(Based on the fictional character of Cameron James)
I’ve always been a fit guy; during my teen years I played sports, football in particular, a little bit of swimming here and there. I never struggled with my weight since I always had toned muscles and hard abs from a young age. It perplexed me how someone could let themselves get so mislead, eventually resulting in themselves becoming overweight. A few close friends and I worked out with each other a few times a week, so that we could maintain and advance our muscular physiques, and as a group, we disfavoured those who were overweight. They weren’t like us; we were the ripped ones; the ones who girls obsessed over. I made sure my football jersey fitted snugly, so that my abs would pierce through the shirt. Same goes for my pants; they had to be loose enough so that I could still run, but tight enough so that you could see my thick, muscular thighs and bulge. I think it was safe to say, that I was the heartthrob of the school.
After training with my gym buds for over 5 months now, we each became ripped. We found ourselves having to upsize our normal clothes so that they could fit around our pecs and thighs. We weren’t complaining though; as far as we were concerned, we were obsessed over.
It was at school, in the cafeteria that I was served my lunch as I was each day. My friends got their food and saved me a seat at the table across the room. As I came to get my food, I noticed the server, a classmate of mine, Nate I think his name was, he had gained some serious weight over the summer break and there was no way I was gonna let this go unnoticed.
“Hey, Nate is it? Make sure that you save some food around here for the rest of us, okay? Unlike you, some of us need to eat”
Nate said nothing. I didn’t expect him to anyways. I was somewhat more outspoken that the rest of the guys I went to the gym with, even though we all shared the same thoughts.
“Got nothing to say? I’m surprised since your mouth is clearly huge”
Nate muttered something under his breath this time. Something about how what goes around comes around? Whatever that means. I sat with the guys and noticed my plate had been filled more so than anyone else’s. I didn’t think too much about about it; besides, I could do with some bulking up.
That night, after returning to my dorm, I felt myself craving. This was an unknown experience since I never over ate and never longed for more. I searched my cupboards for any energy bars or muscle shakes but couldn’t seem to find any. A quick trip to Walmart was overdue anyways. I quickly slipped on a tank, sweats and some sliders and before long, I was out the door.
After driving for a few minutes, this craving intensified and thoughts of chocolate and candy overcame me. Walking through the aisles of Walmart, I eventually came across the snack aisle. For what seemed like miles and miles, candy, chocolate, soda and snacks occupied my vision. I though to myself “when was the last time you had a cheat day.” I couldn’t honestly remember but it was long overdue. Before long, my basket was filled to the brim with Oreos, Graham Crackers, Marshmallows and Coke. “This should suffice my appetite” I thought. I sat in the parking lot with nothing but the streetlight, lighting my snacks. After chugging a gallon of milk along with all the other snacks, I rummaged through my bags until I was surprised to find that I had eaten it all. This wasn’t surprising though; I was a big guy after all; I needed the energy. As I began driving back to campus, I felt my bloated stomach nudge the steering wheel now and again. I had never in my life see my belly do that. Thinking about it, my sweats did feel tighter now; I almost felt suffocated by my tank.
“I’m just bloated, right?”
“Yeah, you’re just bloated. It will have gone down by the morning…”
I woke up the next morning, starving for breakfast. Never have I before felt staving for breakfast. I noticed some milk splashed across my tank from the night before so quickly went to change it before breakfast with the guys; didn’t want them to think anything of it. As I threw over my school jersey, I did notice it fitting more sung than a few days before.
“Maybe I’m just bulking up?”
“Probably that…”
I went downstairs in the tight-fitting sweats from the night before, and as I went up to Nate for food, he commented on my somewhat expanded waist.
“Cameron, I think you might want to invest in some larger sweats, huh?”
Something came over me. I felt this rush of aggravation and before I knew it, I had Nate by the collar, pulled across the counter and I said to him “listen, I’ll always be fit, I’ll all always be hot, I’ll always be obsessed over but what a shame I can’t say the same for you. You will always be fat and that ain’t never gonna change…”
With no words spoken after that, Nate piled my plate high with food and I sat with the guys. They started scanning me for noticeable differences but couldn’t seem to put their fingers on it.
“Have we had enough staring yet? I’m trying to eat…”
“That’s it! Have you put on some weight since the last time we saw you?…”
“What? No! Of course I haven’t! I’ve been working out just like you and if anything I’ve been getting fitter…”
“Whatever you say, Cam…”
The guys left for training and I said I’d catch up a little later. I went up for seconds and Nate refrained from saying anything. Boy did I put him in his place. To think that I would ever be similar to him, in an any aspect at all is crazy. I felt stuffed after my second plate and didn’t have the energy for practice that day, so I went back up to my dorm for a nap.
By the time I woke up, it was 1:33 am. My appetite was raging and I couldn’t control it. I remembered I made another trip to Walmart a few days after my prior trip so I had some Twinkie’s and half a gallon of milk left over. After devouring those, I decided that it was time for bed. As I was laying under the sheets, I noticed a bulge emerging from the duvet.
“Was it my stomach?”
