Gym Bod: Chapter 2

One year later

Clay reached down to where his inner thigh was exposed by a tear in his work pants. He knew it was risky to wear these pants when he put them on this morning, but his only other pairs that fit all had food stains. He regretted not wearing his usual black boxer briefs that would have made the tear less obvious. The problem was that his pants were so tight that boxer briefs were too uncomfortable and left visible lines beneath his pants, so he opted for plain old briefs. At this point he would’ve taken underwear lines over his fleshy thigh fat bulging out of a four inch tear in his pants. 

It was early in the day and Clay could not work like this. He began to plan his escape. He waited until a big meeting that involved most of his office before hitting send on an email announcing he was going home sick for the day. He snuck out of the office taking a roundabout route that did not pass by the meeting rooms. Even still, he awkwardly carried his laptop at just a position to block sight of the tear. Once he got outside he let out a sigh of relief and placed his laptop in his messenger bag. Rushing to the parking garage while responding to an email on his phone he ran smack into Frederico, the marketing manager of his company. 

“Clay! Where ya off to? Oh…” Frederico said before looking down at the tear in Clay’s pants. “Time to size up, huh?”

Clay turned beat red, “Uh yeah…” he stammered. It didn’t help that Felipe was a complete narcissist with a toned physique and stylish clothes. “I, yeah, have put on some weight.”

“Oh don’t pretend like it’s not noticeable! You’ve really bulked up since that promotion. Here, let me give you the number of my trainer.”

Clay accepted the offer and hurried to his car. As he sat down behind the wheel the tear opened up even further and he was overcome with defeat. Since his promotion to CFO last year Clay definitively lost his battle of the bulge and put on about sixty pounds of pure fat. After the embarrassment of literally outgrowing his work clothes while on the job, he knew he had to make a change. He called the gym he had only visited once last year and booked an appointment. He was still paying for the membership, as cancelling it felt like admitting defeat. 

The next morning Clay ate a hearty breakfast of eggs, sausage, pancakes, and a muffin. He was due in the gym in one hour and he wanted to both fuel up and have one last hurrah before beginning a diet. He ate breakfast naked these days as all his clothes were uncomfortable and constricting. When he grabbed his gym clothes after breakfast his heart dropped. The largest tee he had was a medium that barely covered the bottom of his overhang. In addition, the elastic of his gym shorts was so tight it accentuated his almost-exposed muffin top. With no time to spare, he had no choice but to wear this ridiculously small getup. 

As he walked into the gym he recognized the same guy at the front desk as from before, only he was more muscular and less of a twink now. The former twink looked Clay up and down with judgment as he lumbered up to the front desk and gave his last name. 

“Clay?” said the worker confused. “Is your phone number XXX.XXX.XXXX?”

“Yup, that’s me.”

“Oh… you just look so different from the photo in our system. It must be… the beard.”

Clay knew it was not his beard. His beard was not that long and he had only grown it to hide the double chin that now clung to his neck. 

“So you’re here to meet with a personal trainer, yeah? And you’re in luck, Salim, who met with you last time is available.”

“Oh, great,” Clay responded despite being filled with dread. He did not want to face someone who would fully know just how much fatter he had become.

Salim emerged from the back and requested that Clay follow him into his office where they would do a check-in. Clay followed him in and sat down on a stiff and uncomfortable chair, nervously pulling down his shirt. Salim sat down on a nearby stool, looking as tanned and fit as ever. 

“Chris, it’s been about a year. Tell me what’s happened.”

“Well, obviously I haven’t been going to the gym.”

“I can see that. What got in the way of your goals?”

“This feels like a therapy lesson, I just came for some athletic advice.”

“Well Clay, with some of my clients who have experienced significant weight gain in a short period of time, I do like to have a brief conversation first. Not only so I can get a good idea of your habits and how to craft a good plan, but also to get at the root cause of your weight gain. My clients and I have found it very productive.”

Clay took a deep breath and thought about where to begin. He supposed it all started with his promotion. Clay was fast tracked to the CFO position after his predecessor quit with zero notice. With this position his salary nearly doubled and so did his workload. He was now interacting directly with the CEO and under an inordinate amount of stress. He was virtually always on the clock, taking calls and emails from home and on vacation. He had no time to work out and food was his only comfort. Plus, he could afford to eat out every single meal. Going to the gym never even crossed his mind and his body just continued to expand. 

