will creep up on her and in the difficulty she'll find in ever regaining control and rediscovering her previously svelte figure should she somehow manage to break away from whoever is managing her life for her - is something called 'ICE'.

This stands for 'Induced Compulsive Eating' or sometimes 'Induced Comfort Eating' and is a psychological intervention which seeks to turn food and eating into a habit-forming compulsive and almost pathologically obsessive addictive activity.

There are several different methods by which one might implement an ICE protocol or régime but they distil down into two basic approaches, the choice between these boiling down to whether ICE is being carried out in a domestic or clinical / institutional care environment.

In the case of the former, domestic, scenario, the lynchpin of the ICE system revolves around arranging for our pretty young thing to suffer or experience a series of emotional upsets and disturbances aimed at undermining her self confidence and causing her to question her self-esteem. This should preferably be coupled with helpful counselling from someone she's been led to trust, during which she's subtly put down and criticised for her shortcomings.

Comforting words can be backed up with coaxing advice such as "...here's a bit of chocolate, that'll make you feel better" and teamed with ensuring there is always a plentiful and highly varied (important in overcoming so-called 'sensory specific satiety') supply of high calorie snacks to hand. Delicious and highly varied dishes should be served at every mealtime and praise lavished on her when she eats with gusto but some sort of emotional trauma levied on her if she should lack enthusiasm and 'pick'.

With the obvious exception of when she's snacking or grazing, when it will do her good to see a smiling face or two, she should be treated coldly and on no accounted should she be subjected to corporal punishment at this stage. Later, when her eating has really gotten the better of her, has become a habitual emotional crutch she feels she can no longer do without and she has become psychologically dependent, there will be plenty of opportunities to put the cane to use, just to STOP her from eating.

From that point on, when she has reached whatever dress-size set-point has been pre-ordained for her by the disciplinarian in her life, it becomes a case of whether to stabilise and control her weight by enforced dietary restraint or whether perhaps to introduce vigorous enforced exercise sessions coupled with continued ad libitum access to foodstuffs and snacks thus placing her on a never-ending merry-go-round of weight gain, exercise routines and punishment.

Toyntanen said...

...continued.... In an institutional or medical / clinical environment a similar approach to the ICE system can be used. But alternatively another door is opened. And that is deliberate boredom, sheer unrelenting, mindless boredom, again coupled with ad libitum access to foodstuffs and snacks.

Imagine if you will a small hospital room, white painted, perhaps windowless or the window covered up or frosted. No books, no magazines or papers – certainly no TV or radio. Just a hospital bed to lie or sit on, a commode-stool chair she can use at specified times when a uniformed nurse comes to unlock the cover, and a CCTV camera to watch over her whether day or night. No one speaks to her, she is treated almost as if invisible. She just sits there on the side of the bed in the baggy old pyjamas she’s been given, staring at the blank walls, listening to the deadly silence. At first she thinks it a bit of a joke… then she paces the floor... then she starts screaming.

Then one day a woman in a white coat with a generous figure and a friendly smiling face comes in, a psychiatrist as it transpires. The woman sits with her on the side of her bed, starts to talk with her, passes her some chocolate.

The woman's visits become regular, between meals, always with chocolate… then she starts to leave trays of tea cakes and so on behind.

And so our heroine comes to really on munching to alleviate boredom – and it becomes habit forming, obsessive, compulsive.

Anonymous said...

I like the idea of body shaming as well. The subject should be stripped naked, weighed, her body measured, maybe even body fat measured. Comments should be made about the various imperfections on her body and her transgressions through weight gain. It is a good idea if she is gagged during this so as not to answer back. More simply, you can just stand her in front of a mirror with the gag and point out her body flaws without weighing and measuring. She should then be beaten with a leather strap. I also like the idea of using a marker to mark imperfections on her body (not just too much fat, but things like cellulite, stretch marks, small breasts that aren't round enough, thin legs, weird knees etc). What better way to put an uppity bitch in her place than to body shame? Instant humbling even in the most conceited of women.

Also, if a woman who doesn't measure up dares say she is hot or has a nice body, a nice thorough mouthsoaping while naked in front of the mirror and hearing degrading comments should do the trick. I typically like the idea of a man doing this to a woman, but it's also nice if a woman does it to another woman.

Imagine if you will a reform school for mean girls. The girls have been sent there for bullying female classmates that are not as attractive as themselves. Admission procedures include being stripped naked, weighed and measured (body measurements in the nurse's office while she clucks her teeth in disapproval). Any makeup they have with them is thrown out and they are not allowed cosmetics, skin care, shaving products for the remainder of their stay. Their heads are also shaved as part of admission procedures. They are then all forced to stand in a lineup while the headmaster walks up to each and comments on what is wrong with their appearance (they have to look her in the eye the whole time). The girls are given fattening food while they are there, and if they don't eat it they are spanked with either leather strap or cane. For more minor transgressions, they get hand or hairbrush. Their mouths are washed out with soap twice a week and they have to go to bed early and wake up early to do chores.

Please, please, please make a story or blog post about this!

Anonymous said...

Edit: All the weighing and measuring is done in nurse's office.

