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Model with flabby tummy shocks the world

302 replies

MmeLindt · 03/09/2009 08:06

According to the Daily Mail

How sad is that? That we are so used to the airbrushed perfection of models that a tiny pic of a normal woman causes such a fuss.

She is 5ft 11in and 12 1/2st and is considered too big to model plus sizes

I think she looks fab. I have a wee tummy just like hers and she has made me feel much better about it.

OP posts:
LaurieFairyCake · 03/09/2009 14:49

At some point it's the choice between ass or face.

Most Brits choose face over ass.

Frenchies choose ass over face (hence all the money on anti-wrinkle nonsense).

Original poster
MmeLindt · 03/09/2009 14:51

Veggies find it very difficult in France. There are Lardons in everything. One friend of mine said that she just gave up and now eats bacon bits as the French are incapable of doing dishes without them.

OP posts:
slyandgobbo · 03/09/2009 14:54

The odd thing, MmmeL, is that they genuinely don't seem to think of lardons as meat. so you can ask whether the salad has meat in it and they will assure you it has not. So then you say "But has it got lardons?"...

Divvy · 03/09/2009 14:55

I think she may have just had a baby, and they are making a story out of it.

lou031205 · 03/09/2009 14:55

I'm 5'8", weigh 8st 10lbs atm, slightly higher than normal because I am 4 months post DD3, and BF. That gives me a BMI of 18.5, just on the cusp of normal/underweight.

Since having DD3 I have a tummy just like that model's.

MrsFlittersnoop · 03/09/2009 14:58

I've just moved back to live in my childhood home after 30 years and found some of my favourite teenage clothes stashed away in a trunk.

At 17 I was 5'10", weighed 11 stone 4lb and regarded myself as a monstrously large freak because apart from being 6" taller than most of my friends, (the average height for a woman back then was 5'4") I wore size 14 clothes.

A Wallis skirt from 1978 labelled size 14 which I discovered in the trunk looked so tiny that I measured it out of curiousity and discovered the waist was exactly 26" and the hips 38".

In the mid-1970s, size 10 vital statistics were 32",22",34", 12 was 34",24" 36, and 14 was 36", 26", 38" etc. It was virtually impossible to find clothes larger than size 16 in High Street shops, and there was a very limited range in size 16.

Women are definately taller and heavier than a generation ago. I used to shop in specialist "tall girl" shops, but can buy clothes anywhere now. And guess what? I'm still a size 14, even though I'm two stone heavier than in my teens!

BTW, that lass in the OP hasn't got a fat belly IMO - looks like loose skin after losing a lot of weight too quickly.

Nancy66 · 03/09/2009 15:03

We definitely have vanity sizing now. My mum has an original 1960s Biba dress in size 10. It is teeny tiny - would be classed as a size 6 now.

I can get into a M&S size 10 but there's no way in the world that I'm a size 10 - at Joseph (French label) they only go up to a size 14 and I can't get into that.

oneopinionatedmother · 03/09/2009 15:31

I wore an M&S size 10 skirt all the way up to 6 months pregnant.

vanity sizing it is, but it makes me feel better about being what would have been a size 18.

TheDMshouldbeRivened · 03/09/2009 15:36

life's too short to worry about a bit of tummy flab or how you are dressed. A woman I know who obsesses about weight and fashion has to be the most boring person I ever spend time with!

candyfluff · 03/09/2009 15:36

bonsoiranna - your so wrong

flyingcloud · 03/09/2009 15:46

I think the point is that in France, not just Paris (I live outside Paris and my DH is French, from rural France, I am not French) this model would be considered overweight.

I am not going to comment on what I think is right or wrong but I will point out how I find it here.

I am (when not pg) about the same size as the model - I am lighter in weight but a bit less toned. I have a smaller tummy (well had, will probably never get it back now!) I am one of the heaviest people I know of all our friends and acquaintances. Aesthetic appearance is hugely important here and not taking care of it is considered lazy and disrepectful for the people who have to look at you - your friends, colleagues, etc. People are encouraged to take pride in their appearance. And yes, as Mme Lindt says, it raises your game. I am more conscious of how I look but the idea is that I eat less crap and take more exercise (French women definitely do exercise btw but I find a lot are naturally slimmer so don't have to work as hard as us Anglo-Saxons!) And they have smaller features which is why someone commented they have cats bum faces!