“Can’t be…”
Sure enough it was. I threw off my covers and pulled my tight tank off. My belly was so huge, I was struggling to see my feet laying down. I felt short-breathed and didn’t know what to do. Out of nervousness, I opened a bag of Doritos and curled up in bed; my stomach feeling soft and jiggly.
The next morning, I woke to find the guys standing over me, telling me that I was late for practice and if I missed it again, coach would suspend me indefinitely. I threw on my football jersey and pants and struggled at that. I ran down the stairs to the pitch, my shirt rising each step I took and my thighs rubbing with it. By the time I was on the pitch, my love handles escaped from my jersey and my thighs were thicker than ever before. I used to love that my my muscular thighs were on show, but now, I felt self conscious, each step I took. It became abundantly clear that I was not in the physical state to be playing football so I ran off for the cafeteria for a late breakfast.
Nate was there greeting me with food.
“Would you like any more, or will this extinguish your appetite? It doesn’t matter, you’ll be back for seconds and thirds anyways…”
“Just give me the food and you can return to your irrelevant life…”
“Good one. (Looking me up and down) I guess we’re not so different after all, huh?”
“We are nothing, and will never be, anything alike”
I stormed off to a far enough table from everyone else and sat. As I did so, I felt my ass cheeks overhang the seats. I gripped my left butt cheek to find fat exploding out, between my fingertips. My ass used to hard, firm even. But now, it was soft and jiggled when j walked. My butt now looked like two balloons, ready to burst. As each cheek continued to slide, I hurriedly ate my food so I could retire to my dorm for the rest of the day, hopefully seeing as little people as possible.
I returned to my room, out of breath and sweaty, and looked at myself in the mirror. My butt has ballooned in size and began ripping most of the pants I wore. My love handles overhung the waistband of each pair of pants and hardly any shirts, tanks or t shirts fit over my huge belly anymore.
“Could this…could this be the freshman fifteen?”
“Freshman 15? More like freshman 30”
I tried on most of the clothes in my closet to assure myself that I hadn’t in fact gained any weight, and I was still the ripped, muscular hunk I had always been. The first pair of pants, some beige chinos struggled to fit over my thighs. They were both so juicy now, not even my underwear fitted. They swayed as I walked and left me feeling suffocated as I wore anything below the waist. I pulled and pulled and pulled, and as I finally managed to get the button done up, off it popped; hitting the mirror and cracking it. This was the same for most of the rest of the pants I tried on, same with the shirts too. My sweatpants were the only things that relatively got me at the moment but even then, my belly overhung by 4-5 inches. It was bad. “How had I let myself become what I once thought as hideous? Was I…was I lien Nate after all?” Just the thought of that made me sick to my bloated stomach. I felt beat and I fell into my bed. But as I did so, my last pair of stained sweatpants ripped in the thighs, crotch and ass. I instantly burst into tears. I didn’t know what to do with myself anymore. There was no way in hell that I could lose all this weight before I left school, so I would have to walk around looking like this for the next 3 years.
I got in my car that evening and ran to the Walmart clothes department. I think I remember hearing that Nate got his clothes from there so they must stock larger sizes. I was usually a 30" waist but knew I had got bigger since then. “Maybe a 32”, 34"?“
I tried both sizes on and neither made it passed my thick, juicy thighs again. I screwed it and grabbed the biggest size they had; a 42”.
“Sure they’ll be big but at least they’ll fit, I guess”
I tried on the 42" and on did it just make it over me flabby ass. Even then it overhung slightly and a fat pudge overhung the front of the sweats. Stuffing my face with more Twinkie’s, I drove back to campus and decided to weigh myself. I think when I first came here, I was maybe 120 lbs, and then bulked up to 175" with muscle. Those were the days.
“How bad can it really be?”
“279”
“No. No no no no no. This can’t be. The scale must be broken”
I stepped of and stepped on again.
“279”
In tears I rolled into bed.
The following day, I made it down to breakfast and was surprised to see Nate in better shape. By no means was he as ripped as I was…as I had been…but he looked better. I suddenly felt this wave of insecurity as I walked up for another few plates of food.
“So…Nate. You looks…um, good, I guess…”
“Really? Thanks I guess. Wish I could say the same about you, Cam. What are you now, 270 lbs? You can’t be far off cause I remember when I weighed that. God, to be that weight again; I can’t believe I ever let myself get to that point. I didn’t believe it was even humanly possible. But, you’re here, so…I guess it is”
I walked off and saw a spare seat with the guys. I sat and the the chair cracked. My ass spilled over each side and I had to rest my belly on the table top.
“So, guys, what’s new?”
“Um, you’re weight…your weight is new”
“Hardly! I’m still the same person I was a few months ago”
“See, the thing is, Cam, we didn’t like fat people when you were in the group, and we don’t like them now”
“What are you saying then?”
“Well, we can’t be seen with you anymore. And I think it goes without saying that you were kicked off the team a month ago, which you would’ve known if you’d shown up”
All four of them stood up and left me there with my plate filled to the brim. In tears, I finished my lunch, and naturally, went up for seconds.