[superherothin]

I do agree that I wish people would be nicer to themselves, but I also have to admit that sometimes people use names that, to THEM, aren't offensive. For example, I was really surprised when I called my sister a "nerd" and my coworker was offended on her behalf. My siblings and I are all big comic book geeks and "nerd" is absolutely a term of endearment and a compliment to us! I'm sure the same thing can be said for words like "fat" "fluffy" etc that I certainly wouldn't want to be called, but that might not bother other people

[FairyGaia]

Wow! Lots of great responses. I wrote this when in a 'mood' truthly without a lot of thought. I was thinking along the same lines as sense and sensability. I read a lot of wayne dyer type stuff and never even thought of nicknames. BTW it wasn't even someone who posted to this thread I was thinking of. Y'all have given me food for thought, the best kind of food there is.

[kaplods]

Originally Posted by Amy8888

Fat Kaplods is right. (Sorry, I couldn't resist). I probably will always be overweight too. I've been reassessing my goals lately, and when I think about the lowest weight I maintained as an adult (before kids), I was very happy and still technically 5 pounds into the overweight BMI category. So three kids later and a decade later, is it really realistic for me to think I will achieve what I could not when life was so much easier and my metabolism was that much faster?

So truly, I think there is value in considering the term "fat" as just another descriptive term, like tall or short. People (strangers) have called me fat in a negative way. Why not turn this around on them? No one can insult me by calling me fat if I don't consider it an insult.

Come to think of it, look at the name of this site! I've actually been a member here for nearly 15 years. I'm proud of how far I've come in terms of accepting myself as I am (not that I'm where I want to be...). I've always loved it here, but at first I remember being afraid someone would find out I visited this site, with a name like that (guilt by association?). Now, I don't even think twice about it.

Nothing to be sorry about. It actually gave me a soft, fuzzy nostalgic feeling to "hear" someone other than my dad use the complete nickname.

[FluffyFat]

In the last couple weeks I started writing "personals" on various threads and as I did this I noticed something that concerns me. The names people call themselves! I have to admit I almost did this myself. I started to use " Fat Fairy" because that was how I felt.
I won't point out the exact names I'm talking about- don't want to put anybody on the spot. I just want you to be aware that when you describe & title yourself with negative names-your body-your inner self hears you " You want to be Fat Fairy? OK,you said that's who you are so,,, I'll be sure to keep you fat so you can live up to your name. This is something I've been working on as I lose weight-being positive about myself- describing myself as I want to be.
Also be careful with how you follow the words " I am..." Those are very powerful words.

I am... a Christian. I believe my life is determined by God and not words I say into the universe. I don't think the universe cares whether I'm fat or not, or whether or not I live up to a name I called myself. I don't think I'm going to be fat because I said, "Fat!" or that saying, "Thin!" will make me thin. "The Secret," and the "Laws of Attraction," just don't ring true to me. I worked in banks all my life and said things like, "I'm going to need $100,000 in twenties for Friday." It didn't make me rich.

I certainly don't think my sub-conscious is going to ignore the intent of my sentences and just focus on a single word like a child on a playground saying, "Ha Ha! You said gunky!"

Positive thinking is fine in it's place, but not if it turns into a lazy way to avoid action. We can't just sit in a chair eating candy and thinking thin. We have to put forth the effort.

I think it has much more to do with how much I eat and God can help me with that. Thankfully, he doesn't play mean spirited word games.