(Polls For The Soul) Fattening Foods

[The_Stranger]

Oh yeah. You know it!

Howdy, Weight Gamers!… agh, okay, that was pretty bad, I pinky swear I won’t do that again…

The Stranger is back at it again with an off-the-wall but strangely thought provoking set of polls.

I realized that for my blockbuster set of polls: Polls for The Soul, that not only were there an infinite amount of sentilating questions to ask that one little topic couldn’t cover, but some that I already did ask were either flawed, or didn’t go into enough detail. So, I’ve elected that in addition to some new polls, some of the older ones down the line I’m going to make into their own dedicated post with a much more thought out and varied set of questions, and replace the one in the main post with just a link to the more indepth poll, in addition to updating it with some of the new polls made by others besides that come out that I find interesting.

I think putting such a grand and nebulous concept out there as “How Your Fetish Affects You” definitely resonated with some people, but I think I’m going to try the opposite now and get super specific and see if that gets better results, so that we can have a Unified Body of Theories on The Psychology of Fat and Adjacent Fetishists, Specifically Those With a Penchant for Video Games…

…

Or we could just have fun. Let’s just do that instead:

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Now, if you’ve been here for a little while it would be safe to assume a pillar of this grander community is the (mostly) fictional consumption of large quantities of unhealthy food. It’s how the magic happens, after all! Calorically dense food, combined with lessened activity and metabolism equals this site’s very namesake!

Now while it’s possible to get fat off of carrots, it would be much harder than off of what people traditionally think of as unhealthy. Also, fetishes aren’t always scientific. Sometimes they’re based off of stereotypes. For those currently gaining a lot of weight, the stereotypical foods come to mind…

Ice cream, fried food, pastries…

Oooh, yeah. I can just feel the second hand embarrassment from the Fast Food Employee already…

Now, you might not know this, but in fact many people are telling me that eating unhealthy food is something that happens in real life, believe it or not! We also contrary to popular belief, exist in real life as well! So, my question for you is…

In Real Life, How Often Do You Indulge In Fattening Food?

Now, we’re not talking a granola bar here. We’re talking about genuinely indulging in something that might push you over your calorie limit (2,000 - 3,000) for the day on top of your normal meals, while not working it off.

• Rarely
• Once A Week
• Once A Day
• Multiple Times A Day

In Real Life, Do You Bake/Cook?

Cooking to me has more than one step. So just warming something up doesn’t count.

• Every Meal
• At Least Once A Day
• Every Other Day
• Rarely
• Almost Never

Hmmm… interesting… Now we’re getting to why I made this poll in the first place:

Savory or Sweet?

In either real life, a weight gain scenario, or both, whenever fattening food has to be eaten, which do you prefer? Something delectable and savory, or rich and sweet?

• Sweet
• Savory
• No Preference

About the question coming up: some might disagree with me on things labeled “fattening”, and to that I say, once again, these are stereotypes. Specifically Western/American stereotypes. Technically any food can be healthy or unhealthy depending on how much you eat it.

In Real Life, What Describes Your Favorite Savory Fattening Foods?

These are in very general terms because if not the list would be way too long to write in my lifetime. I’ve allowed people to pick up to three to kind of get an idea what their guilty (or not) pleasures are in this regard.

For example, if the only thing that comes to your mind is a fast food pizza, then I would pick: Never Enough Cheese, Carbs Please, and Just So Greasy.

Though multiple things probably come to mind, if you’re at a blank, just think about what your favorite fattening food is, or at least what you like about it, and try and describe it using these terms.

If none of these describe your favorite savory food, check None of These, and tell me in the replies what it is!

• Deep Fried
• Meat, Meat, Meat!
• Carbs, Please
• Never Enough Cheese
• Covered With So Much Salt
• So, So, Spicy
• So Much Grease
• None of These

Ooooh, I bet there was some controversial answers there! Now, for more of the same, except:

In A Weight Gain Scenario, What Describes Your Favorite Savory Fattening Foods?

So, this time in fiction. Whether it be a video game, some kind of roleplaying scenario, in a story, or piece of artwork: Do your answers change?

• Deep Fried
• Meat, Meat, Meat!
• Carbs, Please
• Never Enough Cheese
• Covered With So Much Salt
• So, So, Spicy
• So Much Grease
• None of These

Hohohoho! Maybe they did change… I don’t know, because this version of me writing this in the past hasn’t released the poll yet!

Now, for what everyone’s been waiting for:

In Real Life, What Is Your Favorite Fattening Dessert?

