A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 3 – Chic and Svelte

 April 22, 2020

Fiona Ferris calls Day 3, “French Chic and Slender,” in her book, 30 More Chic Days. She discusses her challenges with maintaining a slim and healthy weight. Happily, using her trademark common sense, she is able to develop an approach that gently and effectively keeps her weight where she wants it. Her approach bears more study because she addressed what was going on inside her mind first. She identified two major culprits that were derailing her original “chic & svelte” routine. The culprits were some hormonal changes that occur when moving through one’s ’40s and a strong sugar snacking stress response.  Her fix for this disastrous duo? Inspire herself to better eating habits and reassure her mind that moving into one’s 40s and 50’s is not an inexorable slide into frumpy and dumpy. Day 3 is a creative look at how to keep our mental perspective and our physical look focused in a positive, upbeat and chic direction.

Weight is a pretty loaded and emotional topic in the US culture (where I live most of the time.) Each person has to find their equilibrium with regards to finding and keeping a healthy weight. Sadly, it seems that we have to renegotiate that equilibrium every decade! Throw in a pandemic, a global financial meltdown and a physical lockdown and suddenly, all types of things are harder to do, including maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

I am noticing that my snacking has gone way up and my snacks of choice are always high carb/high sugar. Since I had just read Day 3, I used Fiona’s mental approach last night and this morning to evaluate just what was happening in my small world.

Thinking back over the past several weeks, I identified what events cause me to reach for the dark chocolate covered digestive biscuits (dark chocolate covered graham cracker type cookies) and the ever tasty all butter shortbread cookies. My life is not the stuff of melodramatic theater – squabbling children and boredom were the main bad actors.  (Very much what we would call “first world problems!”) The boredom I can alleviate. (The squabbling teen-agers, hmm, not so much.) I am putting together a reading list of inspiring books – Paris chic lit and some interesting histories that are set in London and/or Paris. I also placed a big puzzle on the table in front of the couch. (I love puzzles.) That should give me some “go-to” activities that keep my hands busy and out of the cookie bag.

The stress part is a bit harder. My preferred method of handling stress is going for a quick walk to clear my mind but that is not easily available right now. Yesterday and today, when I felt like munching, I told myself that I need to tidy up whatever room I’m in before I go get a snack (that usually distracts my attention and I forget about wanting to munch.) Then, if the snack urge remained, I got a small ramekin of pecans mixed with blueberries. (It’s a very low-sugar snack and it takes me a long time to eat – I try to eat it one small piece at a time.)

Using Fiona’s model, I next looked at my preferred stress munching “buddies.” Sugar, sugar, sugar.  Fiona wrote in 30 Chic Days, “Sugar is not my friend.” All too true. Several years ago, I dramatically cut down on refined sugar and carbs. After a “detox” period of about 2 weeks (addiction, anyone?), I felt great and have kept on this eating plan quite easily. After I moved to Paris this January, however, I decided to allow a little more latitude in my eating. An occasional croissant or a petit pastry was not the end-all of healthy eating. That worked fine for me until lockdown. I basically ate low-sugar (much like the French do), did a lot of walking and felt great. But then came CoVid-19 and lockdown. Suddenly, I don’t have one cookie, I scarf the whole bag! At the moment, I’ve decided to step away from the sugar again. It seems that moderation for me is more difficult in stressful situations. (Gretchen Rubin writes about the moderation -vs- abstinence idea in her book about habits, Better Than Before.)

Next, I identified my role models who personify “chic & slim.”  My real-life mentor is almost 80 years old and is slim and active and always beautifully dressed! So, I have a real-life person as proof that it is possible to be older than 40 and be gorgeously slim and chic. (Christie Brinkly and Cindy Crawford are additional examples if we need them.)

The whole idea is that I want to feel healthy and chic and happy and I don’t feel any of those things if I’m binge munching on sugary foods and my clothes are getting tight.  My objective is to not just survive lockdown but to do so with style. (Like my inner French girl, Auntie Mame/Vian Rocher, would do.) Using Fiona’s common sense approach from Day 3 gave me several ideas of how to get back to being the real me. Keep your fingers crossed for me!