>>...budget deficit that’s gaining weight faster than a retired sumo wrestler

I realize that that's a fancy metaphor, but when they retire back to normal life they do their best to *lose* weight. For instance, when Takanohana (Koji Hanada) retired - and he'd reached the top tier of wrestlers (yokozuna) he went from 160kg to 80.

Japanese people who know more about this please feel free to correct me.