Body Camouflage

Closet Content Analysis: Everything is too tight!

Choices: Eat more vegetables.

Too much creme fraiche, too many apero, too much wonderful tantalizing food, too much wine! And we're invited out for dinner on Saturday. And we're expecting my husband's brother on Monday who will be staying for a month. And of course he will want to taste all the delicacies of the south-west of France - foie gras, cassoulet (even though it's winter food), rillettes of all sorts, boudin, magret with potatoes fried in duck fat (is there any other way?), creme brulée, creme caramel, clafouti, soufflé (particularly the one at Au Fil de L'Eau in Port Ste. Foy) . . . OMG! And we must have the neighbours for dinner. Never mind trying at least a few of  the fabulous restaurants in the area. And then . . . there's the wine of the Bordeaux region. So much wine so little time! Cognac is not far away; oh yes and if we go there, we must go to the Armagnac area and perhaps we should go for a visit to Crozes-Hermitage. After all it's only a six hour drive! Then it will be July and friends from Calgary, Edmonton and Saskatoon will be visiting. Then it will be August and . . .  Everyone will want to taste foie gras, cassoulet . . . OMG! Life in France is good and bad.

Have I mentioned how I'm feeling about weight gain lately?

Body camouflage is something many of us attempt whether we want to admit it or not. Even those with the "let it all hang out" attitude will resort to "tent-like" clothing to cover up the belly bulge, the muffin top, the more-than-usual buxom bosom, the well-endowed hips.

"I'm not eating that much", I heard her say, yet her body belied that statement. One doesn't realize how much one is eating until the first sign - the muffin top from pants that fit well and sat nicely on the hips with a smooth curve upwards to a telltale bulge squished out over the waistline. "So what do I have to do?" she asked.  

Knowing how I was feeling at the time, I simply responded, "Eat less - the diet secret of all diet secrets." 

Once again, I heard, "I don't eat that much".  

"Sorry we don't get muffin tops from hardly eating anything"; I refused to back down and get into the poor me, I hardly eat anything scenario. Who was I having this conversation with? Actually, myself - my alter ego who says, "who cares, eat, enjoy, life's too short". But then I look in the mirror . . . and I promise to eat more vegetables, drink more water and eat less of everything else.

My favourite body camouflage is a blazer or jacket that's a little longer. So sometimes when you see me wearing a blazer you know I am in the "muffin top" stage. I've mentioned blazers a few times in recent posts.

Here is a variety of camouflage tips from a variety of women from around the world.

Wear dark colours or in matching tones of the same colour from the neck down. 

Wear the same colour shoes as the pants, shorts or skirt you have chosen.

Wear a statement necklace, a great scarf or a fabulous hat and sunglasses - it detracts from the rest of your body.

Never wear stripes: vertical or horizontal. 

Wear well-fitting clothing. Wearing tent like clothing makes you look bigger than you actually are. Think proportion when choosing clothing. 

When choosing prints, think of water-colour paintings like Monet. The colours are soft and blend into each other rather than being strongly defined. 

Every once in awhile, at home, put on your tightest pants and repeat, "Nothing tastes as good as losing 10 pounds/4 kilos feels!" 

Wanted: NECESSARY body camouflage advice - just hit the "comments" tag and tell me how you camouflage . . . and I didn't even mention the baguette and the cheese . . . sigh  . . . I also forgot the butter with sea salt crystals . . . and of course, the pain au chocolat (chocolatine in the South-West) and croissants.