The French: Getting Fatter and Taller
Despite the popularity of Mireille Guiliano's French Women Don't Get Fat, many people now realize that actually the French are fat. But did you know that the French are getting taller as well?
The average French woman today is just over 5 feet 3 inches tall and 137.6 pounds, compared to 5 feet 2 1/2 inches tall and 133.6 pounds in 1970. Women's waistlines in particular have thickened.
The research was commission by a fashion industry association. We often hear about differing weights - but not height. American women are apparently, on average 5 feet 4 inches.
The French are larger than people in some countries that import its fashions, including Japan, China and Brazil. Britons and Americans are larger. The average height of an American woman, for example, is 5 feet 4 inches, and the average weight is 164.3 pounds, according to a study released in 2004 by the National Center for Health Statistics.
So exactly what is a "normal" size?
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well I'm 5'11" (female) and weight 145. I am completely out of the range and it's EXTREMELY hard for me to find clothes that fit! Wish women were a little bit taller ;)
ReplyAllow me to channel Nelson Muntz and say, "HA-ha!" But really, the average weight has only gone up four pounds in 35 years. That's really not that much.
ReplyI am 5"8 and 118lbs. Even though I know that my BMI is right on 18, I still look a little overweight. I dont know if I want to particularly LOSE any weight, but I can't figure out why I am so unhappy, why that flabby gut bothers me SOOOOOO much. I agree that the taller you are, the better you can carry excess weight, though. I was once 160 and only looked "alittle chunky" or big boned". It seems as though the smaller I get, the flabbier I look...
Reply????
I am 5'6" and weigh 130lbs. That sounds like a lot to me but I know it is mostly muscle since I am in the gym 6 days a week. 5'8" and 118 seems really small to me are you sure you do not have a distored body image? maybey if you look flabby you should start to weight train? What do you think?
ReplyBased on the data provided, the BMI of Frenchwomen increased from 24.1 in 1970 to 24.4 now, still below 24.9, considered the upper limit of the healthy range. Even without the half inch increase in height, Frenchwomen would still be a trifle below BMI 24.9. In my opinion, this happy result comes from the smaller portions that became fashionable in French cuisine at least 35 years ago.
The increase in BNI of almost half a point probably reflects increased car ownership over the last 35 years and consequent reduction in walking.
ReplyStacy
Given your height of 66 inches and weight 130 lbs, your BMI is only 21, which is superb, especially since you may have more muscle than the population used to establish the BMI guideline giving the lower limit of the healthy range as 18.5.
Your BMI is about the same as mine, which is down from 27 without counting calories. My website describes how I combat aging with nutrition and exercise.
Even after I lost most of this weight, I still had a flabby gut. My gut did not become firm until I improved my abs exercises.
This can be done at home with a Swiss Ball. One of my recent newsletters provides a link to results of laboratory tests of different abs routines. The lab results showed which abs exercises are best and which are useless and possibly dangerous.
Replymelissa you poor lamb.. you must hurt so badly to be so thin and still hate yourself. you should read "when women stop hating their bodies" by jane hirchmann and carol munter. you can learn to be more kind to yourself and stop these bad body thoughts.
hugs
xxx
Replyi'm just over 5"3 and 138 pounds.
Reply*feels fat* haha.
Sorry to repeat this, but FAT IS NOT A FEELING. You cannot "feel fat". If you think you "feel fat", you are using that to express other feelings and substituting the word "fat" for it.
For anyone interested, go read "When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies".
ReplyI am 5'7" and between 130-135 lbs (usually 130). I often think I am fat because of my softening abs. I have a pretty stressful and busy schedule, and have trouble making time to exercise and eat right every single day. Not to mention, I don't sleep much, which doesn't help anything! Sleep is so important, but I hate it! It takes discipline and patience (something I am still struggling to attain). Not to mention, it MUST be a priority, or it simply will be swallowed up with time yanking you here and there for this and that...Poor self-image and low self-esteem are common, but more importantly it's a balance between taking care of your body better so you look and feel better, and doing it simply for a social mirror (which the latter is never enough to drive you to change, but simply to bury you in bitterness). There's a worldwide epidemic of obesity, being overweight, and just being plain OUT OF SHAPE. People are watching their weight...the problem is they're just watching it increase! We need more than 'waste management,' we need 'waist management.'
ReplyI'm 5'11 too, but I'm 133 and I FEEL YOUR PAIN!
Reply