The stages of weight gain, as viewed by me...

I feel like there are different stages of weight gain, you can go up and down the stages depending on where you are on the spectrum. Note that this is only for the skinny guys who gain weight, not people who have been fat all their lives. This is 100% my opinion, if you feel obligated to object, please elaborate.

Stage 0: Start point.

This is the start point. Your lowest weight or "fightin' weight". Almost no one is consistently at this point and if they are it won't be for very long. Also, note that Stage 0 can change at any point. Example: Your stage 0 could be 140 pounds when you were sixteen, but now that you are in your mid twenties, your new Stage 0 could be 155 pounds. Still confused? Don't worry I'll explain further on.

Stage 1: The first ten pounds...

Everyone, gainers and non-gainers, go through this stage at least once in their lives. It is also the most important stage because it is technically a safe zone where you are not defined as "fat" but you very well could be in the near future. Let me explain, one of two things is going to happen. The first is one day you are going to take your shirt off and realize you have lost some muscle tone. Parts of your body are softer than they once were; you might even have a little belly depending on your size. You realize that you haven't been eating well recently and it is very probable that you have put on weight, therefore it is time to kick bad habits, hit the gym, and get in shape. Either this happens or the alternative happens. You gain ten pounds, don't really notice it and continue on to the next stage.

Stage 2: The fifteen/twenty pound mark... the "Freshman 15".

This is a stage that is common amongst most people, but not everyone. Most people that do hit this stage do it in college, hence the "Freshman 15". At this point it will be apparent that you have gained a little weight. Granted it's not a lot in retrospect, but it is enough to make your jeans a little tighter, or to have a little belly, or to appear fuller in the face. Exceeding this stage takes an interesting personality because it means you are in extreme denial (which you may very well be) or you simply don't care. There is also the possibility that you have achieved a new Stage 0. Maybe you've kept that "Freshman 15" for four years now. You never were able to shake it off, so you now accept that it's going to be there forever and you're not going to have the same body you had in high school. Or maybe you've had that paunch for a while now to a point where you don't even recognize it as being anything but the norm. If you haven't hit the gym at this point, you could easily achieve Stage 3.

Stage 3: The first thirty pounds...

This is a corner stone in the gainer world. Depending on your size it is usually the line you cross to becoming overweight, by definition "fat". If you have gained thirty pounds you will not be able to hide it. Baggy clothes and sucking in your gut are not going to hide the fact that you have let yourself go a bit in the past few months. Even the people in the deepest denial with have to face the truth when they can't button up their pants. This point is when some people start to feel bad about themselves and attempt to lose the weight. Others, however, go to the store, buy new clothes, and just become the butt of everyone's jokes. Assuming you haven't broken old habits at this point you are well on your way to stage 4.

Stage 4: 50-100

This is the most broad stage because people who fall into this category are the "fat guy" personalities. People who eat because it gives them joy. The result from your love of donuts is a prominent belly (if you've gained fifty pounds or more it is biologically impossible to not have one), love handles (I've haven't gained more than ten pounds in my life and I still have 'em), chunky legs (not my thing "butt" whatever), and maybe even features like the double chin or man boobs! If you are at this stage you are definitely overweight or maybe even obese. Your Stage 0 has also probably changed to ten or fifteen pounds heavier than it was before, so if you do try to lose weight you'll be satisfied at your new Stage 0.

Stage 5: 100+

Congratulations! You are a minority! Most people stop when they've gained over a hundred pounds (unless you are a gainer of course). It takes a very strong level of denial coupled with a love for Italian food in order to get to this stage. Your Stage 0 could be all over the map at this point because dropping that weight is not going to be an easy task.

Fat Camp (fiction)

This story contains one of my earliest gainer fantasies, hence the young age of the characters.

