It's been a month and I'm happy to say the gains have been consistent.  I'm now at 211 pounds and definitely feeling the difference.  I've also come out to virtually all of my friends about what I'm doing and every single person has said: I have no idea why you'd want to do this but because it makes you happy, I'm supportive!   Clearly I've finally got amazing people in my life now and for this I am profoundly grateful. 

Here are the promised progress pictures: 

 Happy New Year everyone!

No progress pictures yet because I've decided to do them at 10 pound intervals, wearing the same clothing and using the same camera spacing and angles so that it will be easy to see where I've gained the weight as I get progressively heavier.

I'm up to 204 today and feeling quite round and firm tonight, though some of this is undoubtedly from the giant serving of poutine I just had.