Can you write some kind of lab experiment sort of scenario? Maybe volunteering for a study and the scientists want to test something to increase stomach capacity with a side effect of increased appetite or something idk. I just love the idea of being stuffed beyond belief until my belly’s struggling so loudly and aching so badly yet somehow still being hungry and getting poked and prodded and observed “in the name of science”
I'm coming at this one a little late, but hey, inspiration finally struck!
Word count: 1,249
Theme(s): stuffing, overeating, mindless eating, medical experimentation, stomach noises
The study seemed innocuous enough: drink a special cocktail of drugs and spend a week being observed for a tidy $1,500. The study is far enough along that the drugs are guaranteed to be safe, and your room and board for the experiment are covered to boot. As a poor college student, you can't expect to find a sweeter deal than that, right?
So what if the drugs are being developed to help expand the capacity of the human stomach? It's not like you hate eating or anything.
You don't notice anything the first hour or so after imbibing, which gives you enough time to settle into the surprisingly cushy room the medical center has provided. There's even a digital kiosk where you can order practically anything you might want to eat or drink. By the time you've gotten to mess with it a bit and explore your options, though, you can feel your belly already starting to cramp with hunger, gurgling its displeasure at being left unfilled.
Not a problem. Lunch is free, after all! You request a plate of pasta and some kind of cream sauce that arrives surprisingly fast, and food in hand, you settle down on the sofa to watch some TV. The pasta is amazing, and it doesn't take long to devour the entire plate.
Except your stomach clearly doesn't believe you ate enough, if the deep, hollow rumble it soon lets out is any indication.
You blush, rubbing soothing circles against your distressed middle as you return to the kiosk. You're a little embarrassed at needing to order something else so quickly, but at least nobody you know will realize that you're being a bit of a pig. Your fingers tap out a request for some fries, chicken strips, and a chocolate milkshake, which appear in the nearby dumbwaiter within minutes. It's a lot, but if it's here, maybe you can just pick at it as the evening goes on.
But as you pop morsel after morsel into your mouth, the food disappears down your gullet almost as quickly as it had arrived. It tastes far better than the ramen and rice you've been subsisting on lately, and it's hard to make yourself slow down when your stomach feels so ravenous. You press a hand against your gut, concerned by the way your stomach continues to gurgle and growl. It's complaining so much that you can feel its displeasure vibrate through your skin.
You lick your lips, giving the kiosk a mortified glance. You've already eaten so much—your stomach can't need much more at this rate, right? Maybe you ought to just order some snacks to have lying around; that way, you won't have to keep bothering the kitchen. Yeah, that should work.
The digital screen lights up beneath your fingers as you begin tapping item after item that strikes your fancy, doing your best not to think about the sheer volume of food piling up in your request queue. Despite already being bloated enough to leave it straining against the front of your t-shirt, your stomach feels like a howling void determined to scream for more more more.
Maybe you should be worried. It's just… it's hard to think about such things when the dumbwaiter opens up to expel the first of many loads of fresh, succulent new dishes for you to try.
You can't even be bothered to go sit down anymore, content to stand at the counter and mindlessly shovel food into your mouth. Grease and crumbs cling to your fingers as you take bite after bite, at least until you pause long enough to lick them clean and reach for the next plate. It's so good that you can't help but moan from the sheer pleasure of your gluttony, whatever shame that still lingered evaporating in the face of your greed.
The counter is littered with empty dishes by the time a shred of reason finally returns to your mind. You're leaning heavily against the surface, panting softly, your belly a tight, churning ball where it hangs heavily from your waist. You can't remember ever feeling this full before, this tight and hot from overstuffing yourself.
Rubbing a hand over the obscenely stretched dome, you struggle to muffle a few hiccups and resonating burps, as if your stomach is desperately seeking some sense of relief.
But clearing the air out of your gut only seems to reinvigorate your sense of hunger.
You're already staggering over to order even more food when you hear a chime and the click of a door opening. The unexpected sight of a pair of nurses invading your space is almost enough to still your hand, but the irresistible urge to continue packing food into your body keeps you moving.
"Don't mind us, dear," one of the nurses says, sliding a blood pressure cuff around your arm. "You go ahead and keep doing what you're doing."
"Just open up for a moment for me," the other says, brandishing a thermometer. It's no trouble at all to let her slide it under your tongue while you tap at the kiosk, the light of the screen reflecting off your face.
They're still there when the latest batch of food comes, remaining politely out of your way while you doggedly resume eating. Your stomach aches, angrily grumbling and struggling in vain to digest everything you've shoved down your throat, but the sensation of eating has become intoxicating. You pant around every bite, cramming more and more into a space that's already bloated and overwhelmed.
"It's just… so much," you moan between mouthfuls, rubbing one hand over your straining belly while the other reaches for more to eat.
"You're doing just fine," the first nurse says, gently patting the side of your abdomen before she starts scribbling some notes on a pad. "You'd be amazed at how far the human stomach can stretch. Now, you just listen to what your body wants and let us work, alright?"
You nod gormlessly, trying to ignore the heavy mass of food burbling and seething in your agitated gut.
The faint whispers of pain and queasiness that ripple through your swollen stomach are easy enough to brush aside when the dumbwaiter's door slides open to reveal a decadent cake covered in fresh buttercream and glazed fruit. Your mouth waters, your hands already reaching forward to pull the tray closer. You feel the nurses poking and prodding, a tape measure being pressed against your skin, but you're just so hungry.
Do you deal with emotional eating or mindless eating? How do you minimize these issues?
I’m still trying to tackle mindless eating. My main problem is that my body convinces me that it’s still hunger. It will tell my brain that I need more food to survive during the day. My doctor calls it hibernating mode. My body needs to eat and store more calories for a “winter that will never come.”
I’m going to look into doing 2 things: reading up on Intuitive Eating, and reading a book @fatmaninalittlesuit recommended, “Mindless Eating” by Brian Wansink. I think understanding how to train my body to eat less will really help my lose weight.
I've got a fun little thing where I never feel full, sven if I've just eaten a big meal if I get distracted and forget I'll eat a other big one right after! The only way I'll notice is after I burst out of my clothes that day, gaining wait after realizing that has been a breeze
Oh dear, that sounds a bit absent-minded and silly of you! Just eating mindlessly and not realizing how much food you're putting away until you've burst right out of your clothes… so adorable.
If that happened, I think we'd have to find you something nice and loose and stretchy to wear, that way you'll be more comfortable. And if it means that you can also thoughtlessly eat a whole lot more without realizing it? Well, all the better. 😉
What is mindless eating?
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What are the common causes of mindless eating?
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