People calling themselves fat is a huge pet peeve of mine, for two primary reasons:

1. Would you call someone else fat? Your mom? Your brother? Your friend? Colleague? Stranger at the park? Probably not, right? Definitely not to their face. Why is that? Because it would be mean. So why are you being mean to yourself? Of all the people in the world you should be able to count on to be supportive, you’re it. But you’re calling yourself names. I’m starting to think that expression do unto others as you’d like them to do unto you needs to be modified a bit. How about speak to yourself as you’d speak to others. Give yourself a little of the love you spread around and see what  kind of wonderful things happen.

Understand that I’m not suggesting that you need to put rose-coloured glasses on and start perceiving yourself as you aren’t, nor am I suggesting that you should refrain from talking about your weight. I’m absolutely not. But when or if  you do talk about your weight either to yourself or others, consider affording yourself the same kindness that you offer to others.

2. Perspective please! Many of the people who call themselves fat publicly are not fat. This really irks me, because it contributes to the massive self-esteem problem that most women have. Yes, I’m specifically addressing women on this, because, it’s much more of a problem for us. In fact I’ve seen stats showing that girls are starting to worry about being fat as young as six. That’s just gross. But it comes from somewhere. Sure, we can blame the stick-thin models we see in magazines and movies, but you know who else we can blame: Every reasonable sized woman who calls herself fat within earshot of a six year old.

Here’s the thing: You don’t have to have a perfect body to have a nice body.

Let me repeat that, because I don’t think you really get it: You don’t have to have a perfect body to have a nice body.

I still don’t think you’re buying it, so I’ll repeat it again: You don’t have to have a perfect body to have a nice body.

I suspect some of you still aren’t buying it, so let me give you a couple of analogies for perspective:

• Would  you call yourself an asshole because you’re not as giving as Mother Teresa?

• Would you call  yourself an idiot because you’re not as smart as Stephen Hawking?

Calling yourself fat because you don’t look like a supermodel is exactly the same thing.

Elsbeth Vaino, CSCS, is a personal trainer in Ottawa who wishes people would be a little nicer to themselves.