Are French women really that thin?

[ownedbymydog]

Inspired by a thread running on AIBU at the moment on the importance (or not) of calorie counting I went down a bit of an internet dieting rabbit hole (an occasional hobby) and kept coming across people telling me how thin French women are. I immediately bought two books, ‘French women don’t get fat’ (which seems a bit dated) and ‘Parisian Slim’ (which was too short) and I have two questions for you.

1. Honestly, ARE French women really that thin? (Sorry if this has been done before).
2. Can anyone recommend any other books on this topic as I’ve got a week off, the rain is obviously never going to end, and I need to read something silly…but which may inspire me to eat less chips healthily!🤭

I imagine it's similar to the UK. Go hang out in Chelsea or a nice part of Paris and there will be lots of slim stylish women. Go to a supermarket/hypermarket in a dreary industrial town, I'm sure there's plenty of fat women. I also imagine age plays a part and younger women are generally slimmer.

😂 no of course not! Half of my family are French, I worked in Paris for a lot of my 20s and go to France at least twice a year. Everyone is different, there are thin and fat men and women.

It’s like going to an affluent area of London and seeing all the well turned out, slim women and concluding all British women are skinny and addicted to Botox!

Yes, I do see what people mean about wealthy areas, it just seems a very widely held belief! And @Revelatio, Botox, well, that’s a whole other internet rabbit hole😂

Thinner than Brits... but not that stereotype of the chain smoking Parisian anymore.

"Prevalence of excess weight was higher in men (53.5%) than in women (41.3%), yet it was the contrary for the prevalence of obesity: 16.7% for men and 17.4% for women." Roughly 59% of women in UK are overweight, 26% are obese.

I've spent a couple of years in France and I do think there's generally even more pressure to be slim and well groomed than there is in the UK. More so in cities, and more so among the middle/upper classes. I would guess it's something to do with different attitudes to sex, marriage, fidelity. Totally generalising here, there doesn't seem to be as much solidarity and support between women - the whole 'wife vs mistress' stereotype has a grain of truth. Eating well and living healthily is more embedded in the culture too.

47% of French adults are overweight and of which 17% are obese

64% of Bristol adults are overweight of which 43% are obese

So they have a problem but we do it better

No it’s bullshit. My fil had a house in France, the neighbours were chubby to fat.

it is just like the uk, some thin, some slim, some average, some chubby, some fat, some obese.

@TreesWelliesKnees yes, that is exactly what I’ve been reading.
@midgetastic And the thing is, with obesity statistics someone could be just into the obese range, or much, much higher. It’s too broad (sorry) a category.

I enjoy both those books- the first I read as lifestyle aspirational.

There are some good you tube vloggers as well who talk about it. There is a vegetarian nutritionist called Lucie Edukale who talks alot about what habits French women supposedly have that keep them thin. I like the ones she does with her mother (who is roughly my age and in the menopause so it is more relevant).

But generally speaking i would say what PPs have said- some are slim, some are not but there is more social pressure which I personally would not like to be subjected to.

Thanks@SpringLobelia , I definitely need to eat more veg.

To add to others’ comments about social pressure there is a national obsession with la peau d’orange, ie cellulite. Around this time of year every pharmacy window has a massive poster of a beautifully smooth thigh, pointedly posed next an orange and advertising a new miracle remedy. There is not much resembling a body acceptance movement in France!

I have the first book you mention. I quite enjoyed it, might have to dig it out again. The champagne chicken recipe is very good 😊

My sister who lived in Paris for a bit said that the trope of french women being slim is based on a stereotype of the women also smoking like a chimney and having an eating disorder. There's plenty of women who don't fit the stereotype and they will have the normal range of body shapss.

Taking up smoking and developing an eating disorder is not recommended. Being thin isn't the most important goal in life. Focus on increasing your physical fitness and getting your 5/10 servings of fruit&veg per day.

@VelociraptorsVelociRapping La peau d’orange!? That’s a new one on me😂

Thin and short, but it was 30 years ago when I studied in northern France.

I was about ten stone, size 10-12, 5'7" and pretty fit, and felt quite enormous when trying to buy clothes or shoes - size 40 was considered a man's shoe size. 34C bra - mon dieu!

Like everywhere, the French are a bit taller and fatter these days.

I lived in france several times and still have (v thin!) friends in rural not super chic france.

There are lots of things: more fresh food prepared, really amazing frequent markets with amazing produce. (Although the biscuit aisles in supermarchés are something else!)

A lot of time, thought effort put into high quality food which is nice but drives my non French friend (who is amazing cook and very slim) whose MIL likes to call her in the morning to see what she’s preparing for dinner. Then a lot of performative small portions, offers of more with dramatic but no. I couldn’t possibly.

genuinely eat super fresh salad with many meals.

quite a sexist assumption that women will be running around doing all the preparation (apéro drinks and little snacks) while the men have a beer and chat, then the ladies clear and make le tisane while the men… chat. Also genuinely taking three hours for dinner is not a myth.

I love it but yes I have found that there are good things that influence average weight and bad things.

My best friend who lives there now used to be a size larger and is now a size smaller!

Oh, that hasn't changed in 30 years then. I have always been rather thunder thighed but mostly muscle and not especially orange peely, but all the pharmacie window displays made me feel quite paranoid.

Without meaning to sound mean, I did think of MN recently when I was in a changing room and there were 2 French women in there who were neither thin or especially stylish (rather like myself).

This is really interesting. Yes to all the fresh food all that, but the pressure to be thin is something I haven’t seen mentioned very much. H’mmm, not sure I fancy that!

Nope. My ex sister-in-law was French (from Lyon) and an absolute carthorse!

Having lived there for several years I have to agree. I think a lot of it is genetics. (I had trouble buying bras there as french women don't tend to be very busty). But they also eat better. A glass of wine in the evening (binge drinking is unheard of). Cook from scratch. Less fast food. They eat more at lunchtime and less in the evening. I was slimmer when I lived there as I probably ate a better diet and frankly when I was a bit heavier I couldn't find clothes to fit. People tend to dress more smartly than the UK. I would never have gone out in leggings and trainers so it was an incentive to stay slim enough to get my jeans done up!

In very general terms yes French women are slimmer. Of course there is a range of sizes. Eating habits are different. Much less snacking and lower consumption of processed foods.

@Sourisblanche Ah, now the snacking/processed food thing comes up over and over again. One of those books I read (can’t remember which) mentioned that vending machines had been banned in schools - not sure about uni’s - in 2005. I’ve also looked at the lunches all French children get at school. They really are incredible.

Vending machines selling snacks and fizzy drinks have also been banned in English schools since 2005, tbf (not sure about rest of UK but I think it's similar).

The difference of culture around lunch is very important. Everyone takes a proper lunch break and eats a decent meal. You will never see a French worker eating a sandwich at their desk.

@VelociraptorsVelociRapping ah, I didn’t know that. I just see the kids from my local FE college descending like happy locusts on the co-op/pizza places/chicken shops on the high street at lunch time and just can’t imagine it in Paris somehow…