Trent, Jack, and Marty. There, I memorized their names, probably important since I would be rooming with them for the entire summer. Hopefully they have remembered my name by now. When I first met these guys I had to correct them saying it was Derrick not Darren. The cabin we got was nice, standard, but nice. There were two sets of bunk beds on the north and west side of the cabin. The washroom and showers were just outside a mere ten feet away. Also, most importantly, the main hall was just on the other side of the dirt road. The main hall is where they serve the food I often hear about. I only noticed all this after Trent, Jack, Marty and I all came back from swimming in the lake that was close by. We were just about to change out of our swim trunks when Trent said something, “Hey Marty, nice gut!” Marty looked down blushing a little. Marty hadn’t even really gained much weight it was just that he was very skinny looking when he got here. “I had a big lunch guys.” Explained Marty. The food here is served in huge portions. I always found myself completely stuffed after each meal. Plus the main hall is open 24 hours and there’s always cookies or other snacks lying around. In fact if I hadn’t been breathing in the entire time we were swimming; the guys probably would have noticed that I had gained a little weight too. The bell calling all campers to the main hall had rung. This usually means it was time for dinner. I quickly put on a pair of basketball shorts and a tank top and ran to the hall. Today they were providing an all you can eat pasta bar. When I looked at the buffet I had a sensory overload. All kinds of pasta with all different kinds of sauces. I looked over to Jack and Marty who were drooling. “Where’s Trent” I asked. “He’s trying to squeeze into his shorts. Last I checked, he was trying to get the button closed.” Said Jack. “He shouldn’t be talking smack about my weight when he’s got a gut bigger than mine.” Said Marty. Trent wasn’t super skinny like Marty was. He had big arms and a big chest. But since coming here he’s been losing definition and getting a belly. “It must be the food here. Don’t they know not to overfeed a group of growing teenage boys?” I exclaimed. Jack and Marty laughed as we filled up our plates with food. “Yeah, I didn’t want to say anything, but you’re starting to fill out that sports wear Derrick.” Said Jack. I had known for a while that I had been getting fatter. Yesterday, in the shower, as I was lathering myself I realized I felt a lot softer than I used too especially on my stomach and legs. We all sat down together at a bench each holding at least two plates filled with food. I started eating some penne alfredo when Trent joined us at the bench. He finally managed to get his shorts done up… with a safety pin. After my third helping of each kind of Italian cuisine I decided to stop. At this point I was so glad I wore basketball shorts with an elastic waistband. Jack was smart enough to not change out of his swim trunks, which also had an elastic waistband, but Marty and Trent both had their shorts undone. “I don’t think I could eat another bite.” Said Marty and he rested his hands on his bloated stomach. But then a camp counselor came to our table explaining that there was soft serve ice cream for dessert. Every camper lined up to the machine that dispensed chocolate and vanilla ice cream. We decided it was not worth missing out on. I got a large cone of chocolate ice cream and took it back to our cabin. I sat on the end of my bed enjoying the frozen treat, but quickly fell asleep after. My tank top had rolled up showing off my stomach, which had grown quite a bit this first week. With seven weeks to go I imagined what the rest of the summer would be like.

Four weeks into camp, I noticed a lot of people stopped showing up to the lake to swim, something to do with having to wait an hour after eating. It was nice just having my cabin mates and I there. It gave us time to just hang out. I was lying on a fold out chair when I was awoken by someone poking my stomach. It was Trent. “Sorry, but I had to tell you. The Velcro on your shorts is coming undone.” I got up making the matters worse. The Velcro burst open with the force of my stomach resulting in a large roll of fat to protrude and rest on my lap. Trent giggled, but it was quickly silenced when I slapped him on the back so he would be forced to stop sucking it in. His belly burst forth popping the button on his shorts. Jack and Marty ran out of the lake to see what the commotion was. They had gotten quite big as well. Marty had a soft rounded belly, while Jack was getting man boobs. “Did we really let ourselves go this much?” I asked. “I dunno…” said Marty, “I don’t really mind.” As he said this he was patting and shaking the front side of his belly. This mind set wasn’t uncommon amongst the campers. Last week when I decided I was getting too fat, I started to control how much I was eating, but the counselors were making it hard. They didn’t mind that I had eaten so much in fact they encouraged it. Every night they offered more and more treats after the meals including brownies, ice cream and cake. The bell from the main hall rang again announcing it was time for dinner. Trent, Jack, Marty, and I didn’t bother changing. We showed up to the main hall still in our swim trunks with no shirts. The other campers really didn’t mind because a lot of them had ditched their shirts as well, probably because they had become too restrictive. Today was Friday, and every Friday night the camp provided pizza. The guys in our group were one of the biggest eaters. We each had a large pizza to ourselves. Still shirtless, I looked down to notice that a pepperoni slice had fallen on to my belly. I used every last piece of strength I could muster to eat it. A counselor walked by and offered home made cookies for dessert. Trent took one, but I couldn’t possibly have eaten anymore. The crumbs fell onto Trent’s man boobs and gut. It was probably the most vile display of gluttony I had ever seen. We waddled back to our cabin and spent the whole night lying on our beds letting the meal digest. I looked up to see an outline of Marty’s butt in the bed above me. That entire night I prayed that I wouldn’t crushed.

