Celebrity diet and fitness regimes

[catabouttown]

I'm babysitting tonight and so perusing some trashy magazines (ok, hello and the like). I don't buy magazines like this myself purely because I tend to get rage at all of the look how fat/thin/terribly dressed this sleb is. I'm a feminist and it angers me at how often other women can be the perpetrators of so much misogyny in this way.

Anyway, I've so far counted 4 different celebrity women being asked about how they keep in shape and all have said things like 'no I don't work out', 'I don't follow any strict diet', Michelle keegan has even been saying she's been splurging so much on holiday before this photo shoot etc.

I know some people do have the kind of metabolism and genes which makes them naturally tiny but the VAST majority of people could not be as tiny as them without a hell of a lot of work. (Not to mention the photoshop issue) So AIBU to think that really these people would do a lot more good to the young women reading these articles to be honest (or hell even lie if they are that tiny percentage) and say 'yes I do have to watch what I eat and I have to work stupidly hard to stay in shape'. Wouldn't that make people feel an awful lot less crap about themselves? Ideally obviously people would stop confirming to these ludicrous visions of beauty but at least we can be realistic about what cost it comes at and not make so many women feel like they are not good enough because they can't get there?

Next time, bring a real magazine with you. Then it won't matter that the people you babysit for are uneducated rubes who read that crap.

Try Psychologies OP An intelligent mag with no celebrity diet crap.

Ha! I didn't mean to imply that people who read these magazines are uneducated, I get that everyone has their own ways to wind down and I watch total crap on tv and things so I'm not being an intellectual snob about it. I just don't like the constant nitpicking about other women's appearances

Why would you even read magazines like that, regardless of whether you paid for them? They're a load of old shit.

Having said that, not everyone does have to work hard at being slim as you quite rightly said.

Also, people think my sister 'works hard' at it, but the truth is she loves swimming, running and pilates and sees it as a hobby/pleasure rather than hard work.

That's brilliant minty!

I guess it's more of a celebrities as role models angle I'm getting at. On the one hand maybe they don't want to be criticised for pushing diets etc on their fans but on the other hand they are normalising what, for most, is completely unattainable without significant time and will power

I think it's the job of parents to drum this into kids as they grow up.

I don't think we can blame the celebrities really. Or even if we feel we can blame them, it's still pointless.

If people stopped buying that crap, they'd stop selling it.

if you see RHOBH you will see one lady being put through her paces by PT and she does it I think three times a week, you see her working hard and then she says she swims two miles a day as well as loads of other sport.

A very good friend of mine is a size 6, she does no particular exercise and 'eats whatever she likes'. Except they only have 1 car, and her DH has changed jobs so needs to drive each day, so she walks 4-5 miles at least every day, often more, while pushing a double buggy. She doesn't call that exercise, just "going places" - she doesn't like a lot of sweet stuff, or fatty foods. She doesn't seem to want a lot to eat.

I also don't do any formal exercise and am a size 6-8, but I conciously leave the car at home and walk everywhere. I do have to think about what I eat though, but I love baking and cakes and all things sugary. I have to be restrained, but I do know people who don't like sweet stuff. It is perfectly possibly that some people are just think they are naturally thin because the lifestyle they life is one that other people would call 'working at it'.

That said, you'll normally find woman in these magazines will deny how much work they put in to their shapes because they don't want to come across at telling other woman "you are fat because you eat crap and don't exercise enough!" they say 'it's just luck' because the alternative is to make woman who are overweight feel like the celebs are showing them they 'could have a figure like that if they'd just show some self control and put some work in' - and that will alienate the bulk of the market who are overweight. By saying it's luck, that's nice and reassuring to someone not at the point yet to accept they could lose their weight.

I remember reading an interview with Liz Hurley years ago, after she'd given birth. She was amazingly honest - basically said modelling was her livelihood, she needed a job, and that she'd worked out six hours a day, seven days a week for three months to get to the shape she was in. But yes, it's the only one I ever remember.

I'm babysitting tonight and so perusing some trashy magazines (ok, hello and the like). I don't buy magazines like this myself purely because I tend to get rage at all of the look how fat/thin/terribly dressed this sleb is. I'm a feminist and it angers me at how often other women can be the perpetrators of so much misogyny in this way.

aww but you are still reading them, you little feminista you!

time - I remember that one too - and I remember the generally backlash at her 'lecturing' other woman, it was taken out of context that she was basically saying she could do it and it's easy to lose the baby weight.

I remember another outrage when Mila Kunis talked about changing her body for Black Swan and being amazed how she could change herself with a lot of exercise and diet, and it was seen as insulting to other (larger) woman to say "anyone can do it". That she shouldn't say it.

Saying "it's just luck" isn't contentious - unless you are selling an exercise DVD, every celeb will say it as it's not going to get them bad press.

We have a weird relationship with diets and exercise in this country. Best pretend you don't do it rather than say you do and upset people who think other people taking care of themselves is a direct insult to them, or will say you are doing it wrong and/or have some sort of disorder.

If I exercise, I can eat pretty much what I want without weight gain. And I have a BIG appetite.

Dammed if you do and dammed if you don't as always.

admit the tv isn't working!! That's another, far more pressing AIBU.
AIBU to be outraged that I have am expected to babysit when the tv isn't working? Surely that's part of the job!! (Tongue firmly in cheek here)

Why should they lie though if they truly can eat whatever, don't exercise and still be slim? I have a very high metabolism and can eat whatever and I've been the same weight for the last 8 years.
Surely we all have a mind of our own, can think for ourselves? We don't need to follow like sheep what a celebrity says. If you do then more fool you.

The thing is though, they always say 'they can eat whatever they like', then it turns out that 'whatever they like' is a nice plate of steamed fish and green vegetables. My friend is like that, she is always slim, never 'diets' ,but to her a dinner is something like a grilled steak quarter pounder (no bun) with some salad leaves (no dressing). Some people are just able to eat the right amount for them without thinking about it.