It was a combination of things. One was being overweight myself and loving to eat. Most of my references will be dated because I am older.
One of the biggest influences was Fat Albert. That kid was huge and could do anything. This helped establish size with power.
There were others. A comic book called Richie Rich featured a girl named Little Lotta who was not little. Again, she was big and could do almost anything.
There used to be a newspaper advertisement for a weight loss product called "Aids." (Perhaps it was spelled Ayds - but this was long before the disease and probably why the product is no longer around.) The advertisement featured women who had lost 80 to 100 pounds. I was always more attracted to the before pictures.
As a typical high school male, I was infatuated with the large breasted girls (who were slim - go along with the crowd). During my senior year, a fat girl with huge boobs was interested in me. I resisted at first (big mistake), but eventually we went on a date. We went to the drive-in and you can guess what happened next. While we were making out, she unbuttoned her shirt. Her boobs tumbled out (even with her bra on). She pulled up her bra and her boobs flopped onto her belly. My hands were all over both her boobs and belly. At that point I was hooked.
Unfortunately we went to different colleges and went our separate ways. However, my imprint for larger women remained. At that time, it was still "taboo" to open appreciate fat. I would constantly be telling larger women that they looked great and not at all overweight.
All of this eventually led to being fascinated with people who are actively gaining weight. I have only been involved with Fantasy Feeder for about four years. I wish I had found this earlier in life.
I remember when a BBW was enough. Now I want SSBBW and even USSBBW (Ultra SSBBW). I have been fortunate to be with one USSBBW who was also gaining. In fact we even had competitions to see who could add the most pounds in a week through endless buffets - those were the days. Breakfast buffets, pizza buffets, and Chinese buffets three times a day, Along with late night milkshakes at Arby's. We both packed on 10+ pounds in a week.
Thanks for creating the topic and thanks to anyone who bothered to read this. I am not sure I would ever be a feeder, but I do appreciate everyone's fat - including my own.