French Diet - Does it work?

I like a lot of the basic concepts except the certain # of meals - that's just bunk.

My other major issue is there's no limits regarding portion control. I'm sure that couple you lived with was great about eating reasonable portions and being active so those rich foods fit nicely into their calorie balance without them having to keep track of everthing (I know a few people like this). The problem with most of us who are overweight, and especially Americans who are served huge portions of things, we have no earthly concept of what a normal portion of food is.

So that's why calorie counting can be a vital tool Eat whatever you want, as long as it fits your calorie goal. And be active for your health (and to earn more calories). How about try the diet but still log the foods so you're sure you're not over eating.

Unsolicited advice: you may want to change your goal to 1 or 1.5 pounds per week. 1300 seems like an awfully low calorie goal for you at this point (going by your ticker).

Good luck, however you decide to proceed.

Thank you for the advice I haven't weighed myself yet, and I am not calorie starved. I have done MFP before and found losing 1.5 pound a week was utterly satisfying, I guess it's more of an experiment on my part to see if I can get my snacking right down! (I am a snacker as I work late evenings!)

I just don't want to be afraid of what I eat, calorie counting is one thing but I have heard so many people tell me "oh my goodness that is soooo bad for you it has 5g of carbohydrates in it" and I don't want to be that person. So the French philosophy, if you can call it that, may be the way to go if I want to keep on friendly terms with good food without being miserable about what I can and can not eat.

I completely agree with this mentality. I don't agree that it's necessarily a "french" mentality, but *shrug*.

I do think though that it's fine to choose lower calorie substitutes if that's what you want to do. For example, I use real butter because that's important to me. But I choose fat free milk because I don't care about that-- it's a just a base for my protein shake.

I was assuming this was the "French" diet from Better off Dead

French Bread, French Fries, French Dressing...

Otherwise, yeah I didn't know common sense had a specific title.

Most of my family lives in France and their approach is totally different than what we do here in America. You do not get plates in restaurant that would feed a whole family. There is no snacking between meals and they also walk a lot. Also they eat food mostly that are in season. They will indulge in cheese but not in the quantity we eat here, same with bread etc. There are overweight people but generally speaking they are slimer because they are very self conscious of their look.

A salad for them is something very simple, leafy greens and a little oil, dijon and shallots. Nothing to do with the enormous amount of salad dressing we have here where the calories are out if this world.

A steak frite is a small steak and a few fries not something that needs two waiters to bring to the table.

It is portion control and high quality food that is tasty and eaten slowly is very satisfying.

This. I'm French and I was overweight (I love pastries, croissants and cheese, what can I say), but put on 50 pounds or something when I moved to the US. No snacking (or much, much less. We had no snacks in school), smaller portions, better public transportation so more walking etc.

About that diet though, I think it's a good idea, unless you stuff yourself at meals and have no moderation. Snacking itself isn't a problem though, it's just eating too much that is - and if you snack and have bigger meals, you just eat too much food.

I know some foods that are quality that a small portion would blow up half my days calories. Js

Like 1 cup of Peanut butter?

Its somewhat representative of the way French USED TO eat and be, but now they are more Americanized (Corporatized?) like the rest of the world. If you can truely adhere to general vague guidelines (and actually get food that is better quality), it does work, but its slow.

I do something somewhat similar most of the time when I lose weight, but I never lost as fast as I did when I count calories and focus on it. It is more like "common sense" and when I do something similar, I also as much as possible keep sweets and breads out of my meals (except if its a nice quality one I really want infrequently) and no sodas, reduced juices. Somewhat similar to even the IIFYM type but without tracking: if I eat something not within the general "rules" I just plan for it or exercise a little more. Works well if you can keep at it, but slow and you constantly need to adjust! Its toughest when you visit with friends/family/social occasions, a single meal out or "cheat meal" usually cancels a day or more of progress, but this is true of any change in diet.

i thought the french diet included drinking a lot of wine and smoking lots of cigarettes :P

It did when I lived in France :laugh: I lost weight that year!

I'm English and I did a French degree and spent a year at university in France. I've also been there on holiday about a million times, stayed with a French family when I was 14 on a school trip, and spent a Summer working as an au pair there.

When I stayed with the family as a teenager, they used to have an after school snack like bricoche and nutella, and the kids I looked after as an au pair had little snacks, like those mini kinder bars. They loved sweets too. I went to the supermarket bakery with the 2 year old and they had some sweets on the counter and she was saying 'je veux des bonbons'. The woman who worked there told me my daughter was good at French lol. Obviously my accent wasn't fooling anyone!

The parents used to come back for lunch, and they'd have a main meal a lunch - something healthy - and then dinner was something light. Portions are small. Same for when you eat out over there. Saying that, portions in England aren't big either, not compared with the US.

Meals in France used to be a more family orientated thing, where everyone sat at the table and ate together, but I think they're losing that a bit now. I don't remember there being as many convenience foods there, like microwave meals.

In the supermarket you don't get aisles of junk. They don't have about 500 different flavours of crisps, and you don't get as many small packs, just big packs to share. There isn't as much choice of chocolate bars either. We have loads in England, and I bet there are more in the US.

I don't think you have to do a 'French diet' though, just eat at a deficit. Smaller portions, less junk etc. We eat full fat butter, cheese, milk etc, and I still lost weight.

The lightest I ever was at my adult height was after I came back from France. Their lifestyle is VERY different- everything from small portion size, quality food, and lots and lots of walking.

I think portion size is a HUGE factor. Their serving of juice would be a size many here would consider a shot glass and my dad had to eat 2 meals because he was absolutely starving after just 1. From what I've seen, continental Europeans don't really drink that much soda either- they prefer their alcohol.

It's pretty easy to get to a calorie deficit with small portion sizes and plenty of exercises, though- saying that it's a "French diet" is just one way of creating a calorie deficit.

Was expecting more wine and baguettes.

The whole soda thing (fizzy drinks as I would say!) is strange to me - I'm British, and cans of soda are something to take on a picnic, or I might order a lemonade in the pub if I was the designated driver. I also might have a fizzy drink on the rare occasion we stop at a fast food place (usually at a motorway service station if we're on a long journey), and we used to have lots of fizzy drinks at kids and teenaged parties. But the idea of buying bottles of it to drink at home without a party is just strange - we drink fruit juice (a bit), and tea. Much, much tea. Sometimes squash or cordial.

For most Europeans, I think seeing how central soda is to American diets is quite alien. Wine, on the other hand, is perhaps a bit too normal in this house!

Black pudding. That is all I have to say to you.

(Wait for it - some British person will come on here now and say they eat black pudding 3 times a day and drink nothing but Pepsi).