“Fat” (adjective) is an opinion.
Yes, the “F” word (not the 4-letter explicative), but the 3 letter one that when used a certain way, from certain someone(s) can really hurt your feelings.
So what actually does fat truly mean or what is it really? And why does it hurt our feelings? How do we respond?
So what IS fat? Fat is adipose tissue (meaning a group of connected cells that are called adipocytes). Adipocytes store energy. There is brown and white adipocytes, but brown fat cells are more found in babies to help keep them warm. In adults, the most abundant type are the white adipocyte fat cells, so these are the cells that I’ll write about briefly. White adipocytes (fat cells) store excess energy mainly in the form of triglycerides. They also secrete hormones, insulate the body from extreme temperatures and cushion the organs. The percentage of adipose tissue ranges from below 10% to over 40%. Either extremes could be considered not as healthy as percentages in the median of this range. Of the white fat cells, location-wise, there is subcutaneous fat found under the skin and muscles and there is visceral fat found around the organs. Visceral fat breaks down stored fat more easily releasing fatty acids into the body (which can easily travel to the liver via the portal vein which can increase liver fat contributing to fatty liver disease). This makes visceral fat more dangerous than subcutaneous fat, which is needed for protecting muscles and bones and helps regulate body temperature.
Your body NEEDS fat cells, because it is the building block for steroid hormones (including estrogen and testosterone), releases hormones and other factors, protects organs, muscles and bones and helps regulate body temperature. Fat is NECESSARY for your body to function correctly. If you have too little or way too much adipose tissue, your hormones may not be balanced. Also know that eating fat, does NOT make you “fat” either (it does not make you grow adipose tissue unless it is providing excess calories that your body can’t burn off and therefore needs to store the energy, but excess calories not burned off from protein and/or carbohydrates consumed would also be stored in fat cells as energy). There are however better choice fats to chose from to eat (personally, my favorite ones are extra virgin olive oil, macadamia nuts, and avocados!)
When someone calls us “fat”, they are calling to the attention the size of adipose tissue in a very negative way (it was noticed). Why does it hurt our feelings? - because of the negativity. Why did they do it? - the most likely reasons include 1. they are suffering negativity (not necessarily in the same way) themselves and therefore are passing on more negativity to others 2. to impress someone else who is considered someone to look up to but who is negative due to suffering (or merely they are copying another negative person for whatever reason) 3. having a bad personality trait where they are bored and negatively affecting someone else is giving them something to do. In other words, it has more to do with them (being miserable), than it does you. IT is a THEM problem, NOT a YOU problem.
How do you respond to the negativity? Honestly, this sort of thing was directed at me when I was a child. At first, this really bothered me and I showed it bothered me. When I stopped reacting to it, basically, this sort of name calling leveled off. It did have its toll on me by the time I figured this out. Basically, ignore it. Be strong. Your worth is not in having less adipose tissue, but all the other wonderful things that make you YOU.
So when someone calls you or someone else “fat”, know that it is just an OPINION that is MEANT to be HURTFUL, because truly, we ALL have fat (and that’s a fact).