To resent people who use the "she's thin because she's rich" fallacy?

[GinDaddy]

I recently read an article on Carole Middleton, mother of the Duchess of Cambridge. It was one of the creepy DM ones that highlighted her "trim figure" in a bikini or whatever nonsense they wrote, at her age of 60-something.

What struck me were the comments underneath the article. Hundreds of them saying the same thing:

"She's only thin because she's rich and has the time to be thin".

AIBU to think this is a slightly silly fallacy, a nonsense argument used by people who potentially resent their own weight and situation?

ok YES I agree that if you have staff, you have a business and/or are retired and therefore can control your hours and schedule, that automatically opens up huge swathes of time for the gym, and home cooking.

However how does that account for Oprah, Rebel Wilson, Gemma Collins, etc etc? These are well off (rich in Oprah's case) powerful women whose weight has fluctuated a lot. I'm not criticising them whatsoever. I'm just suggesting that surely there's more to it than just "she's rich therefore she will be thin?"

Carole Middleton has good genetics sure, but it's clearly more than that. She has had a life of self discipline, perhaps borne out of her initial job in the skies, and a slightly old fashioned sense of weight and "keeping one's figure" that has clearly been transmitted down to her daughters. I think her approach pre-dates the money, it's clearly simply a life choice - one no better than anyone else's, but a choice nonetheless.

AIBU here to think the "she's rich, therefore she's lucky and can be thin" is a bit of a straw argument, when I can see plenty of folk around me who don't have such resources but perhaps share Carole's ethos and therefore have prioritised the things that make them a certain way?

Fully prepared to be stamped on as is the AIBU ritual but it's an argument I see time and time again

You’re not wrong

Fat people can be rich too

Thin people can be slim too

End of

YANBU, I agree.

I’m thin and poor. Help me.

Talk a walk through the poorest then most affluent areas of your city and you will see for yourself that poorer people are, on average, larger than people who are richer. It is just a fact. I find it is especially apparent in children, unfortunately.

There is an undeniable link between poverty and obesity.

I agree, it’s a life choice and has nothing to do with money. Plenty of exercise is free and healthy eating and portion control can be done on a budget if a person so desires.

Well it's easier to exercise and eat well when you have loads of money that's for sure. However being rich alone without good genes or hard work won't magically transform you into a size 8.

They're not wrong though are they?

Of course there's more to it the money, but being well off gives you options that others just don't have. It makes just about anything in life easier and I think it's disingenuous to claim otherwise.

I agree, OP. Unless you have a medical condition that causes weight gain, there really us no excuse to be overweight and unfit like I am
whatever your income.

I sense the tide will turn and as a society we'll be eating more healthily and getting more exercise. I know I need to!

There is a proven link between poverty and obesity. It's obviously not accurate to say that every rich person is thin, or that every person who is thin and rich is thin directly because they are rich, but yes there is a link between weight and wealth.

There is an undeniable link between poverty and obesity.

This is true. If you're working 3 jobs and juggling caring for elderly relatives or grandchildren the likelihood of you having time and energy left to prepare fresh food (which is generally more expensive) and find a sport you enjoy and can afford to do is very small.

That said you can't pay people to make you think you'll still have to put effort in - just less effort than someone with fewer options than you. It's also usually the case that if you grew up well off you're more likely to have established healthy eating patterns which makes everything easier too.

Not true for everyone but definitely a trend.

I think it's an over-simplification. Genes play a significant part, for one thing. Rich people have more choices, but still have to be motivated to make those choices.

However, if you don't have to work and can afford personal trainers, gym membership, a chef to cook healthy food (or have the time to make your own food) you are in a better position to live healthily than someone who works long hours and is too tired to do anything more than put a ready meal in the microwave at the end of their day.

There is a link between weight and wealth, but is some of that down to wealthier people's sense of control of their lives and life choices, and also the preponderance of fried takeaway shops and convenience stores in poorer areas?

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss I think that’s a bit of a sweeping statement. It’s harder to eat healthily with less money. Decent, healthy food is often more expensive (I would love to eat shedloads of berries, for example, but I can’t afford to). Just compare the price of chicken nuggets with the price of nice free-range chicken breasts, for example. And yes, lots of exercise is free, but when you’re working every hour possible to earn enough to pay the bills it’s kind of hard to fit it in.

Only levels of greed and laziness affect weight.

Plus medical for a tiny number of people

@araiwa What a stupid comment. There is huge evidence to suggest that weight is a factor of an enormous number of factors - genes, environment (and previous environment - going back to utero), stress, financial situation.

Stress and trauma make people to emotionally exhausted for “self discipline”.
Being poor is chronically stressful and Oprah suffered trauma in her past (not sure about the other examples you give).
When life is generally pleasant it’s so much easier to use your time to cook, plan meals, exercise.
When your life is shit it’s understandable to reach for convenience food,alcohol and nicotine and flake out on the couch.

I think it is fairly undeniable that the one thing Carole Middleton has in spades is self control and grit

True - poverty can have an effect on weight but I see plenty of middle class fat people who are eating too much crap. We're not doing each other any favours by denying that most people are fat because they choose to eat crap.

I'd say it's mainly to do with genetics and her background as an air stewardess.

Having said that, there aren't that many rich, highly educated and successful women in 'high society'. It can't all be down to genetics.

I am slim. I have a great figure tbh - but my word am I poor! For me this partly down to genetics and the fact that I am conscious of keeping my body looking as attractive as possible, for as long as possible.

Oh dear, this thread is not going to go well.

Less than one full page in and we already have the poor are just fat, lazy and undisciplined.

I think that a tendency towards being overweight may be set up in childhood.

I say this because where I lived for a long time there were two local expensive public schools nearby as well as two state schools, and the difference in appearance-of-weight outside them when children were leaving them in the afternoon was difficult to miss. Yes there were some thinner kids at the state schools, and yes there were some fatter ones at the public schools, but observed as a group, the public school kids were simply thinner overall in their early teens.

I don't know whether that is caused by diet from birth on up, or simply the public school ones getting an hour or two of exercise every single day they are at school, in the gyms and swimming baths that state schools don't have available and on the playing fields that have all been sold off in the state sector, or how much of it may be genetic (but if it is, why wasn't it to be seen in the fifties?) but the difference was very definitely there to be seen.

And no amount of healthy eating will make up for kids at state schools not getting exercise that seems to be taken for granted at fee-paying schools as really quite a large part of the curriculum. (And they mostly hate it, especially in winter, but they are made to do it anyway.)

Gemma Collins is not rich

There is definitely a link between poverty & weight which makes sense, less time, more stress. I also think for a particular section of the upper classes being uber thin is way more important than other things. If I won the lotto tmw I'd probably look more groomed & my personal trainer would hone me more however I don't think I'd drop to a size 6 as I would probably go on more holidays, eat out more.