French women don't eat all the lovely food we see here - they don't eat that much bread (one small piece with a meal that stretches to the cheese course as well), they don't eat pain-au-chocolat for breakfast. They go on detox diets or follow a regime if they need to smarten up for an occasion - and a lot of women go to a spa once a year to lose weight. If they struggle, they go to the doctor or pharmacist and get it sorted. It's all about - literal translation - feeling good in your skin.

They learn to eat properly from a young age (check out the menus in schools, always at least three courses and cover most food groups) - you very rarely eat a meal without a salad course here. They NEVER eat between meals.

Culturally you have no idea how far apart England and France are until you live here or with a French man. My DH has become more laid-back - but he prefers when I make an effort and when I can fit into nice clothes. And frankly, so do I.

BonsoirAnna · 03/09/2009 15:50

French women also have more than three years' greater life expectancy at birth than the British - so yes, they are perhaps healthier for it too!

warthog · 03/09/2009 15:52

perhaps we could learn a thing or two from the french.

OrmIrian · 03/09/2009 15:54

The only thing I have learned is never to live in France

TheDMshouldbeRivened · 03/09/2009 15:57

'Aesthetic appearance is hugely important here and not taking care of it is considered lazy and disrepectful for the people who have to look at you - your friends, colleagues, etc. People are encouraged to take pride in their appearance.'

gawds, fancy living somewhere where what you look like is all important. Maybe thats why they hate hijab ladies. Who cover up and pretty much say 'our physical appearance shouldn't be an issue, its our minds that are important'.
Glad I don't live there. Cant be arsed to worry about appearnce.

warthog · 03/09/2009 16:03

well when i eat healthily, take care with my appearance, and exersize i KNOW i feel a lot better about myself.

why is that a bad thing?

should we all walk around looking as shit as we possibly can?

Bleh · 03/09/2009 16:03

DP is French, and is mother (late 50s) is a size ten in clothes, and looks great.
She does eat things like bread, croissants, brioche etc., but is very careful about the quantities that she eats (that is, has small portions). Most of their meals are based around vegetables, they always have salad and dessert is fruit. She doesn't drink much either. And she isn't boring.

BonsoirAnna · 03/09/2009 16:03

That's a slightly unusual interpretation of hijab wearing, Riven.

You would doubtless be very unhappy in France, for many reasons.

BonsoirAnna · 03/09/2009 16:05

warthog - absolutely. Making the best of yourself so that you feel healthy and look attractive helps you enjoy life so much more!

OrmIrian · 03/09/2009 16:06

It isn't. But 'looking good' should be down to the individual. Not because others look down on you for not doing so, or voice an opinion on how you should do so. And do you really think that model 'looks as shit as possible'?

TheDMshouldbeRivened · 03/09/2009 16:06

I would Anna, because I don't give astuff about appearance, have appalling french and wear hijab which would upset half of France and Paris was the most wheelchair unfriendly city I've ever been in. With extra dog shit.

MeAndMyMonkey · 03/09/2009 16:06

it's not just looks that are important though Riven; France is known for somewhat more than that wouldn't you say? Unlike Britain, they don't seem to have a downer on intellectuals, for example.
You seem to effectively be saying that anyone who takes pride in their appearance is purely superficial; that does not in itself mean that one doesn't have anything bigger to worry about -the two are not mutually exclusive. It's just a starting point, it's about personal pride and liking yourself. And yes, looking good. Nothing wrong with that.
I may move to France in an attempt to shift last of babyweight, btw (she adds superficially)

TheDMshouldbeRivened · 03/09/2009 16:07

'should we all walk around looking as shit as we possibly can? '
no, we should walk around wearing what we want and being whatever size we want without being judged by other people or sneered at.

TheChilliMooseisyourfriend · 03/09/2009 16:08

three years. WHooppee.

TheScatterGunApproach · 03/09/2009 16:08

I would personally like to see ALL models a toned and healthy size 10 or 12 - rather than 99% emaciated with about one plus-sized model thrown in a year to say 'See? We are celebrating all different shapes and sizes!'