It had finally arrived, the last night of camp. Something that we all wished would come sooner at the beginning, but by the end we never want to leave. I had become much too accustom to the meal plan here. None of my cabin mates had stopped growing. There was only one mirror on the campsite and it was in the washroom and more often than not you would find campers staring at the size of their bellies. Trent, Jack, Marty and I held contests to see who was bigger. We used lanyards as measuring tape and the winner got the last slice of pizza on Fridays. I thought about what was going to happen after I got back to real life. The people at school aren’t even going to recognize me. My brother is probably going to tease me to no end. The only thing I could wear were the basketball shorts with the elastic waistband, but those were starting to reach their capacity. I wore a t-shirt to the last dinner at the main hall. It barely fit me. It hugged every curve and my belly button would reveal itself when I lifted up my arms. My cabin mates had similar problems. Trent could barely fit into the booth for meals and Jack and Marty would compare man boobs. These thoughts quickly disappeared when I saw the final meal before me…

…use your imagination ;)

Weight Gain on the Job (non-fiction)

Normally I wouldn't feel comfortable writing about other people, but I haven't seen this person in years, so I feel like it's okay.

Back in high school, roughly a year before I had my gaining experience. There was a guy that was a friend of a friend of mine. We were in choir together and he was in a couple of my classes, but other than that we really didn't hang out. He was a nice guy; a really hard worker. In fact when he was fifteen he got a job at McDonalds (he ended up being a part-time manager for the franchise, but that's not important). Anyway, one day were just sitting around the choir room and he was talking about his job. He talked about how much he hated it because apparently he had gained 20 pounds working there. He got free meals plus he worked in a food court with plenty of other options. He was eating fast food four or five times a week and eventually gained the weight over the past year. But here's the best part of the story. When a friend of his denied that he looked like had gained any weight, he lifted up his shirt to show off his belly. He was sitting down. His gut was on the small size but very protruding. It also rested on his lap. I was way too shy to say or do anything. Besides, it probably would have been rude of me to reach out for his belly and give it a good rub while trying to convince him to gain more weight.

The Croquembouche and Other Delights (fiction)

The sign was in French, but my brother Grant was positive it was the right place. He looked at me and said something in French. “What?” I replied. “Don’t worry Pete this will be fun!” he answered. I was skeptical. I’m not the kind of guy that can go to a foreign country for a year and relax. We were staying with our other brother who moved out here to be with his girlfriend and her family. We haven’t seen Jerrod in over six months, but we talked via instant messaging all the time. Apparently, Anjulie, his girlfriend, has been dying to meet us. That and her family comes from a long line of pastry chefs that have owned a bakery in Paris for generations. That’s why Grant was sure this red brick building was the right place, there was an old looking bakery attached to it with cakes in the window that Jerrod often described. Jerrod described a cake called a croquembouche. It’s basically a cake made out of doughnuts. Anjulie baked him one for his birthday. In his words, “It was so good I ate the entire thing by myself and Anjulie’s parents just laughed.” I guess gluttony is less frowned upon here. Grant knocked on the door and of course Anjulie answered. I’ve only seen pictures of her before and she looked just like the one’s Jerrod sent over. She was a little more full in the face than I remember. She introduced us to her mother and father and cat who were all perfectly lovely. But then Jerrod walked into the room. Grant and I were both in a little bit of shock for Jerrod looked like he had gained some weight… a lot of weight in fact. Jerrod was the athlete in our family. He loved to hike and swim and play soccer. He used to have abs, but it looks like he hasn’t seen those in months. Jerrod had a soft belly that protruded from the tucked in dress shirt he was wearing. I could also see an outline of fat that had formed around his pecs. His legs were stockier and he had a much fuller, rounder bottom than he used to. Grant was the first to make a move. He didn’t break eye contact and simply said, “Hey Jerr, you look good.” I could tell Grant was trying to point out the elephant in the room. Unfortunately he failed since Jerrod simple replied, “Thanks, so do you.” I felt like I had to say something, “Hey big guy, has France been treating you well?” He replies with a proud yes and continued with some stories so we would get caught up. A lot of his stories involved food, no surprise there, food that Anjulie’s parents made, food from the bakery, food from restaurants all over town. As he told these stories he was sitting down on the sofa where is gut hung over his waistline and rested on his lap. Does he not notice? I thought. Just as I was about to say something, Jerrod invited Grant and I to one of his favorite bars. There Grant and I had a beer, but Jerrod had just finished off his fourth beer and ate nearly all of the deep fried bar food we ordered. “You must’ve been hungry huh?” I said. “This is nothing, just wait till we get back, Anjulie is probably gonna have some éclairs or something for us.” Jerrod replied. “So much for treating your body like a temple.” Grant joked while patting Grant’s belly. Finally someone said something. “Yeah I’ve gained a few pounds since moving out here, but I love it.”

