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Great Debate: Fat but rich vs. skinny but poor

By Catherine Toth Fox • August 2, 2011 • Musings, The Daily Dish

It’s a question I often see pop up on message boards and news polls:

Would you rather be fat but rich or skinny but poor?

People quickly see the loophole and choose fat but rich, figuring they can hire a personal trainer or dietician — or plastic surgeon — to make them skinny. Then they’ll be what everyone really wants: skinny AND rich.

Truth is, people want to be either skinny or rich — both, preferably — thinking it either will guarantee them a better life.

Now, there’s some truth in that.

Being overweight would be a huge obstacle if you enjoy being active, traveling, running marathons. Let’s face it: this world doesn’t make accommodations (willingly) for overweight and obese folks. We make it hard for them to find clothing that fits well, we make them buy two tickets on airplanes, and they end up paying more in medical expenses. It’s a tough life.

But being poor isn’t so attractive, either. Money does buy some level of happiness. You can live in safer neighborhoods, drink cleaner water, send your kids to college, travel more, eat better — the list goes on.

But it’s foolish to think that both — being skinny and/or rich — will equate to a better life. It may — but it’s not the only factor.

This is a tough one. I’d have to say, since I’m active, I’d rather be skinny (or fit) and poor. I can always marry the fat, rich guy!

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About the Author

Catherine Toth Fox

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25 Comments

  • Reply oldshoes August 2, 2011 at 2:38 am

    only thing money cant buy is poverty. 2 more big macs please…..and 2 beautiful physical trainers. Carry on…..

    • Reply Catherine Toth August 3, 2011 at 3:19 pm

      Nicely said.

  • Reply The Chicago Cuz August 2, 2011 at 4:38 am

    I think I am going to have to go with skinny and poor. I agree there is such a stigmatism attached to overweight people that what’s the point of having so much money if everyone is going to think you are disgusting because you are obese… I mean I make a comfortable living now and am 6’0 and 250lbs, but am athletic and try to keep active, but still I am technically obese. I often wonder what it would be like to be really skinny and see how much different I would be treated by people without the whole size thing being in the way….

    Its a shame we dont just accept people for who they are, but this is the world we live in I guess, and for now I am joining the skinny and poor crowd. I know way too many rich and miserable people who are both fat and skinny that clearly money doesnt buy happiness.

    Good Topic!

    • Reply Catherine Toth August 3, 2011 at 3:20 pm

      You’re technically obese?? Really? You sound more like a linebacker!

      You bring up an interesting point, though, about stigma. I think many of us were so focused on answering the question thinking about the financial benefit to being, well, rich, and not so much about how society views hefty folks.

      I’d still rather be skinny/fit since I have friends who have lost a ton of weight and it’s way hard. I’d rather be poor and find a job. 🙂

  • Reply David Jackson August 2, 2011 at 5:31 am

    “I can always marry the fat, rich guy!” LOL. I know you aren’t saying Derrick is the poor skinny guy right 🙂

    • Reply Catherine Toth August 3, 2011 at 3:20 pm

      LOL 😀

  • Reply WildeOscar August 2, 2011 at 6:03 am

    I have worked hard to stay fit over my adult life and been mostly successful. I am not sure I could have ever gotten rich (not in money or materail wealth anyway), but I could have taken all that time and energy I spent doing things that helped make me fitter or keep me fit and poured that energy into work. I am glad I didn’t. I look and feel younger than most people my age.

    I have had some fairly high-paying and stressful jobs and found them personally very unsatisfying. I left a position 16 months ago that featured world travel, a nice office, people who reported up to me to do most of the work, and pay that put me in the top 5 percent percent of income, but it also required me to work almost 365 days per year, and I hated it. I missed my family, and wondered as I sat in the office or in an airport on Sunday, morning why I wasn’t in church with my wife and children. I was spending these Sunday mornings eliminating jobs. Not my cup of tea, just not constituted for it.

    I left that for a job that pays less than half as much and offered a very reasonable schedule and high probability of success. It has worked out exceptionally well, and I am healthier today physically and emotionally, a better person overall, than if I had stayed in my former job.

    There is another aspect to this. I was a pretty skinny teenager and young adult. Healthy, but thin. I wanted to be shaped like one of the muscular guys I knew. Today, they are all grossly overweight, not in a good way, a few of them are dead, and most of them are bald. I am quite pleased with my current shape and it is easy to buy clothes that fit.

