Women who watch their weight...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is your mom overweight OP? I wonder if this is just something she tells herself to feel better about gaining weight.

This. She sounds insecure.

[Anonymous]

I think your mom was using it as code for uptight and controlling. Which may be a little accurate as a lot of type A people exercise a lot and monitor their food intake. It’s maybe not what I would look for in a friend but not a bad quality jn a Speaker.
Also, fwiw, the show Frankie and Grace, there are a lot of jokes about how thin Jane Fonda’s character is and how little she eats, mostly by Lily Tomlin’s kooky aging hippie character who eats (and smokes pot) constantly. It comes off as a pretty good-natured send-up of the two opposing stereotypes of boomer white women. (There’s one where Jane fonda’s character gets really drunk and starts eating cake which is pretty funny—she’s lke “Is this what cake tastes like??? Why haven’t I been eating it ALL THE TIME?” Or something like that.)

[Anonymous]

I hope I look as good as Nancy Pelosi when I grow up. For now, at 52, I'm slowly putting on a few pounds but I am eating very little and still workout four times a week. It just happens. I'm still lean for my height and age, but a belly comes for all of us at some point. When I mentioned somehow gaining five pounds to my doctor, she glanced at my chart and said, "Well, that's to be expected now." Shrug.

[Anonymous]

Your logic is by far the dumbest I have heard in a while. “Skinny people are humorless.” Wtf does weight have to do with humor?

NP. There is this old idea that chubbies are happy and fed and skinny women are hungry, suffering and thus unhappy and humorless. Never made sense to me!

[Anonymous]

Sour grapes of women who want to be thin.

[Anonymous]

I feel as though my immediate family (husband and kids) don't think it is reasonable to watch my weight. But my FOO definitely is OK with it. I don't personally want to be overweight or unhealthy. I thought everybody wanted to be a good weight and healthy?

[Anonymous]

I’m the opposite of your mom- I think watching your weight is a good thing. It indicates that your prioritize being healthy and disciplined.

[Anonymous]

It isn't just sour grapes from heavier people. I know a really naturally thin older woman (just really skinny genetics) who makes comments like this about other thin people who do watch their weight. Like she somehow has always felt superior to people who have to work at it because she was genetically blessed. It's very weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope I look as good as Nancy Pelosi when I grow up. For now, at 52, I'm slowly putting on a few pounds but I am eating very little and still workout four times a week. It just happens. I'm still lean for my height and age, but a belly comes for all of us at some point. When I mentioned somehow gaining five pounds to my doctor, she glanced at my chart and said, "Well, that's to be expected now." Shrug.

I watch my weight, but it has creeped up. I'm 5'4 and weighed 123 lbs when I got married at 28. I'm 51 and weigh 135. I'm actually in better shape and still wear the same size because I am more toned now. I asked my doctor about it and her response was if I tried to be 123 at 51, I would be the hungriest most miserable person on earth. She advised against my attempt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know if this applies to your mother but my family is all from rural South Carolina and obese. They mock urban people for caring about being healthy and skinny a lot. To them, there’s a cultural divide between people who “care about organic” and people who “just live life.”

I hope they enjoy "just living" their short lives of pills and dialysis then.

[Anonymous]

I'm the "skinny people are humorless" poster. I don't necessarily believe this, and it's certainly not true of all skinny people but there is a subset of women who are constantly dieting and kind of high-strung all the time. It's hard to relax and have fun when you're constantly thinking about what you can and cannot eat. And I'm thinking of a few specific people I know who have a million (not allergy related) dietary restrictions and that makes them not fun to be around.

Think Claire Bowen from Modern Family - anorexically thin, tightly wound. Pelosi looks like she could be one of those.

[Anonymous]

Nancy Pelosi just doesn’t watch her weight. She places a high priority on her entire look. She spends $$ on her clothes, has zero wrinkles or gray hair even during the pandemic. At 80, this chick is HIGH maintenance. Imagine what she spends on an annual basis.

[Anonymous]

Let me get this straight: skinny:uptight:fat:lazy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let me get this straight: skinny:uptight:fat:lazy?

Yes ma’am. You’ve got it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I admire Pelosi, but she does look like the kind of woman who watches her weight very carefully and probably eats very carefully. You generally don't stay that lean (as a female) after 40 if you don't.

Of course Mika watches her weight - she's in an industry where women are punished for getting too fat, or gossiped about for getting too skinny. I assume that nearly all women in the public eye like that watch their weight because the alternative is to watch their income go away.

I kind of see where your mom is coming from. I get a little uncomfortable around women who have a certain thin, brittle look to them. I assume they will be a little anxious, a little humorless. Not eating takes a toll. (and I'm a daily exerciser who other people consider thin, but I also have a known love for snack cakes.)

Mika is a whole can of worms on that topic, though -- didn't she write a book about having an eating disorder?

She did! I remember listening to her on her book tour. It reminds of the thread on having a “number” because I remember she talked about her commitment to being 117.