Clothes padding

Hey all. If any of y'all follow my posts, you'll know I love to get padded up and go out in public, presenting as a fat man with a large belly. I've done this dozens of times now, but there's always the persistent fear in the back of my head -- what if someone I know sees me??.

I'm sure most everyone here has had the same thoughts - even if you don't go out padded, you probably have the fear that someone will "walk in on you", and see you pretending to be fat (or fatter).

More and more lately, I'm wondering if that's actually as big a deal as I've always felt it is. I mean, for me (and I imagine, most of us), padding has direct links to sex/masturbation, so it's like there's a built-in link in my head -- as if the shame of getting caught with one (masturbation) is equal to the shame of getting caught in the other (padding).

But lately I feel like there's a growing disconnect, as most of my padded activities now have nothing (overtly) to do with sex! It's just me going to a clothes store, or out to eat, etc -- normal human activities (I guess I still have some sexual thrill by feeling like a fat man, but it's not like I'm jerking off in public!). And it's got me thinking about how if someone else enjoyed going out with say, a blue wig, should they feel ashamed that they get recognized in public? At this point, padding is basically a hobby to me, so why am I so embarrassed by it??

And more importantly, if I told my close friends about it how would they actually react? My wife knows about it and is surprisingly cool with it, but she also knows a lot more about my sexual preferences than my friends. I haven't worked up the courage yet, I mean it's not something you can just take back, but more and more I feel like it doesn't actually matter if they know. I mean, everyone does weird stuff, right? What's so bad about playing dress-up? Idk. I guess my ultimate goal is to be able to go out proudly, near my own house -- if someone from work, or a neighbor, sees me padded, I want to be able to own it. Be like "Oh this? Yeah, I like to tinker with this fat suit. How does it look? etc" and then go about my day, unembarrassed.

So I made this post to talk about it.

Do y'all agree?
Have any of you told anyone about your padding? Or have you gotten caught padding?
How'd they take it?

I haven't confessed specifically padding, but I did let some friends know ahead of time that the next time they see me, I will be fatter/curvier, and that it was a conscious choice to gain weight. I like, came out as a fat(ter) person. Absolutely no one has said anything about my weight, but I felt safer having someone know. So I told my friends, one of whom is trans, and his response was beautiful, "aww, of course we want you to be in the body you're most comfortable with. Thanks for sharing with us" and it was wholesome and I felt more confident around them. I want the people around me to know I'm not ashamed by it.

OMG! This is my experience, too!! Padding and crossdressing was really sexual for me for a long time as well.

I began to take the sexual part out of the activity a couple years ago and my feelings about padding started to shift entirely. I had goals for overall realism and "passability". Since then, I've started to go out dressed up, too. And I've come out to several people including family. I haven't dressed around most of them, but they know about it.

I've had that same realization about others seeing me, too. It's unusual and I'll probably feel a little awkward if I see someone I know, but I'm really gaining more and more confidence each time I do it. I have every Friday to go out and I've really been enjoying it.