So I gained 20 pounds fairly quickly, didn't get stretch marks.

Gradually lost the weight. About 7 years later, started piling it back on in a year or so. Still no stretch marks.

Gained another couple of pounds, but I'm still under my all-time highest weight.

But suddenly, I have bright red itchy spots on my belly. I thought it must be a rash, but it looks so much like the beginning of stretch marks.

Is this possible? Is it possible to get stretch marks if you still weigh less than a weight that didn't give you stretch marks before?

So much this.

The thought of surrendering control of my weight to someone else for a set length of time, maybe a month or two, and seeing how much weight they could force on me in that time, especially with forcefeeding.

Here's an update:

So I've been eating like crazy and I've gained about 8 pounds. It's enough to notice; my shirts feel tight on my belly and I keep noticing I'm wider and my love handles stick out and brush into things when I'm not expecting them to. My belly also feels like it's squishing out over my pants. It's nice.

It's winter and cold and dry, so my skin everywhere is itchy. But lately my belly has been especially tight and itchy. I was absolutely not thinking about stretch marks, because it's just 8 pounds, but then I realized "what if this is it??"

So I took a closer look and realized that, while my whole belly is itchy, I have two VERY itchy, dry, slightly red areas on both sides of my belly, completely symmetrical. When I squeeze my belly around the itchiest area, stretching the skin further, I see vertical, very faint white and brown striations, in addition to little red dots.

So I think these are the beginning of stretch marks maybe??? Or skin stretching just before getting them? Maybe they'll show up in a few more pounds?

I know it varies depending on person and speed of gain, but in your experience, how much did you have to gain to start getting stretch marks?

I'd love to gain to the point of getting stretch marks. However, I'm always on the fence about gaining. I'm not sure if I want to gain so much that I risk getting "stuck" being fat.

So like, if I did a ridiculously fast but small gain-- say 30 pounds in 2 months-- would I be likely to get stretch marks from that? Or would I have to gain even more?

Of course, no one can tell me for sure; everyone's body is different. But any estimates or ideas or experiences you could share?

I definitely belong in this thread. Tease me, getting fat is embarrassing!

Noticing that I'm bigger and thicker all around-- when I cross my arms, my torso just feels wide and thick. It's not just belly, but belly, love handles, etc.

When you start to feel your belly brush against the seatbelt.

When you start to feel your belly touch your thighs when crouching.

Feeling the fit of a pair of pants change-- all the tiny steps-- from loose, to not loose, to a little snug, to tight and "unflattering" because it squeezes your muffin top up even more, to so tight it's uncomfortable, to so tight you can barely button them, then to where you can't button them, then to where you can't even pull them up.

This is a fantasy I've been thinking about a lot lately.

Like, a feeder/encourager pays a feedee for every five-pound goal. It could be in real life, or just online. In exchange, s/he shows the feeder the gain, takes measurements, etc. Maybe s/he even gets paid for extra things like tube-feeding.

I think I like it because of the power aspect of it-- usually, the person who has money to pay for a "service" is the one with the power (a diner paying a waiter/waitress, even a client paying a prostitute). It would be super hot (I know this is unethical, just saying, only a fantasy!) if she wasn't exactly willing, or didn't really want to gain weight but really needed the money.

Does anyone else have this fantasy?