    • Reply Catherine Toth August 3, 2011 at 3:58 pm

      It’s good to be happy exactly where you are. That’s how I feel, actually. I don’t need any more money (or less money, to be honest) and I’m fine with how I look (for the most part). I’m happy and that’s all that matters.

  • Reply MaxMaxMax August 2, 2011 at 6:32 am

    Amy Winehouse was rich and skinny also, but her life was Hell it seems. It’s all about whom you surround yourself with and your support system as to whether or not you are happy in life…

    • Reply Catherine Toth August 3, 2011 at 3:58 pm

      Good point. Touche.

  • Reply Cody Zamboni August 2, 2011 at 6:41 am

    I have zero percent body fat, and I’m listed on the Forbes 100 richest people in the world.

    It’s not so great. Life could be better.

    Yes, I’m kidding.

    Peace out.

    • Reply Catherine Toth August 3, 2011 at 3:59 pm

      What’s zero percent body fat look like, anyway….?

  • Reply M August 2, 2011 at 7:40 am

    Hello Cat, I’m not over weight or skinny, I’m active and I consider myself poor. I can always make a loan if I need more money.

    • Reply Catherine Toth August 3, 2011 at 4:00 pm

      That’s what credit cards are for!

  • Reply Panini August 2, 2011 at 8:53 am

    I guess you found another loop hole to the question. “I can always marry the fat, rich guy!” Too funny!

    Cat: If you like discussing topics like this, you should check out “The book of questions” by Gregory Stock. It’s a book of hypothetical questions that really make you think about what you value and how you want to be perceived….its just a fun discussion starter, if anything…

    • Reply Catherine Toth August 3, 2011 at 4:00 pm

      Thanks for the book suggestion. I’ll run down to Borders now… Oh, wait…

  • Reply rayboyjr August 2, 2011 at 10:00 am

    Hey Cat: … I’ve never been fat … I’ve never been rich … funny, though … I don’t strive to be fat … but I do try to get rich … and yet it seems I only get closer to being fat than being rich … *SIGH* …

    … sorry, did I answer your question? … I think it’s a no-brainer anyway … and I think most will agree … money just isn’t that important!!! … happiness is …

    • Reply Catherine Toth August 3, 2011 at 4:00 pm

      I think it’s easier to be fat than rich! LOL!

  • Reply matt August 2, 2011 at 11:54 am

    how fat are we talking? are you stuck being fat? I think, with my lifestyle (or what would be my lifestyle if I had the means to support it), I wouldn’t stay fat for too long. there’s only so much weight you can keep on when your preferred activities are outside and often involve walking rough terrain to get to the perfect, unmolested fishing spot.

    “I can always marry the fat, rich guy!” isn’t that how it’s done, anyway? I’m sure all of hef’s bunnies didn’t come from wealth.

    • Reply matt August 2, 2011 at 4:13 pm

      now that I think about it, isn’t that what Anna Nicole Smith did? she went from skinny and poor to fat and rich

      • Reply Catherine Toth August 3, 2011 at 4:01 pm

        LOL! True that!

  • Reply oldshoes August 2, 2011 at 11:57 am

    what if u have a great paying job as an ice cream flavor taster?…could you still remain thin? would u want to?

    • Reply Catherine Toth August 3, 2011 at 4:01 pm

      You’d have to spit it out a lot. No fun.

  • Reply sloppy seconds August 2, 2011 at 12:54 pm

    I used to be a hardcore dollar chaser/earner, and I have to say that no matter how much I made it was never enough. One of the biggest eye opening events in my life was packing a backpack full of clothes and trekking around Southeast Asia for a few months. I encountered people that Western society would consider as being dirt poor, but they seemed for the most part content, and they treated a total outsider (me) like family. The current debt based economic system is an illusion. That’s why it’s called “The American Dream”. It’s an illusion.

    So to answer your question I’d rather be happy (which I am). Then again, I’m living quite comfortably and it takes money to do that…

    • Reply Catherine Toth August 3, 2011 at 4:01 pm

      Happy is all we should strive for. Amen.

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About Me

About Me
Born and raised on O‘ahu, Hawaiʻi, Catherine Toth Fox has been chronicling her adventures in her blog, The Cat Dish, for more than a decade. She worked as a newspaper reporter in Hawai‘i for 10 years and continues to freelance—in between teaching journalism, hitting the surf and eating everything in sight—for national and local print and online publications. She’s currently the editor of HAWAIʻI Magazine.

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