I stretch the measuring tape around my neck first, feeling how it digs into the soft flesh. I move down to my chest, wrapping the tape tightly around the thick rolls of back fat and my breasts, watching the numbers climb higher and higher. My belly is next, and it takes effort just to get the tape all the way around its massive girth. I can’t even see the numbers without pushing aside my fat, each new inch making me realize just how much more of me there is. Thighs like tree trunks, calves swollen and heavy; even my ankles have grown thick and wide.

I stretch the measuring tape around my neck first, feeling how it digs into the soft flesh. I move down to my chest, wrapping the tape tightly around the thick rolls of back fat and my breasts, watching the numbers climb higher and higher. My belly is next, and it takes effort just to get the tape all the way around its massive girth. I can’t even see the numbers without pushing aside my fat, each new inch making me realize just how much more of me there is. Thighs like tree trunks, calves swollen and heavy; even my ankles have grown thick and wide.