When a French woman gains weight

My French friend Laurence, a black-haired, suntanned teacher, visited this summer. I kissed her in greeting and  thought "My, Laurence looks pretty and relaxed". When she left her signature tomato-red lipstick on my cheeks, I felt her skin, supple and smooth.

Then she pointed out her tummy. "Look at me, I am so embarrassed", she said, "I 'ave gain so much weight!"

And lo, her formerly flat 60+ year-old belly looked as if someone had inserted a gently-convex cushion, giving her une bedaine, or paunch. Like me, that's where her extra weight goes.

She revealed that she had developed an eating disorder– at 60. L. first adopted the wildly popular Dukan Diet, but then went into "a weird place", as she put it, eating only steak for lunch and dinner, black coffee for breakfast. "I had all kinds of energy", she said, "but of course it was terrible for me."

Because she's had a heart attack, she sees a cardiologist. He ran some routine bloodwork and inquired about her diet, and thank god she was honest. He sent her straight to a specialist for eating disorders; L. resumed eating a balanced diet. The weight gain is due to L.'s rekindled acquaintance with all food groups including Creme Brulée, and exacerbated by a personal loss.

Going from from a 4-6 to an 8-10, she can still find what she likes. "A 10 is big?", you ask. A two-size jump gives most of us pause, and in France, where plus sizes start at US10, she feels chunky.

So here is how she dresses now: same as ever. She had to replace her entire wardrobe, but keeps buying colourful skirts and fitted tees. Her only concession has been a pair of Mephisto sandals to encourage more walking.

Laurence eschews boxy cuts and all-dark-colours. Though she feels distressingly large, she finds exaggerated volume dispiriting and says it fools no one: "You can run, but you can't 'ide". We ducked into one store carrying loose, Lagenlook-type pieces and she made that tongue cluck non-non-non.

La bedaine de Laurence

In Montréal, Laurence found a sprightly pale blue cotton pleated skirt (stitched down over the hip) on sale and bought the belt she's considering in the photo, to wear over cardigans.

The cardi is worn buttoned from the mid-chest down, giving that subtle ease of the fold at the abdomen, the most disguise she will countenance.  

However, she is not about to keep adding kilos, given her history and the risks at both the overweight and obese levels. While I have obese women friends (and others comment here) who report perfect health, risks are identified in some studies, especially for those of us over 55. 

A 2001 Rand Corporation study using US data reports more serious consequences for obesity than for smoking, heavy drinking or poverty. The study says, "When compared with normal-weight individuals of the same age and sex having similar social demographics, obese people suffer from an increase in chronic conditions of approximately 67%."

The study also reports an increase in health-care expenditures due to obesity but this is harder to establish over the long run. If a person doesn't smoke, booze or become obese, he or she gains life-years, incurring other costs in old age, as this Forbes article explains.

Laurence is only un peu rondelette, like over a third of her compatriots. The weight will likely hurt her less than continuing that bizarre diet. We've planned more walks, in her city or mine, for our health and the pleasure of being flâneurs together.