This one was a lot easier to put together, and it’s pretty self explainatory too! At least much more than savory… To explain “Something Most Would Call Healthy”, just think about whether a granola bar is actually something people would call a “Fattening Dessert” and go ahead and check that option.

• Candy
• Cookies/Biscuits (If Bri’ish)
• Pastries
• Frozen Desserts
• Oooh, Chocolate…
• Caramel/Butterscotch
• Something Most Would Call Healthy
• None of These

Oooh yeah. You know how this works by now:

In A Weight Gain Scenario, What Is Your Favorite Fattening Dessert?

You know the drill by now…

• Candy
• Cookies/Biscuits (If Bri’ish)
• Pastries
• Frozen Desserts
• Oooh, Chocolate…
• Caramel/Butterscotch
• Something Most Would Call Healthy
• None of These

Now… for the one that if I made the results public it could ruin lives:

Any Semi-Rare Food Opinions?

No offense is meant. Voting results have intentionally been marked not public for people who care about this sort of thing.

• Vegan/Vegetarian/Pescatarian
• Likes Veal
• Likes Pineapple On Pizza
• Hates Breakfast
• Just Generally A Picky Eater
• Nothing Even Mildly Rare

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Now, somewhat like I said before, this isn’t it!

These polls were very general, so, if you’re up for it, some more details in the replies would be awesome. I know I’d love to hear about some of the different junk foods from different cultures, as my polls are very skewed towards the U.S. of A, so if something cultural to you slipped through the cracks, then please let us all know what it is, and why it’s so good?

Do you have any stories, or general anecdotes about the subject?

Come one, come all! There are no wrong answers!

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Personally, I made this poll after eating a bunch of these:

Though most of the time I’m not actually much of a fan of sweet things too too often besides soda. I like savory foods overwhelmingly more than sweet things in regards to real life, and in weight gain scenarios, but I am also pretty picky with my food in general. I also mostly hate breakfast, so that’s my super contraversial food opinion.

[DreadRoach]

Good poll, but there’s one flaw in it that I think might be helpful to point out, especially how common it is in WG fiction in general.

Namely: fattening food isn’t just food that pushes you over the ‘recommended’ amount of calories. It’s food that’s particularly high-calorie and has high amounts of both fat and simple carbs (or alcohol).

(Other factors can cause/exacerbate weight gain, of course, but for the sake of feedism/intentional gaining, covering your macronutrient ratios is important.)

In regards to my own answers:

I took “Just Generally A Picky Eater”, but it’s more than having a low tolerance for gross food (although I do). I get bored with food easily, and if I don’t have something new (or new-ish, I.E. haven’t already eaten in the past week or so) in a day, it genuinely makes my depression worse.

For food in WG stories, my preferences are undeniably influenced by my real life health. I have a very limited diet out of necessity, but also have issues craving things that are seriously bad for me (e.g. non-cake pastries). So in fiction, I mostly like to see either foods that I can’t eat and have no interest in eating, or foods that I can eat, but might not get as often as I’d like. The exceptions to that are deep-fried or generally greasy foods, because I can’t have that very often in real life, but having characters eat it is more of a ‘living vicariously’ thing than a ‘triggers a debilitating craving’ thing.

Similarly, I’m not going to get as much enjoyment out of reading about characters gorging on food that I have every day - cheese, for example, is a necessary staple for me, and the idea of eating a ton of it just feels like… well, imagine writing a character eating a whole loaf of plain bread. Not as much fun. So while I love meat and cheese in real life, I’d rather see a character eat almost anything else than plain meat or cheese.

Lastly, this is more of a general opinion, but I’d love to see fiction that branches out in terms of food diversity and detail. As one example, pizza in WG fiction tends to default to either meat lovers’ and pepperoni, and a lot of writers gloss over the actual toppings just to talk about the cheese and grease. Similarly, when Chinese food comes up, it’s typically the same handful of foods - fried rice, egg rolls, that kind of thing - and overlooks some of the amazing dishes you can get at Chinese places, like stuffed shrimp and mandarin chicken.

[The_Stranger]

@DreadRoach

[F]attening food isn’t just food that pushes you over the ‘recommended’ amount of calories. It’s food that’s particularly high-calorie and has high amounts of both fat and simple carbs (or alcohol)

I agree reading back on it, and might change it a bit later to be a bit more specific like you said, but let me take you into my headspace. Like I said, technically any food is “fattening” depending on how much you eat of it, and how much is burned off. This is why I specifically started talking about calorie limits (which are not the same for everyone, by the way, I was just generalizing with the 2,000-3,000). It was really just to stay in the spirit of what we’re even talking about here.