“Really” Grant said in disbelief.

“Yeah, Anjulie doesn’t mind, her parents love that I love their food. In fact I hope you guys brought comfortable pants because I imagine they’re going to feed you too.”

When we got back to the house there were the éclairs that Jerrod had promised. He had two, but then had to unbutton his pants to have the third. I didn’t realize how hungry I was. I ate three as well while Grant only had one. Anjulie’s father came up to me and said in a very thick accent that he liked the way I eat and then gave my stomach a pat. Then he said to not worry because there’s plenty more that came from. Like What? I wondered.

It had been a little over a month of living with my brother Jerrod. Despite Anjulie’s family’s dismay, we put Jerrod on a diet. He lost about five of the forty pounds he had gained, which wasn’t much, but at least he wasn’t eating greasy bar food anymore. As for Grant and I we haven’t worried much. Anjulie made us amazing desserts every evening. I kept telling her she has gone to too much trouble doing this for us, but apparently all the food we were getting were just leftovers from the bakery, “They’ll just go to waste if a couple of nice young boys don’t finish them for me.” We couldn’t resist her and her chocolate pies. I was especially excited because today was my birthday and Anjulie guaranteed the best croquembouche she’s ever made. I sat down to dinner, which was a four-course meal with the doughnut cake for dessert. The croquembouche was massive. How did Jerrod eat this entire thing? I looked over and saw that an inch of his gut was sticking out from under his shirt and realized the answer was clear to me. I took a large portion from the top of the cake and the pastry melted in my mouth. It was followed by a sweetness that was so good I immediately had to take another piece. Jerrod and Grant were too full from the meal to taste the delicious cake, but I just thought, “More for me!” Before I knew it only the metal plate was left. I had eaten the entire cake! Grant then looked at me and handed me an object, “I found this on the floor.” He whispered. It was a button, the button from my shorts. I looked down to see that my shorts had completed burst open sometime during the feast. After the inevitable food coma I waddled upstairs to the bathroom. There was a scale that measured pounds for my benefit. I hopped on and foolishly hoped to see 150, my normal weight. The scale crawled all the way up to 167. How did I gain 17 pounds?! Oh yeah, the three foot tall cake… Grant walked into the bathroom with me standing on the scale, “Did you gain some weight too?” he asked. “Too? Did you gain weight?” I asked. “Yeah check it out.” Grant lifted up his shirt to reveal a layer of fat that hung over his waistline. “The scale said I gained 15 pounds last week.” He hopped on the scale. “Make that 18 pounds.” He said. I looked in the mirror to find that I had a gut roughly the same size as Grants, although his wasn’t as bloated as mine. What’s going to happen five months from now?

It had been five months since I asked myself that question. Well for a little while I tried to eat better, but Anjulie was always there with cake, pies, and other delicious pastries. I rolled out of bed in nothing but my boxer briefs on. They were so tight I might as well have worn briefs. I went down into the living room with a box of doughnuts that Anjulie had left us. I sat on the sofa where the cat met me and decided to sleep on top of my belly. Speaking of my belly, it had become much larger in the past few months. It was soft and fleshy which I liked. Grant had gotten a much more solid, round gut, which always felt hairy and uncomfortable whenever he made me touch it. I finished the last of the doughnuts and gave my belly a little slap and a jiggle for good measure. Jerrod walked into the room looking for the doughnuts I had just finished off. “You know those were to share.” He said.