To make matters worse his relationship with Frank was deteriorating. The stress of work made him a jerk, he never had time to devote to his boyfriend, and after about four months and thirty pounds of this, Frank was done. Clay’s body was becoming unattractive to his boyfriend and Clay was barely available to provide emotional support. Eventually, Frank ended things. Anxious about work and depressed about his breakup, Clay turned to food and alcohol for comfort. He forfeited any and all self-control and gave in to total unhinged gluttony. 

Salim was not surprised by Clay’s tale, having heard many iterations of the same story from so many people. Indeed, Clay felt relieved after telling it. Following their one-on-one Salim took Clay’s stats. Not surprisingly, his body fat percentage had gone up to 53%, his waist had grown eight inches, his gut fourteen inches, and he had actually put on seventy pounds since his last visit. Clay was shocked by this number.

Unlike last time, Salim started Clay with cardio. As Salim shouted orders and slowly ratcheted up the speed on the treadmill, Clay was on the brink of giving up. It was now incredibly difficult to run with a heavy gut hanging from his midsection. Each stride caused his belly to uncomfortably rise and painfully flop back down, his breakfast gurgling inside. Within ten short minutes buckets of sweat were bursting from his skin and after half an hour his entire shirt was drenched. 

Clay was greatly relieved when Salim turned off the machine and then disappointed to learn they were pivoting to jumping jacks. Once again the bouncing of his fat was particularly uncomfortable, especially in his ass and thighs that occasionally clapped together. Clay was also acutely aware of the fact that his shirt had ridden up and that he was too sweaty for it to go back down on its own, leaving his swollen beer belly exposed to the entire gym. He could sense that people were watching him even though he was too focused on not passing out to truly observe his surroundings. 

Feeling the contents of his stomach erupt as burps, Clay stopped moving despite Salim’s shouting. He muttered that he thought he might barf, while pulling down his shirt and placing his hands on his knees. 

“Look at the Pillsbury Doughboy over there,” Clay overheard someone whisper, “looks like he might barf.”

Clay stood up and took a deep breath, not noticing that his shirt had ridden up again. He took a swig of water and looked at Salim who seemed disappointed. Suddenly he heard his name shouted behind him. Clay turned around to see Nathaniel, an old hookup from college.

“Wowzers, Clay I can’t believe that’s you! Look at that belly hangin’ out there!” Nathaniel slapped Clay’s wet belly with a loud thwack. “I see that CFO life has been treating you well.” 

“Sure, yeah.” Clay said between heavy breathing. 

“Well it was nice seein’ ya! I’ll leave you to it.” 

The final blow to his ego was seeing Nathaniel and Clay no longer had the energy to concern himself with being humiliated. He committed fully to the rest of his workout, as extremely difficult as it was. Once finished, he scheduled another appointment with Salim and grabbed a post workout protein shake from the bar. He chose the chocolate one with the highest calorie count, but he figured he deserved it. 

Clay decided to take another day off work after the hour and a half marathon of humiliation he had just endured, and headed towards home. His stomach was already growling by the time he reached the car. The closer he got to home the more intense his hunger pangs became. Nothing in the world sounded better than McDonald’s, but he resisted. 

To reward himself for not getting McDonald’s, Clay cracked a cold beer and hopped in the shower. For the first time he really took stock of his bulging belly and its fleshy curvature. It was particularly soft around his underbelly and somewhat enjoyable to squeeze. He traced his fingers over his chest which had become puffy and far more sensitive to the touch. He was also surprised by the extra roll of pudge sandwiched below his belly and above his dick. It was big enough to squeeze in its own right. 

After the shower he toweled off and sauntered naked to the kitchen, noticing just how much his body quivered with each authoritative step. He cracked another beer and leaned against the counter. His stomach growled again.

“Fuck it,” Clay said aloud to himself and launched UberEats. He ordered two Big Macs, a ten piece chicken nugget, large fries, and a large chocolate shake.