I've been called big before, but I didn't mind because I *am* big and anything less to me is just pandering. I usually call myself fat, but I try not to because it carries such negative connotations in our society, regardless of the fact that it is just a descriptive word. I hate the word "obese", it just sounds so...icky. I guess I just call myself a "work-in-progress" lol...
I call myself fat @ss. "Let me get my FA out of this car" or "help me get my FA off the floor" or "wait for FA, I can't run like ya'll" are constantly coming out of my mouth.
If someone else called me that? Well, there would be blue streaks in the air, and then I would go home and cry and eat my weight in ice cream.
Funny how we can be self-deprecating but insulted if a stranger mentions it, huh?
goodforme, I did the same kind of thing when I was heavier (and still do, but make a conscious effort to avoid it). I'd make comments about what a fatty I was, and how I could show the skinny girls how to eat because I was a fat@ss, and so on, all the usual self-deprecating comments.
I guess I'd say those things to justify my weight. If I could crack a funny about it, it must not be a serious problem, therefore I could convince myself it wasn't something to worry about. I'd show the world that it didn't matter to me. And also, I wanted to say the hurtful things about myself before anybody else had a chance to think them. All destructive thoughts.
Looking back, I think I should have described myself as "overweight." I think that's the term that is most appealing to me. It's a simple statement of fact...I was over my ideal weight. No matter what defines ideal weight (BMI, personal preference, whatever)...I was over that weight, thus, overweight. Just simple plain straightforward fact. "Fat" also kind of accomplishes this, like kaplods said, calling somebody fat is like calling somebody a redhead, it just is. But there are too many connotations attached to the word. Curvy, big girl, fluffy, chubby, more to love, etc are all euphemisms and beat around the fact bush. Useless, in my opinion. Yes, I like overweight the best, I'd say.
Before I was overweight, and now I'm athletic/average.
These days I am very cautiously referring to myself as "Texas normal", because my BMI is now 29.9 and in Texas, that's normal!
Before? I never, ever, ever referred to my weight. I am dead serious. I don't think I ever once said anything about it, because there was no way to talk about it that didn't make me feel ashamed. People usually followed my lead: almost ten years in the classroom, I had students call me by or annoymously write every foul name in the book, but they never called me fat.
i call myself a renaissance lady if you look at the paintings the ladies are all curvy! ... In my culture though, others (usually the older generation) have no problem telling you that your fat or are getting fat... I dont like it but am use to it.
What I call myself:
"out of shape" - 'cause I am, no matter what is my weight
"skinny fat" - ditto
"frumpy"
"fat a$$" - 'cause I'm bottom-heavy
"lumpy"
"misshapen"
And sometimes when I am feeling good about myself:
"OK"
"fine"
"average"
"getting better"
Nothing really positive to say yet, but I'm getting there. I really am *fat* even though I am not *overweight* (but I'm over my ideal weight!) - so my issues are all about how I carry the weight I have, how to be more toned and how to be more athletic.
Just for laughs, what others have said about me in the past:
"Man, you are faaaaaat" - from a child at a swimming pool, and I was 113 lbs! (it was a long time ago)
"Your butt really is big!" - from a gay man, I weighed 120-125
Something about how I should eat less and lose weight - from a guy, I was 121 lbs then
Something about how I would have no problems bearing children because my hips were so big - from a guy I was on a DATE with, I was probably 132-135 lbs
Assumptions that I was pregnant - from 3 different people, I weighed ~130-142 lbs.
Nobody said nothin' when I reached my high weight. Except one (naturally skinny) friend had a hard time disguising her horror when I said I couldn't cram myself into a size 10 pair of jeans. What-EVER.
But I think I cried in each of these instances - or at least cried inside. Even if I think I am a lumpy, misshapen slob, I still have this irrational hope that others don't see me that way, ya know? I also really hope that I never said something to someone about their weight that hurt them. It's such a terrible feeling.
I don't recall anyone ever calling me anything. Most of the time I call myself huuuuuuuuuge. If I am having a really bad day, I say I'm as big as a barn because that's really how I feel. Even though I've lost alot I still cannot get my brain to see that I am not as big as I was. I think it's because I have so much farther to go.
Giant is the word that first comes to mind... because not only am I tall... I'm also built larger (the majority of it IS fat), and so... especially when I'm with kids... I'm not just the short chubby girl that they can all have fun with... no... I tower four feet over them.
I wasn't even THAT fat as a kid, I was certainly overweight, and probably "chubby" is the closest to it, but I was the only bigger one in my class so I sure stood out. I think I was like 80 pounds if other girls were mid-60's. Mean kids would call me fat. My own sister called me the worst hurtful thing, 'a beached whale' (40 years later I still don't like her) and a 'best friend' (so I thought) told me that my legs 'looked like sausages' when I had to put on white knee socks to go to her church. You know that still hurts my stomach when I remember that!
now - it is just such a mindset to think of myself as 'fat'. Because I have proportionally bigger thighs, bigger upper arms...and will never have nice legs. Dayum...stuff from childhood sticks doesn't it!
Last edited by VermontMom; 06-10-2010 at 07:24 PM.
Giant is the word that first comes to mind... because not only am I tall... I'm also built larger (the majority of it IS fat), and so... especially when I'm with kids... I'm not just the short chubby girl that they can all have fun with... no... I tower four feet over them.
There's a beautiful word for this: Statuesque.
Generally I just call myself "fat" when I want to refer to the fact that I am, indeed, obese.
But if you were to ask me my body type, I would say "Pear-shaped, great hips and butt and legs, with a good ability to put on muscle. Check out these guns!" *flex*
Haha... unfortunately... that word just isn't in the vocabulary of the kids I'm with... cousins and kids of my parents' friends.
I guess the other word for me that comes to mind is "debela". Which means fat in Serbian. I was called this so many times by these two girls... nobody else cared... and I wasn't THAT big at the time... but... I was the American, and they were the popular kids... So yeah...
I don't discuss my body size unless it's relevant, and then I'll say I'm "heavy" (i.e. -- I don't think I want to sit in that chair because I'm heavy). I don't mind the word "fat". I do think the young person's word "thick" is interesting. I don't use it, but I find it fascinating.
I don't talk about it unless it's relevant, but I'll say "since I got fat" or "since I got overweight" "I'm obese". I don't mind the word fat if it's used in a relevant way. No word is nice if being used as a pejorative, but I'm not precious about admitting I'm fat, because I am.
Most other words make me cringe, even euphemisms like "curvy". I dunno... I see Jennifer Lopez as a curvy woman... I'm fat, not curvy.
Last edited by GoldenLeaf; 06-10-2010 at 08:35 PM.
- from a guy I was on a DATE with, I was probably 132-135 lbs
