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

Arielia

I'm generally not a stressed person but when I am the weight falls off me. I can't eat when I'm stressed. Not the best way to lose weight 😕

squeekums yes but 'full' is subjective isn't it?

The amount of food it takes some people to feel full, can greatly differ to the next person.

That's why some people think slim people always deny themselves, when in reality they're not having a starter/dessert/side dish/whatever, because they're full up.

the internet has literally millions of easy, step-by-step cooking tutorials to suit all budgets
When I was poor I couldn’t afford to make a mistake with a recipe and end up with something inedible. Waste was unthinkable. I cooked familiar things that were easy and guaranteed to work. Also many recipes contained items I couldn’t afford such as herbs or vinegars etc, I only had the money for the basics.

I think it's motivation, to be honest.
I always lose weight when I'm going through financial problems, because eating 'proper' food is important to me. I know how to make things out of carrots and lentils, beans, etc. I try and get the maximum nutrition out of whatever small amount of money I have. I gain weight when I'm better off, because I start treating myself, eating food that I don't really need.
I live near London, I have noticed that people are thinner on the whole in the city. I presume there's some social pressure there to be thinner, I think it's seen as being successful and 'go getting'.

Bluntness we're in the North East where you would expect to get plenty of fresh fish but it is either pan fried or battered. We don't eat out that often but that has been our experience when we have.

The one thing that poor people of colour do that white people don’t? Cook from scratch. Doesn’t stop them from being overweight but does stem obesity

Well if I was rolling in it I would definitely get a personal trainer so I think there is sometimes a link.

It does often take time and money to eat a really good diet and get fit.

The one thing that poor people of colour do that white people don’t? Cook from scratch. Doesn’t stop them from being overweight but does stem obesity
I was going to refrain from this thread and get shit done but holy moly talk about a generalisation ffs. It is all in here today.

So far we've fat poor people.
Black people who eat from scratch but are still fat because poor white people don't cook from scratch they're just fat.
Fat rich people. The skinny people who deny themself food, the fat people who gorge. At least everyone is getting a fair share of abuse today.

Davina McCall is my personal trainer in my sitting room. Bless YouTube.

When you’ve got two working parents (or just two working people, once the kids have left home) the urge to come home at 4/5/6 o’clock and start chopping vegetables etc is a small one. But it’s a multifaceted problem. A few major points.

1. the food giants getting us hooked on sugar and salt - cheap food to produce, keeps well, addictive = easy money and lots of it .
2. the nuclear family. In many countries grandparents help cook and keep house allowing the parents to go out and work - and then rest a bit when they get home.
3. related to above, capitalism’s insatiable demands - meaning that everyone, young/old, mums/dads, is working and in many cases longer and longer - and this is somehow seem as a good thing.

The one thing that poor people of colour do that white people don’t? Cook from scratch. Doesn’t stop them from being overweight but does stem obesity

Fuck me! What a load of old shit!

I'm thin and certainly not rich, exercise a bit and whilst not really healthy I am certainly aware of what and how much I eat and the effects it has on weight. It doesn't take to to much time or effort just habit really.
Suppose if your not in the habit of doing it your likely to be on the larger unfitter side of life

The one thing that poor people of colour do that white people don’t? Cook from scratch. Doesn’t stop them from being overweight but does stem obesity

So all 'poor people of colour' are exactly the same? Someone of Afro Caribbean origin is the same as someone from the Punjab? Who in turn is the same as someone of Chinese origin? And so on.

Similarly are all 'white people' - Brits, Irish, Poles, Italians etc - the same in your book?

If you are rich you can employ a cook or chef or housekeeper or whatever title you want to give them, the point is you can order healthy meals that you prob wouldnt make for yourself,

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

yes good old lefty MN

Have a look at adverse childhood experiences. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that those with high ace scores (those who have experienced more trauma as children in the form of alcoholism, drug addiction, abuse, parental separation etc) are way more likely to be obese. And those living in poverty are more likely to experience ACEs. The effect of the trauma is not merely a psychological one but also a biochemical one, causing changes to the structure of the decision making part of the brain. So yes. Poor people will make poorer health choices. Rich people who make poor health choices will probably have experienced some trauma. While trauma is not exclusive to poverty it is more likely.

I'm fat and poor. I think if I was rich I'd be even fatter having all that money to spend on lovely food. They'd have to push me round in a wheelbarrow.

DM was overweight in the 70s and joined weigh watchers - she left pretty quickly as we couldn’t afford the quantities of lean meat and fresh fruit and veg required
As a poor household we filled up on cheap stodge - carb heavy
I realise it’s not the whole picture but I try to eat healthy and cook from scratch to stay an acceptable (to me) weight
On one income with long hours it’s not easy - thanks be to the yellow stickers

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.

Actors like Rebel Wilson will usually have a contractual obligation not to change their appearance drastically from when they're cast in a movie to when they film it, so I should imagine she has limited scope to change her look even if she wanted to.

And query whether she'd want to anyway.

The Countess of Wessex and Zara Phillips are rich and not thin. Bubbles Rothermere was not thin. Neither Diana Dors nor Marilyn Monroe were thin and I don't recall Rubens painting the skinny poor. Queen Victoria anybody?

There is a definite link.

When I have had little money it was an cheap way to treat myself. Now I have more money I have more choices in how to treat myself - ones that don't include addictive junk food.

Mental health issues are also understandably higher in areas with high deprivation, cheap food again can be a way of self medicating.

Yes you can buy cheap beans and lentils but it does get quite boring after a while.

I eat healthier when I have more money and time as well as good mental health.

Charlotte Church and Adele.

Adele has lost loads of weight

Are people really citing the names of the small minority of female celebrities who are overweight as proof of well... anything really?

There is a well-known statistical correlation between poverty and obesity in Western countries. A small number of exceptions don't refute that.