Food will get them to enjoy anything.
Bad movie? Wait, there's XL popcorn & a pizza? Let's go.

For example, my wife hates sports. HATES.

The thought of tailgating, football parties, barf.

It was one of the only things we have been on different pages on from day 1. Now that she's heavy, she finally realizes all of the women at said events are generally disinterested in sports and are purely there to pig out on food, get drunk and stuffed. Quickly went to "well damn, where do I sign up!"

She even put on a football jersey to our party last weekend. Never thought that gaining would get her over her aversion to sports! So cute to see all of the piggie moms stuffing their brains out acting like they care about football.

I've mentioned this before, but there are countless instant dishes at the store that take milk and butter: macaroni & cheese, flavored rice, risotto, tuna/chicken helper, lipton noodle packets, mashed potatoes, etc. etc.

Sub heavy cream for the milk. And double the butter. It always tastes better than the standard prep and it becomes a calorie heaping gainer's dish.

Get creative; add cream cheese to your macaroni & cheese (it's amazing!). Add cheese, to well, virtually everything for a couple hundred easy calories. This is also not sugar centric, leading to diabetes issues.

It was after +50lbs that our friends' response to my wife's weight went from "no, I didn't notice" to...... "no, you look good".

It has been funny to see her up 50lbs when hosting parties, pigging out, gut hanging out and still some friends would deny that they noticed her weight gain when it was brought up in conversation. People just try to be nice.

Carbs and more carbs. They process easily and rising/fall of your blood sugar due to the carbs is what triggers hunger - an itch for sugar even when you're painfully stuffed. This isn't healthy long term (insulin issues) but works wonders for 1-day stuffing session.

My wife goes in cycles as well. It's amazing how much is tied to your perception of yourself based on others remarks to you. All it takes is one or two negative comments from acquaintances and it can throw my wife into a 'I need to lose this weight' panic.

Yet, vice-versa is also true. My wife has been gaining but getting more positive comments lately; she had no problem rocking a bikini at her heaviest weight ever this month. But I remember 50lbs ago when she declared that she would never wear a bikini at her weight.

Because of her currently positive self-image, she even made a remark that she's been "losing weight" and that her "tummy is flatter, looking so much better". But it's actually because she's gaining and her abdomen/FUPA and hips have grown in proportions that make her belly look flatter now. Either way, it's telling how your preconceived notions about yourself can override what you're physically seeing in the mirror. And those notions can change with whatever feelings/anxiety may arrive that day.

I always support her in her weight loss efforts - because both of us know she'll arrive at a crossroads and remember what she loves in life - wings, beer and tasty Netflix sessions much more than looking slim to impress people she doesn't even care about.

Anyone experience major snoring after their weight gain? Aside from sleeping so much more and apt to take long naps, my wife has started to snore since her big summer gain. Can get kind of annoying - but is kind of piggie-like, ha.

EDIT: Apparently, yes, is a common issue:

www.longevitylive.com/anti-aging-beauty/weight-gain-lead-snoring/

First that really stuck out to me was a girl that worked at my company. She was 225'ish when she started her position. Blonde hair, porcelain skin. Super shy. Her younger brunette sister also worked at the company and she was a tanned 100lb fitness-freak, looked like a model. Everyone regarded her as the "hottest" girl in the company. She was really outgoing. But the oldest continued to gain and is over 275lbs now. I just became awestruck with her appearance. She has a massive triple roll belly that jiggles around. She also endlessly eats all day at her cube. She's so shy and comes off as very insecure which is a shame. She's so much more attractive than her younger sister - but I doubt she believes that.

Yes.

After a bikini or bodybuilding show, those competitors have been in a torturous caloric deficit for so many months, they often feast out of their minds for the next couple days and it's not uncommon for them to put on 15-20lbs in a few days. There's a video of Kai Green eating an entire cake in one sitting as "the appetizer" to his celebration meal the day after the Olympia.

Then again, they're at such a low body fat%, even 15lbs they have shredded abs...

My wife tries to show some control but once the evening arrives and it's her Netflix time - it's on like Donkey Kong. Like a switch turns on – this is "her time", all rules and control go out the window. I love to put my arm around her belly once in bed because it's a giant inflated rock she's so stuffed. Then you feel it in the morning and it's all squishy - you know all of those calories went to the right places!

Not a fan of numbers for the reasons you point out; and particularly because the authors often distort them to the point they instantly destroy any realism that took so much time/work to construct in the story.

Womens' heights and structure vary so much that numbers truly don't mean much. I know a couple fitness models (sub 10%BF - can see muscle striations in their abdomen) that weigh almost 200lbs. And a short friend of my wife's is 200lbs and has a fupa that hangs below her pelvis. The number is irrelevant.