And I was saying that all these things are things that I prefer done by a man, not just the mouth soaping. It's somehow more degrading when a member of the opposite sex is commenting on her body, especially if she is interested in men, but women doing it is nice too.

Anonymous said...

A thick leather strap should be hung up on the wall next to the scale as a constant reminder. This would also make it readily available should the lady not meet her weigh in requirements.

Anonymous said...

Part of me wonders if this would be successfully used in cases where ladies think they are too heavy and are actually underweight, as in cases of eating disorders. Daily weighing and measuring would take place and the lady would be certainly spanked and otherwise disciplined if she had lost any weight. There would be no escaping from getting weighed on the scale on a daily basis no matter what and any pleas should be ignored.

Toyntanen said...

Hi Silvia F - I'd mislaid the email notification of your comment post and forgot to reply - sorry! I'll get back to you next.

Hi too, my latest pair of anonymous chums (I assume you're not one and the same). Your comments are shorter and less involved than Silvia F's, so I'll deal with them first.

I think within a clinical / institutional context a thick well-oiled leather strap kept on a hook by the weighing apparatus is a 'must'.

Within a domestic environment it may not be so easy to arrange in a sufficiently discreet manner, unless one is lucky enough to be able to arrange for ensuite facilities or preferably totally self-contained living quarters - which of course would be the ideal arrangement (I'm presently writing about just such an arrangement).

Unfortunately (though I doubt the research has been done) I doubt corporal punishment in isolation would have any benefit in cases of (for example) anorexia nervosa.

I know I have talked about eating disorders myself - specifically deliberately inducing compulsive eating - but I have done so in relation to overeating and enforced or encouraged weight gain with the deliberate intent of making the point that the application of psychological, persuasive methods is likely to be far more efficacious (especially in the long term)than brute force.

Toyntanen said...

Hi again Silvia! A really interesting comment / contribution. Lots of stimulating ideas, some of which I'd considered myself, some I hadn't. Thanks for that

Having read through, it seems a shame to leave as a discussion languishing in the comments section (which not everybody turns to). So I think this is one I'd rather tackle as a post - which I'll do next time; Probably this upcoming Monday or Tuesday if not tomorrow.

There seems quite a lot of interest in this whole area, one of the most popular in terms of feedback (though largely by email for some reason), other than for admission procedures (which under some circumstances it can be related to with a bit of thought and imagination).

Anonymous said...

I feel the strap would be very effective in the treatment of eating disorders even in a home setting in isolation. Can you expand on this a bit more?

Toyntanen said...

Hi Anonymous

As I've said before. I'm not at all sure corporal punishment would be effective in dealing with what most people mean when they use the term 'eating disorders' by which they are usualy refering to anorexia nervosa, which is a very complex condition. Even when I have been refering to enforced weight gain in the normal subject I have talked about corporal punishment as a secondary approach to psychological methods to induce overeating. That doesn't mean to say the judical use of the cane wouldn't be of use to back up a reducing diet and perhaps to encourage' exercise - and enforced exercise or physical training is a subject in its own right.

Toyntanen said...

In responding to the last comment I have just realised I have still yet to publish Silvia's contrabution and a response to it. Sorry about that, Silvia, I've got a bit sidetracked of late. I'll get right on it next week.

Anonymous said...

I would love for you to write a post about a woman who is kept under the discipline of the scale, a thick leather strap, and various other methods of control and care and discipline.

Anonymous said...

^ I would love for that to be me. Daily weighing like a piece of meat. I want to be kept chubby as a way to keep me submissive and humble. And being weighed stark naked would be ultra humiliating.

Anonymous said...

Imagine being weighed ever morning on a mechanical height/weight scale... Naked

Anonymous said...

Being told to stand completely still with your hands at your sides. No days off from this at all.

Anonymous said...

A thick leather strap is hanging on the wall right next to the scale. If you're at all above or below your goal weight that someone else sets for you, the strap is taken down and your bottom is blistered..

Anonymous said...

You're made to eat 4 meals a day. If you don't finish every last thing on your plate, you're given a hairbrush spanking and made to stand in the corner for 2 hours.

Chas said...

"Skin fold thickness measurement using callipers - if it is to be a reliable and repeatable indicator of body fat percentage - involves repeated measurements taken at several different sites on the body."

Of course, there must be a place on the form for the measurement of the thickness of each of the labia minora, left and right, and especially the labia majora, both left and right, as well as when the lips are measured together.
Hairlessness of the sex is required for accurate measurement of the outer lips of the vulva, thus a further justification for the salutary institutional practice of the daily morning shave of the female sex, beyond the usual necessity of hygiene.
While the use of disposable plastic calipers may seem more practical, the use of metal calipers will prove more economical in the long term, while the chill touch of the metal tips does much to instill a more serious disposition in the young women, who are thus more likely to take the program more seriously, particularly when the cold, metal tips are applied so intimately.

Anonymous said...

oh yes, all of that is so hot, to be under this control would be a dream. the 4 meals a day thing is too much though (well, depending on the portions).

Anonymous said...

Silvia, 4 meals would not be huge. It would be more about the control and being forced to eat every bite. Foods would be very high calorie.

Anonymous said...

sounds hot then!