About a year and a half ago, I (M32) moved cross-country for a new, sedentary office job after years in a relatively active role. The stress of the move, long hours (often 6 days a week), free lunches, stocked office pantry, quitting exercise, some personal family issues, and living on fast food and beer led to 143 pounds gained in less than a year and a half (175lbs —> 318lbs).

Therefore, the weight itself is clearly my fault; but I became concerned when I realized how extremely centralized and spherically it all was gathering on my gut. After multiple doctors and every test available, they found no underlying illness. They concluded I have an unusually rare, extreme genetic predisposition to store almost all excess weight as concentrated abdominal fat, existing on the farthest outlier end of that spectrum.  

Men already have a natural tendency to put on more visceral fat (the firm, deeper kind that makes a “beer belly”), only exacerbated by a rapid gain.  For someone with my genetics, combined with how insanely fast the weight piled on, it left me with a belly measuring 73-inches in circumference… on a 5’10” frame whose limbs and overall structure stayed mostly the same.

My specific genetics and this rapid central gain also then triggered a natural yet unexpected hormonal shift. This amount of new fat drove high ‘aromatase activity‘ in my fat cells… basically, my own fat started converting my testosterone into estrogen, but to the extreme from the sheer speed and volume. Testosterone tanked, estrogen skyrocketed, and this body shape became even more pronounced. My prolactin also rose significantly (the hormone involved in lactation and breast growth), leptin signaling changed, and my cortisol spiked.  The result has been a more targeted, “feminized” weight concentration, including glandular gynecomastia… my chest is now roughly G-cup equivalent, adding both weight and sensitivity that make shirts tighter and increase back and shoulder strain.

Though this all objectively & medically “checks out” when considering the specific “perfect storm” of lifestyle, genetic, and medical factors - it is still extremely unusual and even hard for my doctors to wrap their heads around. They’ve never seen anything quite like this, saying my genetic tendency being so extreme is notable enough, let alone the natural hormonal changes that have followed… as if my endocrine system was triggered to abet morphing my body into an unavoidable comparison of an overdue, high-order multiples pregnancy. 

For lack of a better visual and metric comparison, they’ve tracked my growth using high-order pregnancy measurement comparisons. Right now, I compare to “overdue with septuplets or octuplets,” a size nearly unfathomable, even for real pregnancies, and would require mandatory bed rest. And something peculiar that makes this all more fascinating (and will make my weight loss much more difficult): my doctors have seen that my body has effectively begun latching onto this hormonal profile and body composition as a new stasis… meaning, it naturally now defaults to this size and body shape. Even trying some medications to target fixing the level of one specific hormone, the others then accelerate into overdrive to compensate.

The physical realities are rough: constant shortness of breath, labored breathing, chronic sweating and flushed face, awful lower back pain, waddling gait, drastically altered center of gravity… my belly sways and bounces like a yoga ball with every step or movement; but when I pause or sit, it then presses like a living weight in my lap, pushing my legs apart or causing discomfort. Increased and regular indigestion/burping/flatulence that I can’t really control. Tight pressure and sensitivity on my stretched navel with visible skin veining and stretch marks on my belly.

There are no off-the-rack shirts that fit me properly. Most Big & Tall stores only go up to 60-64” waists and 5XL shirts designed for 60-65” bellies, at most… and more importantly, their cuts assume evenly distributed weight rather than extreme forward projection. My belly still pulls the fabric tight, while the arms and chest are very loose. I’ve grown so fast that I’ve been constantly playing catch-up on sizing, and at this point, I’ve resigned to wearing the largest options I own, which still don’t cover me appropriately. I’ve contacted plus size men’s lines, custom tailoring companies for men, and even (in moments of true desperation) high-order multiples maternity & supportwear brands, and all have turned me away without any viable solutions. I’m required to wear formal button-downs at the office, and haven’t been able to convince my boss to allow alternative choices for me, instead.

Mobility with a belly this large and round on an otherwise smaller frame is most difficult. Simple tasks like tying my shoes, standing up from a chair, fitting in restaurant booths, driving (where it presses hard against the steering wheel), navigating airplane aisles or seats, and using standard bathroom stalls have all become major challenges. Even at my office desk, my belly creates constant clearance problems, forcing me to sit farther back and hunch over it for short stints, and causing overheating during long workdays. At night, sleeping is tough. The size and weight make comfortable positions difficult, I frequently wake up short of breath, and always need to lay on my side and put a pillow between my legs.

Embarrassingly enough, I can no longer even reach my own manhood around my belly. It’s not that I’ve gained too much weight around my groin to easily access it; but that the projection and circumference of my belly alone prevents my arms from being able to properly reach around it. This has created major practical issues, aside from the obvious… I can’t use urinals anymore because I have to stand too far back and cannot reach to unbutton my pants or aim while standing.  I now always have to use bathroom stalls where I can sit and lean back to manage. This has been tough to grapple with psychologically, more than anything. My own belly has physically severed my agency over, what it feels like to me, one of the last, clear symbols of my former masculinity. 

This insurmountable barrier between me and my manhood is only made more frustrating and surreal by one final and unavoidable consequence of the proportion size and forward projection of my belly: near-constant, physical contact between the underside of my belly and my groin. When simply sitting, standing from a chair, leaning forward, walking, climbing stairs, or even just shifting position, this heavy mass presses onto, shifts, bounces/jiggles upon, and moves against that area for long periods.  Because I can no longer reach myself around the belly for any kind of adjustment or relief, that ongoing contact often produces repeated unintended physical stimulation. It is simply a mechanical result that I can’t currently avoid with these new proportions, but it adds a final layer of extreme, latent emotional and physical annoyance.

Craziest of all, though, is how strangers react. I never imagined how bold people could be when seeing someone who looks abnormal to what they’re used to… but, nearly daily, I catch some comments and jokes from people or someone curiously engages me with questions. People stare, giggle, try to discreetly take pictures or photos when I’m just walking down the street… make comments like “When are the quadruplets due?” or “Is that a beer gut or are you pregnant?” Some are curious, but many are crass. A few have even followed me in cars filming and yelling insults, like, “Get out of here, fatass! Lay off the burgers!” or “Jesus Mama, you’re huge! Use protection next time!”

Medically, we are still in careful observation mode. My doctors have now been extremely cautious about any hormonal interventions because, as previously mentioned, attempts to correct one level have caused the others to compensate aggressively. Medications in the GLP-1 class are not something they are willing to start while my belly is still this large and the endocrine picture is still unstable; they would only consider them later, after a substantial amount of the abdominal weight has already come off through other means. 

For now, the plan is straightforward and entirely on me… a diet structured to work against visceral fat storage and the current hormonal environment, combined with whatever physical movement is currently possible for me… meaning, slow walking and very basic cardio, since most standard exercises are simply not feasible with these proportions. Progress will be gradual and determined more by consistency than by any pharmaceutical shortcut.

I’m posting this as I’m sure some people on here may find this (probably morbidly) fascinating, and feel free to ask anything. Also posting to document where things actually stand right now, because the combination of the size, the hormonal latch, and the daily physical realities still feels surreal even to me. If anyone has dealt with or seen anything remotely comparable… I’d genuinely be interested to hear how you navigated it. Thank you for reading if you made it this far! 

After a cross-country move to a desk job, I (M32) gained 143lbs in 18mos. The weight is my fault, but nearly-impossible 73” gut isn’t. Doctors ruled out underlying illness, concluding an extreme, outlier genetic predisposition for concentrated abdominal fat, exacerbated by triggered hormonal changes