ditzy's advice is spot on.

sometimes it feels easier said than done, i know. when i started playing with gaining i struggled with it. things were great with my (ex) partner, i enjoyed it with her. but during the rest of my day, working and interacting with strangers i got pretty self conscious. so for a while i waffled back and forth - should i or shouldn't it?

at some point you just have to embrace what makes you happy. you have to weigh the pros & cons of not doing the thing you want to... for me it was going back to the gym, which previously i'd loved, but now just made me miserable. it became a pretty clear path for me. the lifestyle i'd been leading brought me far more happiness.

i don't know what your path will be, but I hope you will follow what brings you joy. and good luck on your journey - it's never too late!

it doesn't really matter what you eat, but it's all about the calories.

i couldn't figure out why my weight was going up so much when i started working from home during covid. i wasn't actively trying to gain weight, wasn't stuffing myself intentionally, etc.... later someone (my current partner) suggested i log my eating in an app. i did and it turned out i was averaging 6,000-8,000 calories every day! i had no idea i was consuming so much. previously, when i was really trying to push myself and gain, i'd basically trained my stomach, so it was taking that amount just to keep me full.

so if you want to really get fat my suggestion is not to concentrating on eating a specific thing, look at stretching out your stomach gradually (with anything!) and the gains will come.

since then i've tried to reign it back in and get my daily calories to 3,000-5,000, but sometimes i slip and indulge a bit more.

same for me. hansel and gretel was an early story that interested me deep down, and i didn't really understand why. another children's book called "the great pumpkin giant" featured two very fat characters, including a princess who was too fat to walk and had to roll around - that was of great interest to me!

any time weight gain or a fat character showed up on tv or in a movie i was immediately intrigued.

so i have always had this interest, and i've always been attracted to fat people. the only big change for me was getting fat myself - that is something that has only happened in the last four years or so, and something i never really thought about very much before that.

i think you nailed it. you are young, your metabolism is probably at its peak. you just need to overwhelm it with calories.

1600 calories is tiny. start pushing yourself to consume more if you want to gain, otherwise you will eat a little and feel full and stop.

it doesn't really matter what you consume, just have more of it. my gains did not include any heavy cream or other weird stuff - just good food and a lot of beer, because that it what i enjoy. now it's a real challenge for me to stay under 4000 calories a day!

i think this is probably because the tags changed in the last year with a big update. i bet a lot of authors from the last decade plus have not gone back and updated the tags associated with their stories. (many may not have logged on for ages).

as a bisexual person, i love reading stories featuring guys - especially after putting on weight myself! lol

i think this is the best advice i have seen on this site, honestly lol!

my gain started as my partner at the time was teaching me to really enjoy the indulgence of good food (and drink). i gained my first 60 lbs eating a lot of really great food (and drinking a lot of excellent and exotic beer and wine).

not only can you get fat eating healthier, better food, you can enjoy the experience - not just in watching the scale numbers go up, if that is your goal, but also just in the experience of taste, texture and flavours of delectable meals. become a slave to my desire to try more, to taste more, probably was the biggest shift for me.

when i was a gym rat i ate very lean, very sparse meals. and they were often very dull, too! now that i am a fatty, i find myself looking forward to different dishes and restaurants all day long. i still eat my fair share of junk (trying to cut down on it though). but there is soooo much more enjoyment in good food!

i stopped running before i was 250. i tried to get back on the treadmill back then, but omg, the bouncing of my fat was just too much. now at over 400 walking is enough exercise for me.

for me, i was 160 lbs when i moved in with my ssbbw girlfriend. i don''t think her fat was contagious, but maybe our lifestyle was. we spent a lot of time going out, drinking, eating out a lot. i started to partake in the treats and things that she enjoyed, and all the drinking cut down my trips to the gym due to hangovers, lol. so eventually i just decided to give in to the lifestyle for a little while... but the slippery slope has resulted in me continuing to gain and i haven't been to a gym in years!

pretty sure this was my downfall. after my first year of "letting go" and indulging, i found it really impossible to control my portions. i was always hungry when i tried!

check out the "artists & animators" forum - there have been a few threads there with lots of recommendations.

losing control is a classic, for sure!