Stuffing

I stuck to maintenance calories yesterday as well, and it was very difficult. I was constantly hungry, so I drank lots of water, zero sugar cranberry juice, and Diet Sprite to stay full, and I snacked on celery and carrots. It doesn't always work, but it's a momentary distraction.

I'm still growing though, as all those calories settle. My hubby noticed new belly stretch marks last night, and skin on my tummy is extra sensitive to the touch.

We had to re-engineer my work from home setup so I can reach everything I need. I wonder if the people I see on virtual meetings can tell I've basically become a human balloon in the past few weeks.

Even if you've been sticking to maintenance calories, the amount needed to maintain your current weight is still almost enough to gain 2 pounds if you're sedentary enough. I recall something similar happening to you a while back where even though you weren't stuffing or trying to gain your body took any calories and stored them as fat

Yes, and that was also after an intense period of gaining. I put on about 35 pounds that time with no effort at all. I've always gained weight quickly and easily, and maintaining has gotten harder as I've gotten fatter. I can't decide if that's scary or a greater incentive to stuff my gut to its limit.

I imagine its equal parts scary and exhilarating knowing that even if you just stick to a few thousand calories a day you will continue to gain and there's truly no going back now. Hopefully your skin is healing quickly as I imagine you're wanting to get back to eating and eventually feeling full

I've never felt this hungry. Last night, I had eight pizzas in my Doordash cart, but I stopped right before placing the order. When I stuff so frequently, it seems to shut off my fullness signal entirely, and I don't feel satisfied until I'm so engorged my stomach could explode, and I can't breathe.

Yeah I imagine the hunger blocks out the fullness signal, or you eat so much so fast that your body doesn't realize how full it actually is until you're at bursting point

I think it's also about my perception of what hunger is. When I've been through prolonged periods of extreme stuffing, my brain seems to confuse anything short of being way past my physical limit with being hungry. It's as though being painfully overfilled, unable to breathe, belly button area hurting = satisfied, while being too full, belly bloated and tight = still hungry, and being more full than most people like being = starving.

Yeah that very well could be, hope your skin is healing? Have you been able to stick to your maintenance calories?

Thank you, I have been! I think I pushed my body about as far as it can go, so this is just a little break, and then I'm sure I'll be eating whatever I want again