The media loves to depict French women as effortlessly thin. Ahead of my trip, I wondered: How will I fit in? — French women, they say, do not get fat. Their secret, according to the bestsellers, is an innate ability to consume the world’s most wonderful foods in torturously minuscule portions. I, however, do get fat. Scratch that: am fat. My stomach protrudes and my arms jiggle and too often in photographs…