Would you do me a favor? Please do not call yourself fat. It is ridiculous.
Just because you have excess fat on your body does not mean that it is who you are.
If I sound like I take this issue personally...well, it is because I do!
I started calling myself "fat" when I was just 12 years-old. I had no idea that my words would become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
To lose weight, I found a diet in a women's magazine that gave me a mere 850 calories to eat per day, which in hindsight was a starvation diet.
Although I lost the weight I thought I needed to lose, it did not last.
The minute I went back to my old habits, the weight returned plus more pounds.
Little did I know that similar self-defeating dieting cycles would play out in my life for the next 20 or so years!
But then God showed me a better way to reach a healthy weight based upon His word. He also taught me about the danger of calling myself negative names:
Be sure the names you call yourself are names to which you want to answer."
Let me explain further why I believe calling yourself fat is ridiculous.
Fat is a part of your body. So is hair, bone, blood, and skin.
Can you imagine saying to yourself "I am hair" or "I am skin"? Sounds crazy doesn't it? Then why would you insist on telling yourself "I am fat"?
"I am" are the two most powerful words in the universe. After all, "I AM" is the name of our God.
When Moses asked God how he should answer when the children of Israel asked Moses who sent him, Exodus 3:14 records the following:
And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
That is why I believe what you say after the words "I am" is very important. "I am" is where you define the person you believe you are or want to be.
Consider how God Himself operated in the life of Abraham:
(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;
Romans 4:17
God called Abraham "a father of many nations" before Abraham had the first child!
According to my husband Mike, a brother at church told him once:
Take heed of the words you speak because your words are projected forward - ahead of you and not behind. You will walk into whatever you speak. If you speak positive words, you will walk into positive words."
When I spoke "I am fat" to myself at the age of 12, I walked right into living out those words in my future.
This result confirms another Biblical principle:
For He who would love life
And see good days,
Let him refrain his tongue from evil,
And his lips from speaking deceit (1 Peter 3:10)."
I don't know anyone who doesn't want to love life and see good days! But if you are speaking deceit about yourself, then you are short-circuiting this blessing in your life. You condemn yourself to walk into future bad days.
The dictionary defines "deceit" as misrepresenting the truth. And I have proven that saying "I am fat" is not the truth about who you are.
When you make yourself feel bad about who you are, then you are more likely to turn to destructive behavior, like binge eating, in an attempt to soothe your hurt feelings. It's a lose/lose situation all around.
To turn things around, imagine that you are saying the same words to a little child who longs to have your love and approval.
Would you say those words to them?
If not, then don’t speak that deceit to yourself either! Encourage and speak well of yourself. Speak words that you want to walk into in the future.
When you put God's word into practice consistently, more good days will be yours!
Be blessed in health, healing, and wholeness,
Kimberly Taylor
Author of the 'Take Back Your Temple' program
https://takebackyourtemple.com/program
P.S. Are you ready to grow stronger Spiritually and heal emotionally as you obtain your "feel good" weight? Let the Take Back Your Temple program be your guide. God’s way is change from the inside out and once you are changed His way, you are never the same!
Click here to learn more about the Take Back Your Temple program