why french women don't get fat

I read a a little bit of the book called "Why French Women Don't Get Fat" or something like that... maybe it was "Why French Women Stay Skinny." Either way, I think the idea is to be conscious of what you are eating without stressing about it. There are simple rules in the book I read like "Don't eat seconds" "Take your time eating" "Enjoy your food" etc... which can be applied to anybody. Sometimes focusing too much on what you are eating can backfire. If you don't listen to your body you can end up eating more than it needs... even when you are counting calories and excercising. Not worrying about what you are eating and relaxing might have helped you lose weight.

It's an interesting book to peruse but nothing to take too seriously, because it's just another label of a fad diet: "I'm eating like a French woman."

Perhaps you have been eating too few calories, and when you lightened up on yourself, you ate correctly and lost.

Here's an interesting read about staying obese while eating only 700 calories a day:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

I spent three weeks in Egypt last year....and all the food there is fatty and fried. They fry everything! They deep fry vegetables. And they only drink sugar laden juices and soda. I think I saw one overweight person the entire time I was there. I couldn't believe it. The only thing I can figure is that they really do not snack (they just eat really heavy fat/fried full meals)...and most people do not drive and do a lot of walking.

Coffee, cigarettes, and anorexia.

Ummm.. why? Is it so hard to believe that someone can stay slim without the above?

I mostly French, and I got fat! LOL!

I have that book and the author is right on target but.... it all depends upon YOU and your dedication to staying with YOUR program, one meal at a time, one day at a time. You are the only one in charge of what you know works for you. There is no quick fix, no magic cure and no easy way.

Sex? no dont hate me for saying it. Some says that its a good calorie burner.

I have browsed that book. I think its because they savor their meal. They take their time to enjoy every bite. They dont just gulp They chew it well. Wine drinking i guess helps too

I was! and now I'm fat.

oh, how I miss the Gauloises.
the multiple lovers are still health-friendly, though.

I've read all of Mireille Guiliano's books- including the one about women and business!

I think the food plan is quite smart, and actually what most of us are doing every day- trying to eat a healthy calorie count, making sure we get more of the good stuff and less of the bad stuff, and have good portion control.

The difference is that Guiliano claims that French women have been better trained at feeling their way safely through what for most Americans is an absolute minefield of potentially hazardous food choices.

If someone was interested in the philosophy put forward in the books- I would recommend MyFitnessPal and tell them to log. It's a little more work, kind of like learning to drive a manual before an automatic, but the truth is that until you see the numbers of calories in, calories out, you won't believe what you're eating.

Now that I'm logging regularly I can see that I'm eating (very carefully) just as Guiliano recommends- smaller portions, healthier choices, occasional naughty foods. If I know I'm going out for pasta and wine- I plan for it. I have smaller meals earlier, get in a bit of exercise, and practice good portion control. But unfortunately for me, not being born with this natural French insight, I have to log it all... or else I'm flying blind.

The French government is concerned about a coming obesity epidemic in France. Google it.

Le grand secret dévoilé: French women tend not to get fat because they don't eat and they smoke.

They also live in a society even more sexist than the U.S.

Coffee, cigarettes, and anorexia.

HA tell that to the many skinny girls I know, some of whom are trying to GAIN weight because they are so skinny and who do none of the above. That explains some people but definitely not most.

I guess this applies to anyone regardless of their nationality or ethnicity. Its just happens that French women usually gets the stereotype as the most "skinny" people in the West but they're no different from other Mediterranean people. There are also overweight French women.

I'm french, we have fat people just as you, LESS, because :
- we don't have a McDonald every 2 meters
- serving sizes are not the same
- we have a gastronomical culture that promotes healthy meals

appart that, there are a lot of fat people :-)

It's like the idea that French women all have perfect skin. It is a country hugely obsessed with women's appearance. In general they spend a vast amount of time getting treatments, for instance it is quite normal after giving birth to go to a thalassotherapy spa for a week (without the baby) to kick start the weight loss. It is quite normal to use lunch hours having anti ageing treatments too. How many English or American women do that?

Also having a culture of eating well, don't mean eating a lot. It is expected that on a date, women don't eat much and just pick at their food daintily. French (and Italian for that matter) men don't particularly like women putting away as much as they can.