I can vouch for this experience a bit - I was 180 about 2 years ago and have jumped up over the last two years to my current weight of 228 (knocking on 230).
At first, it seemed to take so much longer than I initially expected to "fatten" up because the stories that I was accustomed to reading and the pictures that we favorite on feeder sites seemed to show a magical type of gain. I didn't experience this. I initially experienced the highs of intentionally overeating and stuffing, and then imagining how big I was going to be the next day - only to find that nothing seemed to stick. I was getting a lot of short-term gratification in just loading up with calories, but I didn't feel like it was working.
And then, one day - my clothing felt a bit uncomfortable. Like seriously - just out of the blue.
I didn't feel "fat" - it just felt like my clothing was a bit snug to the point of being just a little annoying.
That's hiw it started for me, anyway. I ended up buying one size up and rejoiced in a milestone, but I didn't look or feel fat. So I kept up the overeating and secretly stuffing and buying double of everything.
The next phase felt like I was doing something wrong because my portions were disappearing faster and I still had capacity (and a new feeling of "bottomless pit" when eating).
It wasn't until I hit 200 at the end of.my first year that I felt like I was making any real progress.
Year 2 for me was when I first started feeling like the weight was showing up as fat. My love handles softened a bit first before I noticed some softer fat on my belly. I was stuffed all the time so the belly growth really only felt like a full gut until one random morning when I woke up and couldn't button my "fat pants" because I couldn't suck in the squish of my waistline.
So... my experience was a lot more gradual than I thought it would be - even though 50 pounds in 2 years is a lot.
Be ready for your doctor to start raising an eyebrow, too.