Who's Says There Are No Fat Women in France?

I've always heard this saying, and heck, there's even a best-selling book with the same title, but trust me, French women get fat just like everyone else.

Okay, I admit it. I can no longer hide behind the baby. My youngest daughter was born almost three years ago - just before my family's arrival in France. Therefore, there's no excuse for me to be carrying around still all of this weight. I don't even recognize myself anymore, with the double chin and thickening waistline! I guess I do have an excuse, I if I blame my the weight gain on my lack of will power, and my inability to resist baquettes.

Let's face it, I'm fat! There isn't any nicer way to say it. Working from my home office every day with little exercise and being surrounded by an endless array of gastronomical temptations are part of the problem. Being a mother of two picky eaters and hating to see perfectly good food go to waste is definitely another reason. Sometimes being in a foreign country and feeling totally out-of-control is yet another. But if I am to be honest with myself, the real culprit is good 'ol American Coca-Cola. Yes, I'm addicted to Coca-Cola, and Time magazine even quoted me talking about my dependency in an article last December.

So if I I think about it, the weight gain shouldn't be that much of a surprise, right? Still if you had told me three years ago that I would be almost 50lbs heavier, I would have died laughing! After all, I had already had one daughter and lost the weight. What in the world was wrong with me that I couldn't do it again?

I needed some incentives to lose the weight I guess. One incentive was the the French boutique owner who smirked at me and said, "I'm sorry, Madame, but that dress doesn't come in your size." This of course, was a first for me, a former svelt size 6. Payback for me too, for all of the times when I have made fun of other more full-figured sisters. But I was younger and foolish back then.

Even though my husband says "You're not fat, honey, you're just curvy," I know he's lying. Every man knows that the fat question is off limits. When a man is willing to attempt to answer the question, you know it's time to drop the pounds.

The last incentive I needed was to rent and watch "Super Size Me" on DVD. That's when I realized that I needed an unbiased opinion. I needed some outside help, and that's when I met Dr. Evil!