My Journey to Size Acceptance My Journey to Size Acceptance 
I am a woman of size and substance. At various times in my life I have been referred to as "chubby," "chunky," "fat," "round," "big," "overweight," "sturdy," "plump," "obese," "heavy," "an armful," "hefty," "morbidly obese," "huge," "large," "ample," "full-figured," "pear-shaped," "queen-sized," "plus-sized," and enough others to probably fill half a page here. You may have noticed that the majority of these are pretty negative in connotation. (I mean, how much more negative can you get than calling someone "morbidly obese," which literally means you're too fat to live??)
When I was little, I didn't always know what the words meant, but I knew from the person's facial expression and tone of voice that, whatever it meant, it wasn't a compliment. So I grew up convinced that I was inferior in some basic way. Oh, I lucked out all right in that I was strong, athletic, "gifted," and (most importantly - to some people's way of thinking anyway) I had "a pretty face." And despite my inherently introverted nature (see the "What's an INTP?" page), the evidence of which was made more pronounced by increasing feelings of being unlovable, I managed to excel in school. I was, however, the only fat child in a family with four other skinny-to-normal-size kids, and my size was constantly an issue.
(To Be Continued . . .)
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