I used to have one fat friend (back when I was young and ignorant), and any time she and I would hang out that's LITERALLY all we would do, was eat.  It was seriously mind boggling how much she (as a relative smallfat in the grand scheme of this horrible country) could put away.  When you're around someone who's constantly snacking, well, you wanna snack too.  There was never a sit-down meal with her, and anything sit-down was just non-filling sugary junk and she'd be back at it again.    I gained a lot of weight when I was in Texas simply because of the prevalence of fats and their coddling "oh but you're so skinny" (at 160 lbs, 5'6" ).  I think they would fucking faint if they saw the way I keep myself nowadays.  The only ribs fatties in Texas know about are bbq ribs (which I miss a lot. Fucking good food down there I will admit)