Why french women don't get fat

[Heswall]

Please somebody tell me the leek soup thing works, I may throw up soon and am starving.
TIA

Weight Watchers sell a lot of ready meals in France

In my experience having lived, holidayed and now have a place in France, there are a few non-thin French women. The thin ones smoke, don't eat and do a lot of what my DH calls 'nancy French jogging'

Snack on apples
You rarely want to have a binge session on apples!

I went to WeightWatchers once. We were all queuing up for our post Christmas weigh in. The woman in front of me had put on 11 lbs. But as she said to the lemon sucking faced woman weighing her "But I had a fucking amazing Christmas!"

fluff am wetting myself at ''nancy French jogging''

I really thought it was because they don't eat between meals and don't have massive meals when they do.

It couldn't be as simple as that, could it? German women are also pretty slim and in the Netherlands they are tall and slim.

Maybe the question should be why are we so fat?

thenightsky then you must have observed the technique at close quarters. It is quite dainty but doesn't involve much forward motion. DH fancies himself as a macho British runner

I've tried the leek soup thing. I only ever make it to lunch on the second day before eating something resembling proper food (not supper as the book suggests I think). BUT I do find that after eat I find myself wanting to eat smaller portions and fewer carbs so I do tend to lose a couple of kilos on it and they stay off for a good while.

But the leek soup has nothing to do with why French women don't get fat. It's lifestyle and fags, as others have suggested, plus ENORMOUS anit-fattist cultural pressure.

What I noticed in France was that at the buffet in Center Parcs ( which I do realise is probably not representative of the whole country!) the French women did have some of the lovely cheese but only a tiny bit, about a fifth of what I would call a decent portion. Restaurant portions also seemed smaller, particularly the carbs.

this may be my tubby imagination, and sort of links into an earlier similar thread, but whenever I've tried on clothes in Zara or other chains abroad, they've always felt smaller. If French clothes shops are ruthless about their sizing, instead of sneakily expanding the measurements like UK/US ones, there's more of an incentive to deal with small weight gain as and when it happens.

I agree with other posters on this thread that slim French women eat small cartons of vegetables or soup at meal times (not all meal times, but some meal times) and have fromage frais in lieu of for pudding.

Actually, I do this too. It seems quite normal. I can't always even finish the small cartons of vegetables as I get too full

I have lost 13 lbs on three weeks at slimming world. Group is actually lovely, lots of laughter and strength. It's a bit hackneyed but it's working for me. It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change.

Are the cartons of vegetables pre packed or do they make them up themselves?

I am going to do the other thing the book suggests and keep a food diary for three weeks to see where I can cut down. I buy packets of carrot sticks, sliced apples etc too It is handy but I suspect I'm going wrong elsewhere too.

"nancy French jogging" !!!! years ago I lived in France and joined an exercise lesson.it was the most hilarious thing I have even seen....loads of posing,great outfits and lots stretching and poncing about but I don't think French women sweat or grunt ever!!!!!lol!

French women don't get fat because French men would not support the notion.
They like their women thin and winsome.

I just don't believe the generalisations here
French women do not all smoke or jog
I am 40s and would be described normally as slim, I am lazy don't eat breakfast - try to walk to school pick ups maybe twice a week , eat cake and coffee ( not latte) for lunch and pig out in the evenings

Not a classic good diet but not that bad and keeps be in the nine stones ( am 5 foot 7.5)

I am by no means a health freak but do care about weight

Reading this thread makes the french women sound neurotic and obsessional

Women are mostly neurotic and obsessional.

And the English are obsessed by the French. We like to kid ourselves they just exist on gauloise and coffee when the truth is most slim people are the same everywhere - they eat less and move more than the fatties.

Drink a pint of wAter before your meal, cut down treats wine and increase excercise. Dull but it works.
Lost almost a stone since xmas( after eating tin after tin of celebrations!)

Smoking also works very well buti'm not twenty Anymore sadly.

Oh yes potion control, i read it takes 3 days to shrink your stomach.

Well I cut out all carbs since 8 jan and lost stone.its not really that hard.
(but agree with most generalisations on thread....being fat in France is v frowned upon, I know because not all my family are skinny)

In this part of provincial France, which is doubtless a world away from Bonsoir's, there are all sorts of shapes around.

But on the whole, while we are blithely generalising, people are definitely slimmer than in the UK. I've been overseas for 17yrs and in that time I have seen the population in the UK slowly grow fatter. Exchange students from the UK are recognisable on my campus here because they are generally heftier all round than their local counterparts, with chunkier hips, bums, tummies, etc., and a tendency to wear clothes that highlight those areas rather than concealing them. The Germans are also identifiable, but it's not because they are fatter, merely in their dress, stature, etc.

The women I work with are almost all slim. From what I see, they eat balanced meals, do not snack and seem happy and reasonable in their approach to diet. No one seems to be starving themselves. Some smoke, but no more than one cigarette after lunch.

Portion sizes are far more reasonable here. Meals are generally well-balanced. School meal menus are varied, and offer no choices: it's take it or leave it. DS1's menu for Monday is Grapefruit/ Turkey à la moutarde with carrot purée/Yoghurt.

Far fewer people eat in the street than in the UK, and those who do (generalisation alert) often belong to the socio-economic groups that are hardest hit by obesity here.

During pregnancy, weight and diet are closely monitored, and the idea that you'd inevitably be fatter after having kids isn't one I've come across here.

The only two women in my department whom I'd say were alarmingly skinny, with obvious anorexic tendencies, are both from the UK. My French colleagues look pretty good, really.

One thing that has not been mentioned on this thread, I think, is that French men are also, on the whole, slimmer than British men. It is a general thing, not merely linked to neurotic tendencies in French females (though those do exist, obviously, in some women).

Cartons of vegetables have yet to reach the wilds of PACA, though. I'm not sure what that's all about. Where do you buy cartons of veg?

french women come in all shapes and sizes, but i must say you dont see nearly as many REALLY obese people in France as you do in the UK, but plenty of normal sized or slightly overweight people.

They also have quite a high rate of eating disorders

French women simply take more care of their appearances.

it's not rocket science.

Look at most women in the UK in the street and they are badly dressed, overweight, don't wear make up, and have messy hair.

You don't have to do much to look better than that.

What a fantastically inflammatory post