For example, let’s say there’s a dude bro (or a swole woman whatever you want for purposes of this analogy) who every day lifts the most over the top weights you could probably think of, does insane cardio, and kickboxes after they’re done with that. All this happens over the course of 6 hours. As they’re driving home, they go to Wendy’s and order 2 Triple Baconators (each 1,250 calories) and goes on eat them both when they go home on top of whatever else they were eating that day.

Now, you take my fat ass for example, who would get tired even watching a person work out like that, then you add the 2 Triple Baconators on top of my diet.

Now, I think someone would agree that “Triple Baconators” are a “Fattening Food”, in that they would “fatten” me, but they wouldn’t do the same thing to the dude bro/swole woman. That’s why I mentioned a calorie limit, because it takes into account calories in, calories out, which is where the weight actually comes from.

@DreadRoach

but for the sake of feedism/intentional gaining, covering your macronutrient ratios is important

Well, feedism is not the the full extent of things you can be in too in this field, but I understand what you’re talking about.

Now for the fun stuff!!

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@DreadRoach

I took “Just Generally A Picky Eater”, but it’s more than having a low tolerance for gross food (although I do). I get bored with food easily, and if I don’t have something new (or new-ish, I.E. haven’t already eaten in the past week or so) in a day, it genuinely makes my depression worse.

I feel the depression part. I tried dieting for a while and did pretty good for a little bit, but some personal stuff happened in my life and it kind of turned my negative mental health at the time into anger instead of sadness, and that wasn’t really healthy for me at the time. Needless to say I’ve gotten better since then, and might start up again soon, but I really feel you that part.

The other part of this though makes me think you’re not very picky. I mean, having something new very often implies you’re not that picky to me, but I understand some people have different definitions of picky.

@DreadRoach

For food in WG stories, my preferences are undeniably influenced by my real life health. I have a very limited diet out of necessity, but also have issues craving things that are seriously bad for me (e.g. non-cake pastries). So in fiction, I mostly like to see either foods that I can’t eat and have no interest in eating, or foods that I can eat, but might not get as often as I’d like.

Interesting insight! I just love seeing how people think differently about stuff like this than me. For me, it’s more based on stereotypes, and the character/setting, but for you it’s different. So fascinating.

@DreadRoach

Similarly, I’m not going to get as much enjoyment out of reading about characters gorging on food that I have every day - cheese, for example, is a necessary staple for me, and the idea of eating a ton of it just feels like… well, imagine writing a character eating a whole loaf of plain bread. Not as much fun. So while I love meat and cheese in real life, I’d rather see a character eat almost anything else than plain meat or cheese.

Fair enough. I wasn’t talking about just plain meat or cheese though, more just the general idea, because if I sat there and listed every single dish I don’t think I’d have enough time to even write this reply, lol. Basically, I was asking someone to think of their favorite food, and describe it through those adjectives.

Very respectable love of cheese by the way. You’re after my cheese clogged heart .

@DreadRoach

Lastly, this is more of a general opinion, but I’d love to see fiction that branches out in terms of food diversity and detail. As one example, pizza in WG fiction tends to default to either meat lovers’ and pepperoni, and a lot of writers gloss over the actual toppings just to talk about the cheese and grease. Similarly, when Chinese food comes up, it’s typically the same handful of foods - fried rice, egg rolls, that kind of thing - and overlooks some of the amazing dishes you can get at Chinese places, like stuffed shrimp and mandarin chicken.

I wholeheartedly agree!

Like I said, someone can get fat off of anything, so we should see more stuff like folks from New York gettin’ fat offa stuffing some gabagool in their gaba-gut. That would be some gaba-good good stuff, are we right, or are we right?

Gaba-good reply!

[DreadRoach]

The other part of this though makes me think you’re not very picky. I mean, having something new very often implies you’re not that picky to me, but I understand some people have different definitions of picky.

Yeah, basically what I mean by picky is that I can’t necessarily eat whatever’s put in front of me without problems. Besides getting depressed if I have the same food over and over, I have a hard time eating foods that I don’t like without serious emotional distress, especially if they’re served often. I have legitimately broken down crying over pork pot roast, and sometimes I just have to go “screw it” and make my own dinner.

[Seeker9043]

For me I usually have whatever characters I write eat what I eat or enjoy. In a sense you can almost trace what I had for dinner or for snacks from what is written.

[Anonymous264170]

I vote to name @The_Stranger as WeightGaming’s official pollster.

