As I’ve mentioned before, this summer I spent one month in France—eating croissants, foie gras, and anything else I wanted to eat—and gained not an ounce. But five days in Wisconsin? I put on FOUR POUNDS! Seriously!?!
Let’s examine how such a thing could have happened.
1. Getting There Piled It On
It took us about 8 1/2 hours to get to the North Woods of Wisconsin. That meant eating a few American road-food meals along the way, with two long, inactive days of sitting in a car (total to get us there and back).
2. Brats, Fried Walleye, Cheese, Meat, Cheese, Meat, Cheese, Meat, Brats, Cheese….
All thoroughly enjoyed, of course…..but enough said.
Sure, you could go to Wisconsin and not eat Bratwurst. But why would you? Photo by rdpeyton via Flickr.
3. Beer
I don’t normally drink beer at all. But when in Rome…Yet beer piles it on.
Going to Wisconsin and not drinking beer is like going to you-know-where and not drinking wine. Photo by yuan2003 via Flickr.
4. Pontoon Boats Don’t Exactly Burn the Calories
And neither do speed boats, even though they go much, much faster. Conversely, every single thing I did in France required some sort of physical exertion on my part—from tromping around castle ruins, to walking to the sea and splashing around, to doing my morning shopping rounds in my village.
Meandering across the lake on a pontoon boat. Not exactly a workout. Photo by Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, via Flickr.
5. There Was No Place to Walk…..Without Driving There First
Lakefront homes are among the most peaceful and sublime spots in the world. The downside of staying in a lake-front home, however, is that you can’t just go walking around a lake for exercise—most lakefront property is private-or at least, path-less. So to get anywhere worth walking, you have to drive to a state or national park—of which there are many beautiful ones in Wisconsin, to be sure. But when you make walking an activity you have to plan—rather than having it as a natural part of your day—you simply don’t do it as much.
There are plenty of beautiful walking paths in Wisconsin. But you might have to drive a ways to get to one. Photo by Aff1737 via Flickr.
Please don’t get me wrong. I LOVE Wisconsin, and the North Woods are beautiful. I had a great trip, and would do it all again (four extra pounds and all!). And I don’t truly blame Wisconsin for making me “fat.” But it is interesting to see how proactive you have to be about diet and exercise when vacationing in the US (or at least, Amerique profonde) versus you-know-where……
Do you generally gain weight on US vacations? If not, how do you avoid piling it on?
I tend to camp (so cook what I want to eat, meaning I can eat well without overeating). And most of my camping vacations have the bonus of being in those national parks….lots of hiking trails. But then, there is the issue of beers around the campfire. I never gain weight, but I certainly don’t lose any.
I have been to France twice for two weeks at a time and didn’t gain any weight, even though I was eating multi-course gourmet meals every day. As you say, it’s the exercise that is built into the French daily routine. Here is the Chicago suburbs, I have to drive just about everywhere I go and it shows. Great post!
Where were you in the north woods of Wisconsin? Just curious as my husband has old family property on a chain of lakes in Land O Lakes. We love to escape there during the summer and even lived there for a couple of years. As women our weight tends to fluctuate a few pounds day to day and week to week depending on what we have eaten, our hormonal cycles etcetera. Was this 5 pounds just a temporary blip that would have leveled out/equalized a few days later? Was there ever a point in your France experience that your weight was up a few pounds?
I successfully lost weight in the north woods of Wisconsin and have since kept it off using many of the principles I learned in French Women Don’t Get Fat and Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink. So, it is possible to live in the land of beer and brats and be happy, healthy and slim. I’m living proof.
I’m a big believer in hunger directed eating. Theoretically, if you were walking so much less, you would have been less hungry and eaten less! And if you spent enough time there, all those foods are a lot less appealing so you naturally eat a lot less. I can attest to that too! After a couple of years living in the north woods, I rarely wanted to eat out. Fresh food and vegetables were such an afterthought. I chose to make simple meals at home and avoid the whole deep fat fried cheese and beer scene. It might taste okay in small doses. But I rarely felt good after eating it.
I spent a little 2 weeks in Paris and England in early June and didn’t gain weight either. And I indulged in everything I wanted but wasn’t nearly as active as I would have liked. My husband has sciatica and can only walk about 5/8 of mile before it kicks up so we took the subways a lot in Paris.
There are just so many variables. There are no easy answers. But it’s fun to speculate!
Back in my childhood when we made car trips, there were even fewer choices for eating while on the road. We went to grocery stores and bought bread and sandwich fixings, had a large jug in which we made fresh lemonade, fresh fruit and carrots and celery for “munchies. Today when I travel by car I tend to control what I order and salads and veggies are available in most small town cafes. I stay away from the fast food.
I worked in Wisc. one summer and had a great time visiting bar/restaurants for evening gatherings of locals and vacationers. Everyone was very friendly and Princess Leinenkugel beer was not sold as “premium”.
I think it has always been hard when traveling to eat correctly and still satisfy your hunger. Part of the problem is eating out of boredom. If you don’t buy unhealthy snacks, you can’t reach into them when you get hungry or bored.
I have to be careful in France as well. We usually don’t walk as much as French people do there, but we do manage to walk off a hefty lunch. We try to eat lightly at dinner time and not jumping into a car to run errands and go shopping helps a great deal.
I won’t take offense…and I live her year ’round! There are great WI eating options (even up north)…but they tend to be off the beaten path. Let me know the next time you are in Wisconsin and I would be happy to meet you for a food tour of the area! Sara
I’m a Canadian who loves travelling to the U.S. especially by car as the journey is just as important as the destination to me. The portions are VERY generous in the U.S. (our portions are large too) so I usually focus on the concept of small. I never gain weight while travelling in the U.S. (even on road trips). While I think exercise is important for keeping slim and fit, through experience I know that you can’t exercise away too much food — there simply are not enough hours in the day. Here are my stay slim travel strategies: 1) order appetizers instead of entrees for meals, 2) don’t drink your calories (just say no to smoothies, iced coffees, soda, sweet cocktails, etc.), 3) always choose the item with the least calories at a fast food restaurant e.g. small hamburger instead of a salad with the fixings, 4) share your meal, 5) order kiddie or the smallest portion size, 6) use the three-bite rule (3 fries, 3 forks of cheesecake, 3 bites of something very rich) and 7) order the item that you really, really want and just eat a very small portion instead of something “healthy” that won’t really satisfy your soul. Cookbook author and slim gal Melissa Clark wrote a great book on eating out and staying slim, can’t remember the exact title but had something to do with a Little Black Dress. She writes cookbooks and eats out a lot and has great advice on how to enjoy good food and still fit into your little back dress — highly recommended.
Wini, I love your cookbook and use it weekly — I use it more than my Julia Child cookbooks (I know blasphemy). I often recommend this book to friends (even strangers I meet while browsing in the cookbook section of the bookstore);)
Road food…. don’t get me started on that! We do I-95 a lot and it is just awful. No wonder everyone is overweight. On our last long road trip, we did manage to avoid 95, and I packed picnics and food when I could (tricky to do when you’re in motels the night before!).
So, are you back to “normal” eating now???