mikemo

I'll never go there, but US physicians have been sued and censored for suggesting their patients should loose weight.
Hey, as long as you pay taxes and contribute to my Social Security benes, Godspeed.
M

prettyfatgirl

I don't know what to say about some of the comments....I don't take up two seats on the plane or anything like that. And I do walk and exercise.

I will be increasing my mileage before the trip so that i can build up my stamina before my trip.

I do appreciate all of your comments.
Thank you everybody!!

cigalechanta

peeky, I no longer think you are funny.

travellerwannabe

Yes Paris is definitely tough. I'm pretty in shape and excercise regularly and I found Paris (mainly the stairs in the subways) to be very tough. My bf and i had the brilliant idea of taking backpacks instead of luggage and just imagine walking up and down all those steps and trying to squeeze into the subway cars with hoards of people and the huge backpacks (lotsa dirty looks). definitely lost weight in paris but gained it back + more in nice
what kind of tapes / cds do you guys use to learn a new language? i want to learn some italian and refresh my french but there are so many out there dunno what to pick

chatham

Pretty, thanks for starting this post. I've laughed until I've had tears running down my cheeks. Don't let Peeky bother you. Please come back and tell us about your wonderful trip. Joan

JeanneB

wannabe:
I used the Michel Thomas 8 CD series. You said "refresh my french". They might be a little basic for you. Knowing no French, I thought they were great. I worked my way through them twice. Also supplemented with some basic books and other tools. In the end I was able to at least carry on a conversation. I'm sure I was brutalizing that lovely language, but at least I was able to talk to people.

peeky

come on, I thought she should be enouraged to have stamina what is so bad about that. My auntie had a miserable trip because she didn't get in shape first. PFG wrote that she was so overweight she would stand out in a crowd - why not get into fighting shape so she would enjoy her time?

travellerwannabe

thanks Jeanne

crefloors

"How do you say pudgy in french"? That's VERY encouraging. Cigalenchanta, I'm glad you said it, I was thinking of it earlier and just didn't post. But now I agree, Peeky, you're not funny, at least on this thread.

kleeblatt

Last time I was in Rome for four days, I lost one kilo because of all the walking we did. Now that's one thing I was glad to lose!

WillTravel

Heavy and average and thin people should all try to get into better walking shape and improve their endurance, if it's at all physically possible, before a trip to Europe. This is not the same thing as becoming slender. With an investment of an hour or two per day, and maybe more on the weekend, you can be in pretty good shape for walking in Europe in a month (although if you have longer, that's all the better). Whether you're fat or thin, being fatigued and sore and blistered is no fun!

PaulS

I have been crying with laughter and reading this thread out loud long distance. JeanneB, your toilette story brings to mind my 70+yo mother's tale about visiting Singapore (OK, it's not a Europe tale) and going with her friend, also 70, to the ladies' loos in a shopping centre. Ma was wearing trousers and being a cautious tourist had her passport etc stuck inside a wallet arrangement tucked into her trousers but pinned to her shirt for some sort of additional security. She encountered her first ever Asian squat toilet, needed to use both her arms to steady herself against the cubicle walls but found the wallet kept dangling from her shirt in exactly the wrong place, no matter how she twisted and turned. In the end she had to bite the wallet (still pinned to the inside of her shirt) between her teeth to stop it swinging between her legs, weak from silent laughter, while trying to squat and hold on to the walls. When she finally emerged her friend who had used the adjacent cubicle said nothing - and it turned out hers was familiar western plumbing. My family still falls about retelling this. PrettyFatGirl, I am a BigBaldFatBloke, and I manage Paris by wearing black from head to toe. Helps me blend in, is easy to pack since everything goes with everything else and most people would never guess I am a self-conscious Australian. People even ask me directions in French. In reply, I have probably told them I am a croissant. Be bold, be yourself and you'll be beautiful. People will respond to you because of your lovely manners, your sensitivity, your smile and attempts to communicate in well meant if stumbling French. That's what they'll notice. Have the best time and tell us all about it.

JeanneB

I don't even want to <i>think</i> about my friend's reaction if we ever encounter one of those squatties!

Great thread, pfg! I think you hit a nerve with a lot of us.

RufusTFirefly

I didn't read all of the responses to your message, pfg, but do keep in mind that there are millions of overweight Frenchindividuals--the percentage of the French population that is overwieght is nowhere near that of places like the infamous small island nations of the Pacific, the USA, and Great Britain, but there are still a lot of French folks with plenty of padding.

wally34949

Because overweight people are not as common in Europe as in the United States, people make &quot;look.&quot; They won't make rude comments but they may do a double-look. Just don't wear a tub-top to show off your belly. Dress conservatively--most French do, and you shouldn't have any problems.

PrincessOfPenguins

How are we all defining &quot;overweight?&quot; Overweight and obese are not the same thing.

There are a *lot* of overweight people in France/Europe. However, it tends to be more of the &quot;he/she could stand to lose 10 kg&quot; kind of overweight, vs. the &quot;he/she could stand to lose 50 kg&quot; that is more prevalent in the US.

aj

Well I have gone to Paris thin and I have gone to Paris overweight and I have not noticed any difference in how I was treated. But, I have noticed a difference in how I felt physically and mentally about myself. I must say being fit and less in weight put more of a spring in my step an in my heart!

My physician told me that if I wanted to live longer and travel more I sould travel &quot;lighter&quot; so that is now my lifetime goal.

No matter what shape you are go and enjoy but think of the rest of your life and your health when you aren not in Paris.

travellerwannabe

well said, Willtravel. I know a lot of people who were doing a 10KM running clinic with me who would be considered &quot;overweight&quot; but are in good shape obviously since they did a 10KM race. There are a lot of thin people who are not in as good of shape and don't have the stamina that these &quot;overweight&quot; people have.
Thin does not equal healthy.

RufusTFirefly

According to the International Obesity Taskforce, about 10% of French adults are now obese. That's millions of people. Things are changing rapidly in France.

Toby1

Don't Worry!!! I'm a bit &quot;chubby&quot; too. When I went to Paris two years ago, I worried about being treated rudely, for that and general reasons. For the entire 8 days, everyone (except one person) was so nice, we had a great time.