You are looking at what the typical Parisian eats for breakfast. Pretty yummy, I would say! There are also baguettes for lunch and pasta for dinner. According American research, this will pack those pounds on you, and make you you torture yourself in one of those extreme training classes just so you can maintain (not lose!) your current weight. Yet when you look around Paris, there are not a lot of overweight or obese people. In fact, quite the opposite-they lean toward the slimmer side. This is what is termed as the Parisian Paradox (Warning! If you Google this, there is another Parisian paradox that has nothing to do with health). They seem to partake in behaviors that conflict with what we tell our clients, but without the consequences. How do they do it?    Well, if I could tell you that, I would be richer than the Google guys and Oprah put together.  I may not have the entire answer, but I can take a huge stab at some of our basic life style differences. 

They eat much smaller portions. Yes there are two croissants in the picture but the breakfast is for two. One American would most likely eat the entire breakfast above, and then some bacon, eggs, and hash browns. It does not take a mathematician to figure out which has fewer calories. Most fad diets work because they restrict calories; if you reduce your calories regardless of type of food you will lose weight. For instance, if, instead of those wonderful Five Guys burgers that have double patties with all the fixings and fries, you eat a single patty with no condiments and half the fries, you will have cut about 500 calories from the meal.

They walk a lot more than we do. We drive everywhere. In the US, errands, work, and socializing require us to drive. The most we walk is from our car to our destination and then back to the car, with little walking done at our location. The Parisians walk to work (an average of 1/2 mile to the metro, one way), they walk to lunch (few eat at their desk), they walk to the grocery several times a week (because their refrigerators are so small), and they walk to socialize. Even if they do have a car, they have to walk from where they parked it to where they are going, and I guarantee you that parking is nowhere near like it is here. I can't remember seeing a parking lot in Paris. Even taking the metro involves walking; the tracks are not immediately at the bottom of the stairs like here.

 
They do not work the same long days we do. Parisian work about three to four days a week, which leaves them more time to walk around, have coffee, shop. Think about how much time you spend at work, how much of that is sitting at a desk?  How much time in the car?  How much time when you get home watching TV?  How much time sitting on Facebook?  Now you understand why they are so upset about the two extra hours they will have to work per day...this is a complete change of lifestyle. In the past 5-8 years, Americans have increased the amount of time we sit on a daily basis, mostly because of computers and conveniences that allow us to sit more. You cannot counteract 10+ hours of sitting 7 days a week with hour long, rip tearing, calorie burning, extreme, uberworkouts..3 days a week. If we could, there would be a lot more thin people in the US. 

Stress Level. You can argue that everyone has stress, but there is stress and there is Stress. Some stress leaves us feeling like we climbed a mountain and reached that summit. Other stress leaves us feeling like we've been hit with a MAC truck. Why the difference?  I believe that when (for some strange reason) our brains think the stress is worth the effort, we feel exhausted but good. When we feel we pulled out all the stops, but got very little out of it, we feel like we got beat up. Parisians have a more laid back look on life. Yes, they worry about things, but different things. If the government has your back, so to speak, if you get seriously ill, it will be covered without breaking the bank, and that's a huge difference in lifestyle.  Children in France also have  access to higher education at a more reasonable price, which lowers stress for them and their parents. All in all, bad stress can become a huge player in the weight loss game.