I dunno if I’d relate stigma change *directly* to obesity rates. I think stigma change relates more to explicit efforts to reduce stigma, like social movements (eg body positivity, body neutrality). But I think there’s probably a second-hand relationship in that as more people become overweight and obese, more people realize the need to change fatphobia/fat stigma.

Originally, I was trying to link our *perceptions* of what’s normal to rising feedee weights.

Of course, our perception of normal is also heavily influenced by media, including social media.

I guess my speculation is that *our*—as in the feedist community’s—sense of what constitutes being fat or really fat changes with overall rates plus what the community shares, while other people are more influenced by media portrayal.

Again, all of this is speculation

I dunno if I’d relate stigma change *directly* to obesity rates. I think stigma change relates more to explicit efforts to reduce stigma, like social movements (eg body positivity, body neutrality). But I think there’s probably a second-hand relationship in that as more people become overweight and obese, more people realize the need to change fatphobia/fat stigma.

Originally, I was trying to link our *perceptions* of what’s normal to rising feedee weights.

Of course, our perception of normal is also heavily influenced by media, including social media.

I guess my speculation is that *our*—as in the feedist community’s—sense of what constitutes being fat or really fat changes with overall rates plus what the community shares, while other people are more influenced by media portrayal.

Again, all of this is speculation

I think another factor might be that many high achievers continue gaining, or at least continue to be in the scene or creating content. Plus, at least here in the US, obesity continues to rise. All this to say our intuitive/mental benchmarks are probably changing.

And our benchmarks for gaining challenges change, too, as people accomplish more difficult ones.

Possibly another factor is earning potential—or at least stuffing sponsorships—for content creators (maybe income is higher for rapid gaining and large stuffings?). I’m just speculating though—I don’t have any real knowledge/experience.

It’s really hit or miss for me. I’ve had some good experiences with it (but never sought long term effects), but tbh I’ve had more fails than successes (I struggle with both hypnosis and meditation). The more you do it the more reliable it comes, and you definitely gotta be in the right head space.

I’ve only found a few feedism oriented files with voices I like, and most of them are also geared for someone who wants to be submissive, which isn’t really my thing.

Okay I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of this. I thought insulin *only* signaled cells to take up glucose, and that insulin itself did not have an effect on protein or fat uptake by cells?

My experience of cream is that half and half is waaay easier to digest. Like, I find that the same number of calories is easier to digest as half and half than as heavy cream.

My experience of half and half, in terms of dollars, was that it was best chugged, preferably after I was done eating for the day, or at a halfway point between meals.

Basically, it's so filling that my body just treated it as part of the daily caloric intake. Therefore, my gaining dollars went furthest if the cream was consumed at the end of the day, to ensure it was truly a supplement/excess of calories.

When I spread it throughout the day I just inadvertently adjusted my other eating to compensate.

Ah, here we go. I think this is the study I found originally, a few years ago:

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/oby.20705

Here's a recent relevant study related to what I was talking about regarding metabolic health, adipose tissue hypertrophy, and adipose tissue hyperplasia

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4920141/

Ah, these are always fun threads. Just spent an enjoyable hour I didn't really have studying up.

Becomiongoverweight, I'm curious about the mechanism of insulin response --> VAT uptake of stearic acid. As I've learned it, insulin causes cells to take up glucose, not fatty acids. But my knowledge is pretty limited.

Interestingly, when trying to search for what happens to dietary stearic acid, I found a study that suggests that stearic acid causes VAT apoptosis and death of adipocytes; in other words, stearic acid reduces VAT by killing VAT cells. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing. journals.plos.org/plosone/article

In that study, the mice were fed a roughly isocaloric diet. So maybe stearic acid ---> reduced VAT only when the we're *not* consuming excess calories.

Another possibility of not losing VAT on stearic acid: buildup of fat in liver. Apparently, in hypercaloric diets, dietary fatty acids accumulate in the liver, reducing its functionality. journals.plos.org/plosone/article

So perhaps some VAT reduction is occurring, but it is obscured by accumulation of fat in the liver. Though I imagine not--that would be several pounds of difference.

My general understanding of aiming for SAT gains over VAT gains--from a health perspective--is that SAT is less associated with metabolic syndrome and diabetes. Here's my general understanding of the process, based on articles I read years ago that I don't have the time to search for again rn, but will try to find when I have time:

1. The common explanation/narrative of adipose cells given in many health classes is wrong. The typical story is that you have a certain number of fat cells, and they expand indefinitely. You don't gain or lose fat cells with weight gain/loss; rather, fat cells expand or shrink according to triglyceride storage. This narrative is true, but only to a point.
2. In reality, adipose cells can't expand infinitely. Eventually, if too full of stored triglycerides, they burst.
3. The burst leads to an immune response cleanup crew of the burst cells, ie inflamation.
4. The immune response/inflammation signals nearby adipose cells to decrease insulin sensitivity so that they don't succumb to the same fate. In other words, insulin resistance is an adaptive response to overburdened adipose cells.
5. An alternative adaptive response to a high need for triglyceride storage AND to insulin resistance would be adipogenesis or adipose hyperplasia--the growth of additional adipose cells, to spread the burden of triglyceride storage.
6. I remember reading a mouse study years ago in which some gene was knocked out that limited adipogensis. Mice with insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome grew new fat cells, gained weight, AND were cured of metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance. Growing new adipose cells seems to be the golden ticket for gaining.
7. For some reason, SAT has a limited ability to increase the number of cells in hypercaloric diets, while VAT seems to maintain a set number of cells.

So if the overburdened adipose tissue hypothesis is correct, I'm not sure killing off VAT cells is the way to go.

Of course, my understanding could be entirely wrong. I'm no expert. It's just been what I've been able to piece together from articles I found (as well as articles you've shared over the years).

How come you want to tell your dad? Like, how do you imagine life would be better or different if he knew?

I personally don't have any experience telling parents, but I've told peer family members with whom I'm close. I wouldn't say it's been therapeutic to share it with a family member specifically, but I've told a number of close friends (including this peer family member).

For me, it was never out of the blue. I didn't spring a confession on anyone. Rather, in friendships where the friend and I can more or less openly discuss sexuality, I've brought it up. The kinkier the person, the better its gone.

Truthfully, I think there was some benefit to sharing it with such friends, because I felt seen in a good way, you know? Like being able to discuss it with someone I actually know—and to be accepted—felt validating. It was nice to be able to talk about it with someone who knew *me*, rather than just knowing the fetish.

I'm not advocating to go tell all your friends or close peer family members. Rather, if talking about sexuality is already a part of the relationship, it might be a little therapeutic to share.

There's also the side benefit of getting the chance to practice talking about it and broaching the subject with others. I found that once I told close friends, it was easier to share with romantic partners.