@The_Stranger

so that we can have a Unified Body of Theories on The Psychology of Fat and Adjacent Fetishists, Specifically Those With a Penchant for Video Games…

…

Or we could just have fun. Let’s just do that instead:

Hey, why not both? It could be a college thesis for your sociology ambitions. Bonus points if you can re-write the title to get a cool word out of the acronym.

@The_Stranger

In Real Life, How Often Do You Indulge In Fattening Food?

Mmph. You’re gonna make me count calories now? Never! Kidding aside, my granola bar snacks at work might actually take me over my medically-recommended calorie limit. I probably would have asked a question more along the lines of “How would you describe your diet?”. I’d let you add some of the fun attitude to them, but the choices could be something to the effect of:

• I’m a health nut (conscientiously eating healthy to maintain or improve your physique).
• I try to eat a balanced diet, but I indulge here and there (normal).
• Most days are cheat days, tbh (unintentionally trending unhealthy).
• My body is a temple, and I worship it with only the heaviest of offerings. / If I am what I eat, I am an AYCE buffet all day, every day (actively gaining).

I both resent and appreciate you making moderates like myself pick the closer value between “Once a week” and “Once a day”. (For those who don’t know the context, see link.)

@The_Stranger

In Real Life, What Describes Your Favorite Savory Fattening Foods?

I love your approach to this. I would have renamed one of the options to “Grease is the Word,” but that’s probably a little too cheesy. When you renew this question for weight gain scenarios, I felt like the stereotypes had to dominate, because some of the options (e.g., protein, spicy) are not inherently fattening.

@The_Stranger

In Real Life, What Is Your Favorite Fattening Dessert?

I chose “None of these” since my favorite desserts are centered around cream and luscious textures. Cream puffs, creme brulee, panna cotta, Napoleon. Yeah-huh, because I’m fancy like that.

@The_Stranger

Any Semi-Rare Food Opinions?

I think I would enjoy veal, but I don’t know if I have tried it before. I am confused by the “Nothing even mildly rare” answer. Is that the “None of the above” option, or is it “I like my steak well-done” choice? And yes, I want to set the world on fire, so release the results!

This has been another great poll set for the series. Because I am not a fan of slob-like stuffing, I love writing about my character savoring the food. A food critic used to be my dream job, when I was younger. My mother and I are both foodies, and she wants to start a local food tour business. Thus, I get to explore new restaurants and research menus. It’s probably not good for my waistline, but certainly good for my vocabulary on eating!

[onipuck]

I’m only really picky about peas(hate them), and spicy foods.

[phoenixfelix101]

I have to say, this seems like a very unique thread compared to all the others on this site.

I must say this discussion is very

.

[The_Stranger]

@Seeker9043

For me I usually have whatever characters I write eat what I eat or enjoy. In a sense you can almost trace what I had for dinner or for snacks from what is written.

Very, very interesting. So, you differ from both me and @DreadRoach. Something I’m gathering is that this part of the fetish is very, very subjective. It’s particularly interesting because you’d think it’d be super simple, but in reality I guess this particular part is just so subjective to people.

My current theory is that what is being eaten doesn’t really matter for the fetish, and that what the writer writes is tied to their personality.

@Anonymous264170

I vote to name @The_Stranger as WeightGaming’s official pollster.

Aw, you make me blush.

@Anonymous264170

Hey, why not both? It could be a college thesis for your sociology ambitions. Bonus points if you can re-write the title to get a cool word out of the acronym.

Maybe. I just don’t feel confident naming it that when I’m not actually a sociologist and it isn’t an actual study.

@Anonymous264170

“How would you describe your diet?”. I’d let you add some of the fun attitude to them

Some attitude would’ve been nice, but when I do the pretty pie chart it’s best for the options to be as short as possible.

@Anonymous264170

I both resent and appreciate you making moderates like myself pick the closer value between “Once a week” and “Once a day”.

I did it this way because those are definitely types of people in my mind. Barring metabolism, glandular, and excersize shenanigans, that’s what separates people who are usually only chunky, and people who usually are fat. Since this was about fattening food, I wanted to see how it lined up with the main Polls For The Soul post about body size, and it seems like there’s at least a correlation…

@Anonymous264170

I love your approach to this. I would have renamed one of the options to “Grease is the Word,” but that’s probably a little too cheesy. When you renew this question for weight gain scenarios, I felt like the stereotypes had to dominate, because some of the options (e.g., protein, spicy) are not inherently fattening.

That was my original theory, but as you’ve seen the results are so different yet so the same. It’s very interesting, and like I said before in this reply: It’s likely pretty arbitrary and just something that heavily has to do with your personality as opposed to some kind of firm “rules” that there’s insane group think about like some other aspects.

