I love both the eating and the tightness of a belly that's completely packed. When I was first regaining and was around 225 to 250 pounds, I would stuff my way from having a respectable pot belly to having a bloated, tight, 8-months pregnant-looking gut.

It's harder (but not impossible) to achieve at my size. When I did 90,000 calories in two days last Thanksgiving, I blew up so much I couldn't sit upright and needed help to go from sitting to standing. My gut pushed my boobs practically up under my chin, and my whole midsection was drum-tight, even my sides, which puffed out and pushed my arms out. It was delightfully painful and felt a bit dangerous! I'm not sure I recommend it, but I can certainly say I don't regret it.

I sure wish you all the best as you sort through the complexities of an ED. People come here for many reasons, and you are WELCOME here.

I hope you grow to see your value, your beauty, and everything you offer as a human being.. I am a big girl and always have been. I have a very good friend who is in recovery from an ED, and she's on the opposite end of the size spectrum. I'm hardly an oracle of wisdom, and I certainly have no therapeutic expertise, but I did ask her once, when she was deeply struggling, if she considered me a good friend. She said she certainly did.

I asked what she liked about me. She said she appreciated my loyalty and my kindness. She said I'm funny, and I'm open-minded.

Then I asked her if she would love me more or consider me a better friend if I wasn't fat. I encouraged her to take a long pause before answering. After that pause, she verly clearly said It would make no difference.

The reality is, people of all sizes can be beautiful. Please know that "ideals" are an illusion, and they are also subject to change over time. You are enough, just as you are. I wish you lots of health and happiness.

Definitely!! Also recommend making the last stop, whether for more food or a dessert, a sit-down restaurant so you can show off your food-stuffed balloon belly!

When I regained weight, I put on over 400 pounds in 3.5 years through stuffing multiple times a week, eating 10 to 25,000 calories a day even when not stuffing, and a steady diet of bread, cheese, pasta, pizza, potatoes, and fast food. I was just over 600 lb when I had going to the hospital with a cardiac emergency, but I had vitamin deficits of vitamin B, C, potassium, and magnesium. It's definitely very possible to have a massive calories surplus and a vitamin deficit.

I absolutely loved fast food crawls when gaining. I've done it many many times, and my best ones led to around a 10K calorie intake. There's something exciting about returning home fatter, with your belly bulging and clothes straining, panting for breath and in desperate need of a belly rub.

Being unable to get into a Uber because the UberXL i ordered turned out not to be XL. I just didn't fit and couldn't maneuver myself in, which means I certainly would have been unable to get out. I had to call for another car. (And this was about 150 pounds ago!)

Alas, Thanksgiving will not be the same this year, as we are tying the knot the following weekend. Much of our family is saving the travel and spending the holiday at their respective homes, so our celebrations will be smaller. Not to mention, I need to avoid gaining weight like I usually do over Thanksgiving weekend. I'm on my second wedding dress, and while outgrowing a dress is a cool fantasy, it's also a costly reality. Last year's Thanksgiving was a completely extreme example, but I put on so much weight I outgrew a lot of my clothing in a matter of days, and that in turn led to another 50 pounds by New Years.

That said, we're doing an all-inclusive honeymoon. While I'm not going to devastate my health (and we also don't want the whole week to be about stuffing), I definitely plan to get our money's worth. I'm not going to hold back at the buffet, and I anticipate my swimsuits fitting much differently at the end of the week than the beginning (if they fit all all). I've also chosen clothing carefully, so I have room to comfortably eat whatever I want without feeling hindered.

When I was hard core gaining, I noticed:

- My appetite and capacity continually growing
- increasing difficulty touching my belly button
- Fitting differently behind the wheel of my car, until I ultimately outgrew it and had to move up to a van.
- Needing to set the thermostat progressively lower because my fat was keeping me warm.
- Finding it harder to navigate bathroom stalls until I eventually got too fat for the ones that aren't designed for accessibility.
- Others no longer noticing big gains (because 500 doesn't look much different than 470)

Once a month, I have a cheat day. I don't intentionally stuff because of health concerns, but I do eat whatever I want and as much of it as I want, with the caveat that I still watch my sugar. I ate A LOT yesterday, and I indulged in many things I miss, like cheesy mashed potatoes, meatloaf, burgers, and pizzas. Last night, my belly got so tight I couldn't stand to wear pants. Yesterday, I started the day off at 570 and finished at 579.2. This morning, I can tell I'm still bloated, because my cotton shirt is clinging to the top of my gut like Saran wrap, and my belly is peeking out of the bottom. Back to moderation and clean eating now (sighh) but it's nice to have satisfied my appetite!

I wouldn't say I've regretted it, but I did have one or two times when I engaged in very extreme stuffing and wondered if I had gone too far because I had a different level, and a different type, of pain and discomfort. On one occasion, I actually questioned whether I needed my stomach pumped. I didn't, and the acute part of the pain alleviated pretty quickly. The experience was still worth it, but a little scary.