“You don’t need any more doughnuts buddy.” I joked. It was ironic because I was just as big if not bigger than Jerrod at this point. He gained back those five pounds plus another ten. “Okay. It’s time you got off your fat ass and weighed yourself.” He said. I hadn’t weighed myself in months. I figured it wasn’t something I had to worry about since getting fatter was inevitable. I hopped on the scale still wearing my boxer briefs and it read 215. I had gained 65 pounds since coming here. I put on some clothes that barely covered my body and did some push ups with Jerrod (against my will I should add). I did about ten before I had to stop. Besides our bellies kept banging on the floor resulting in complaints from the neighbors. I walked downstairs to see Grant was helping Anjulie make lunch. “I hope you like Monte Cristos!” she said. Grant had a look of absolute glee on his face, but looking down you could see his shirt was barely covering his navel. “Nice spare tire Grant.” I said. Grant looked down and desperately tried to stretch out his shirt enough to cover up his ball belly. Grant ran off to change into some larger clothes but even the large t-shirt he brought along just to sleep in didn’t cover the last inch of his gut. We all sat down and ate three monte cristo sandwiches, probably two and a half more than an average person would eat, but none of us really cared. Anjulie looked exactly the same as she did when I first met her, but looking around the table my brothers and I had completely changed. We used to take pictures of us comparing our abs and posting them to Facebook. Now we compare beer bellies. Jerrod was tall and weighed in at 240 pounds the last I checked, but since he’s been unbuttoning his pants at every meal he might have gained more. Grant had a large ball belly that he never had before. Almost 70 pounds of solid fat rested on his lap as he picked his teeth. As for me at only five foot eight, 215 pounds puts me up with the obese. I looked down to see my jeans were unbutton, my large, soft belly sitting on my lap. I had man boobs that rested on the roll of fat above my belly. Love handles that protruded from my sides and rolled over my waistline. My legs were stockier too. I have learned to waddle to avoid having my thighs rub together. Then I realized I have only lived here for six months. What’s going to happen the rest of the year? I foresaw a second corquembouche three times the size of the last one and me eating the entire thing piece by piece with my brothers watching me.

Introduction + A Non-Fiction Story

Hi

I'm purposely not active online. It's no offence to gainer related social media it's just not how I like to meet people. So you can refer to me as ItsGonnaBe (my Grommr Pseudonym) or WaistLines or that guy wrote that one story, whatever you prefer. Honestly, I haven't really found myself in the gainer community just quite yet. I never really had the chance to explore (I'm rather young, 20 years old to be exact) and I can't quite say I want to gain or not. However, despite my introverted nature I decided when I was 17 that I would give it a try. Anyone in the gainer community can tell you that 17 is probably too young to start gaining. The main problem being money, the second being a minor, the third being the fact your metabolism is too efficient. But despite these obstacles I gained about fifteen pounds. I'm only five foot eight and went from 140 to 155 in about four months. It was my first and only gaining experience and it leads me to my first non-fiction story.

When I was in high school I was enrolled in PE. Despite my distaste for the subject it was mandatory. As it so happened, the swimming portion of the PE curriculum came around the same time I achieved my peak weight of 155 pounds. It doesn't sound like much, but trust me I had a baby belly. Anyways, after a few laps in the pool a lot of us went into the sauna (keep your pants on this story is rated PG-13). I sat down on the hot, wooden bench dripping with combination pool water and sweat. The droplets hit the small roll of fat that stuck out as I sat down. Randomly, one of my good friends started talking about saunas and their benefits. One of them being weight loss. When this came up I immediately, but casually snuck in the fact that I had gained a little weight. My friend responded with a joke and patting me on the abdomen. I almost had to focus on not getting too excited. After we left the community centre, the reality of what I was doing hit me. I was gaining weight on purpose. The only word I could use to describe the feeling was "unsure". Half of my brain was aroused by the fact that not only did someone acknowledge that I had gained weight, but also patted the what some people may call "baby fat" that was on my midsection. The other half of my brain was immediately insecure. Horribly insecure in fact. I wasn't comfortable in my own skin. I wanted to suck in my gut, which completely destroys the point of gaining. With these combinations of feelings I decided it was best that I lost the weight. It didn't take very long, I was back down to 140 in a matter of weeks.

I'm sure I'm not the only one whose had a similar encounter. Some people say you need an encourager to block out the "insecure" feelings. Some say it's just something you get over with time. I'm not sure, the only thing I'm sure of is the time is not now. I still weigh 140 pounds today and I feel most comfortable at this weight. I don't need to try hard to keep a slim figure, but perhaps one day that will change and maybe that will be the day I start gaining again. But, for now I do like watching bellies... I also like writing about them. So stay tuned.