@Anonymous264170

I chose “None of these” since my favorite desserts are centered around cream and luscious textures. Cream puffs, creme brulee, panna cotta, Napoleon. Yeah-huh, because I’m fancy like that.

I guess that is a blind spot, isn’t it? I tried my hardest to think of every possible thing at least someone with a western diet could like, but I guess my taste in desserts is not that diverse.

I guess I’m just not fancy enough.

@Anonymous264170

I am confused by the “Nothing even mildly rare” answer. Is that the “None of the above” option, or is it “I like my steak well-done” choice? And yes, I want to set the world on fire, so release the results!

It is the “None of The Above” option.

@Anonymous264170

This has been another great poll set for the series. Because I am not a fan of slob-like stuffing, I love writing about my character savoring the food.

I think that’s usually what someone has to default to if they’re not into that. Or at least I’d assume.

@Anonymous264170

A food critic used to be my dream job, when I was younger. My mother and I are both foodies, and she wants to start a local food tour business. Thus, I get to explore new restaurants and research menus. It’s probably not good for my waistline, but certainly good for my vocabulary on eating!

Wow that actually sounds like the start of one of these stories. From what I’ve read you might want to watch out that you don’t get to the final page where you’re locked in a basement and force fed gabagool by a gaba-ghoulish looking Italian restaurant owner.

Gaba-good luck to ya!

@onipuck

I’m only really picky about peas(hate them), and spicy foods.

It’s natural for some to have some pet peeves, that doesn’t really mean you’re picky for the rare food opinions poll if that’s what you were trying to clarify.

@phoenixfelix101

I have to say, this seems like a very unique thread compared to all the others on this site.

That’s the name of the game with me, bub. There’s plenty more coming, too!

I don’t want to jinx it, but I think me being more specific was much more effective at getting more responses from people, given the main Polls for The Soul most of the time had people asking me to clarify questions.

So, this is definitely how I’m going to do it from now on if this trend continues.

[Anonymous264170]

@The_Stranger

I guess that is a blind spot, isn’t it? I tried my hardest to think of every possible thing at least someone with a western diet could like, but I guess my taste in desserts is not that diverse.

It’s only a small blind spot, if at all. Only a handful of us chose “None of the above.” I am curious as to what the others in that category have as their favorite desserts. My guess is at least one of them just dislikes desserts in general.

@The_Stranger

It is the “None of The Above” option.

Thanks for the clarification. In that case, I think that “I like my steak well done” should be its own option.

[Seeker9043]

Well I look at it this way, how can I know my characters are enjoying what they are eating unless I had tasted it myself. Maybe it is weird to some degree, me placing myself in a character and writing them eating like me. However it sorts helps me be more involved with the story, and step into their shoes even if it may be a one-off or series.
Yet… this also limits what my characters can eat as well, since I don’t eat at places like Panda Express or Subway I can’t write them enjoying rice with orange chicken or egg rolls, or trying to describe a footlong yet never knowing what type of sauces or taste it has.

[The_Stranger]

@Seeker9043

Well I look at it this way, how can I know my characters are enjoying what they are eating unless I had tasted it myself. Maybe it is weird to some degree, me placing myself in a character and writing them eating like me. However it sorts helps me be more involved with the story, and step into their shoes even if it may be a one-off or series.
Yet… this also limits what my characters can eat as well, since I don’t eat at places like Panda Express or Subway I can’t write them enjoying rice with orange chicken or egg rolls, or trying to describe a footlong yet never knowing what type of sauces or taste it has.

Gaba-good point! It is not weird at all! For some it’s hard to really write about it if you don’t have some limited experience with it. Which is why one of the things you hear as a writer is to experience a bunch of things, and that in general life experience can make a good writer, but these ideas are not mutually exclusive! For some it’s enough to just read about it, to others it’s not, and neither are wrong, or weird!

For me, personally, I try and get into the headspace of the character, and make the food choices matter to a very limited extent as if not a demonstration of their culture, then maybe at least it can be a demonstration of part of their personality. It’s a place you can affix exposition. Someone being eccentric and being a super picky eater, someone being desperate and tired and just ordering fast food, and the ever popular absolute glutton that just devours anything in sight. Another route I’ve taken recently for a secret project I’ve been working on is choosing things over the top for comedic purposes, because that’s kind of what one of the characters is about. The key to this however is having a straight man to react to it, or else you’re kind of sucked in to the characters’ way of thinking and it seems less ridiculous, thusly less funny.