Gaining
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- gainer redirects here. For the dietary supplement, see Gainer (supplement)
Gaining, in the fat admiration subculture, is the practice of intentionally becoming fat or growing fatter.
For some, gaining is an expression of fat fetishism; others simply seek to grow fat because they consider it to be aesthetically pleasing and/or sexually arousing.
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[edit] Gainers
A gainer is someone who overeats with the specific intention of becoming overweight (or, if already overweight, gaining even more weight). This may be due to a love of food or an appreciation of the feel or appearance of being fat, often combined with a disregard for societal norms on body shape. Sometimes it is due to a love of general body size, and may be combined with muscle gain. Gainers may already be clinically overweight before they begin gaining, wishing to become even fatter, or they may begin thin and gradually grow to be fat.
Gainers may set themselves goals, either in bodyweight or in size. Some people only wish to gain a little bit of weight so that they can go from being thin to being moderately overweight. Others wish to gain tremendous amounts of bodyfat and become massively obese. Some gainers aspire to be fattened to the point of immobility, and some wish to gain weight to no limit. The idea of immobility is sometimes featured in the fantasies of some gainers, but it is unlikely that very many would actively pursue such a goal for a variety of medical and social reasons.
People who actually succeed in reaching weight goals of 500 lb (227 kg) or more appear to be uncommon, because of the associated impracticalities and health risks of becoming so fat. Many gainers curb their goals in the face of medical conditions that may be aggravated by obesity, such as diabetes; while, for a few, unhealthiness is one of obesity's appeals. Other gainers seek to be both fat and healthy.
[edit] Other members of the gaining community
The counterpart to a gainer, corresponding to a feeder in feederism, is an encourager, whose role, as the name indicates, is to encourage the gainer to reach their weight gain goals. This may or may not include acting as a feeder.
A maintainer is one sympathetic to the gaining community, who has intentionally or unintentionally put on weight and is happy to remain at that size, or is reluctant to gain more.
An appreciator is a fat admirer in the gaining community who is not interested in either gaining or encouraging, but is content to appreciate what progress has been made by other individuals.
[edit] Gaining and feederism
A "gainer" is broadly similar to a feedee. However, while feedees may be characterized as gaining weight with the aid of a feeder (sometimes submissively), gainers generally seek to gain by their own hand- although they may welcome the assistance of an encourager. Additionally, it is not uncommon for a gainer to view their added weight as contributing to their physical dominance.
In some circles, the terms "gainer" and "encourager" may be viewed as "homosexual" terms, whereas "feeder" and "feedee" are viewed as their "heterosexual" synonyms. While a common perception in the weight gain community, it is not a universal attitude as heterosexual men who are gaining weight without the aid of a feeder may also characterize themselves as gainers.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Encourager, A blog offering insight into the gainer/encourager world
- GainerWeb.com, the original gainer website for people (note that its profiled users are virtually all male and only 3% identify as heterosexual) of all ages above 18
- BellyBuilders.com, a messageboard frequented by the gainer community
- BeefyFrat, a male-oriented gainer/encourager profile site
- LJ Gainers, a gaining-related LiveJournal community frequented by males and females
- Weight Gain Fetish at the Open Directory Project
