#Fatspo: Chapter 2

Three months later

With sleepy eyes, Louis watched the bar on his screen slowly fill as his video uploaded. This was his second cooking video for the week and the TikTok version was already doing well. It was well past midnight and he yearned for sleep but he had to get this video online before the morning as promised to his followers.

For three months now Louis has been uploading two cooking videos and one pop culture video a week. Of course, this was interspersed with a constant stream of posts on TikTok and Instagram. It was exhausting producing so much content but it was finally paying off. Louis’ follower count was steadily rising, mostly with fans of food and lifestyle content. Naturally, he placed most of his energy into satisfying these viewers and growing that demographic which required hours researching, testing, and putting his own spin on recipes. It was working, but at the expense of other aspects of Louis’ life.

Anything resembling a social life had drastically dwindled, but Louis didn’t mind because he had so many connections online. These were even better than friends, they were future fans. He barely even saw his roommates anymore unless they interrupted him in the kitchen. Most of his time was spent locked up in his room curating his online presence. Louis never thought twice about as he was confident this was what he had to do to advance his career. He told himself that sometimes ambition and success had to supersede community. It was the only way.

Of course, working at the restaurant was becoming increasingly difficult with the hours he was pulling on social media. Louis would often show up to work tired and with little energy to charm his customers. Increasingly, he was doing the bare minimum to get through his shift. Whenever there was a lull in diners Louis would sneak away to the kitchen and snack while scrolling through his phone.

Not surprisingly, Louis’ body began to morph with his lifestyle. With all his time spent producing content he never went for a jog, let alone drive all the way to the gym. Whenever the thought did cross his mind he found that he was simply too exhausted and would rather snack and watch Youtube. Besides, physique was no longer a priority as his followers only ever saw him from the neck up. Sure, he kept his blonde locks well-coiffed and paid attention to skin care. His face stayed cleanly shaven or with a short cropped scruff. If he had dark circles he’d apply some light makeup. But the buck stopped there.

Not to mention that with all the cooking content he was producing, Louis was eating seriously well. Someone had to taste test the meals to see if they were a success and he didn’t feel good about throwing away his failures. This meant everything he whipped up, for practice or for social media, had to be consumed and he was the only one doing the consuming.

As a result, Louis easily gained about twenty pounds in three months. At first it was just a bit of puffiness around his navel. His flat chest and stomach had a little speed bump at its base. His soft pale skin ever-so-slightly swelled with fat, punctuated by a dense happy trail creeping up from his groin and dissipating just under his chest. At this point, Louis was not even aware he had gained weight.

It wasn’t until the tiny pooch had grown into a fifteen pound pad of fat on his midsection that Louis noticed a change in his body. Suddenly, he was squishy in the center like an undercooked pastry. When he crossed his arms they rested on a cushion. Sitting down made it particularly noticeable as his tummy would bunch in the center into a definite roll of chub.

By the time Louis was hitting twenty pounds gained it was noticeable. As he sat in front of his computer half awake waiting for his video to upload, he could feel his belly pushing at the elastic band of his gym shorts. The pudge was ever present and inescapable. His stomach even growled for more as the video finally finished uploading. Acquiescing to the hunger pangs, Louis polished off some leftover chicken alfredo before passing out atop his bed.

The next morning he woke up hungry once again. He whipped up an expansive breakfast spread more for his own enjoyment than that of his followers. He was starving and needed to satiate his growing appetite especially before a long day of waiting tables. By the time he headed out to work he was comfortably full, but uncomfortably squeezed into size 29 waist jeans.

There was no denying that he needed a new pair of work pants, but he had no option other than to wear these ones. All his other pairs were even smaller and sweatpants were not an option. So, by sucking in with all his might and looping the button closed, he managed to make it work. At least for the first half of the day.

As Louis’ break neared he was completely ravenous and running on an empty stomach. Even still, the pants were cutting him in half. With low blood sugar and lack of focus, he accidentally dropped his pen while taking someone’s order. Uncomfortably, he bent over to pick it up and heard a quick snap and the pang of his button skittering across the floor. Louis stood up cautiously as the table of three slim gym guys looked at him curiously. No one acknowledged what had clearly transpired. Luckily, his apron covered the torn button beneath his paunch. Beat red, Louis finished taking their order and returned to the kitchen where he cinched his pants closed with a rubber hand.