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Adults Reveal What It Was Like To Go To School In The Early 2000s

Adults Reveal What It Was Like To Go To School In The Early 2000s

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High School was interesting in the early 2000's. The world was in a fully committed and passionate relationship with butterfly clips. JNCO jeans had us all tripping all over one another. We still had to call one another at our house phones (people still had house phones) and just hope the other person was home. Wanted pictures with your friends? Yeah you needed an actual camera for that and you'd have to actually pay someone to develop the pictures. Selfies weren't a thing.

One Reddit user asked: what was High School like in the early 2000's?

The answers gave us a serious nostalgia bomb - so of course we had to share with you!

AIM and MySpace

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I didn't get a cell phone until college. We used AIM and myspace to communicate, and passed notes in class. I had a notebook just for passing notes in class, actually. Once it got found by administration and I was in trouble. I was addicted to Sims and almost failed a grade because I played hooky to play the game.

And I just lost The Game.

Early internet was a trip. OMG shoes, Badger Badger, Ebaumsworld etc... We gave birth to the new joke format that became memes and viral videos.

Printed Trash Talk

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From the moment I got home from school, until bed, I was logged in to AIM. It was so exciting to put up an away message, do hw and other stuff, and then come back to like 10 messages from various people. Also, people were so catty...like someone would talk sh!t and then it would get printed and shown to all your friends. You'd have a falling out for a few weeks until someone apologized. High School was fun and angsty, wouldn't wanna go back but I have lots of fond memories.

CD Fights

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Everyone bringing their CD case to a party and fighting to get to play yours.

Flavor Town

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Everyone looked like Guy Fieri.

TRL and Hollister

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TRL on MTV after school. Had to see if Korn or Backstreet Boys won the top spot. If you wanted to be in the cool clique you have to have Hollister, AE or A&F wardrobes. Hollister has always frustrated me as a brand, because the play up the California surf-and-sun image, but the city of Hollister is in the middle of the state and all they have is cows, so...

No Internet For Projects

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None of your teachers would let you use the internet for projects because "it's not reliable." So you'd use it anyway, and then find some page in the Encyclopedia Brittanica that was related, and you'd cite that.

Totally Dope

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It was totally dope. Rules were lax and wide bottomed pants were in style, fo' shizzle my nizzle. Butterfly clips, pastels pants made of plastic or pleather and cliques were alive and doing well.

Sidekick For Life

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Only the rich kids had phones and even then if you didn't T9 then you were super lame! I wanted one of those full screen cells that had the keyboard underneath when you slid it up. Samsung maybe? AND the Motorola Razr. 20 year old me would have killed for that phone, but even more than that - Sidekick for life! I would still use that phone now if I could.

No Camera? No Problem.

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Your pants could not ride low enough. Few cell phones, and even if someone managed to have one with a camera the quality was so s** it didn't matter.

Off The Chain/Off The Hook

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Columbine was still fresh on everyone's minds so we all had to wear lanyards with our school ID and they started locking the doors. Kids just propped the back doors open because otherwise there wasn't enough time to get from class A to class B if you had to get to a wing on the opposite side of the huge ass school. My school had 5 halls connected by one main hallway so going from one side to another could take 20 minutes but we only had 15 for changing classes. Sometimes you had to run.

We still used floppy discs for school projects since my school had some older computers and not every classroom had a computer with a CD drive. By my senior year USB drives became a more common thing although they were expensive at the time.

When we watched movies in class it was with a VHS tape. My French teacher was the only one with a DVD player in her classroom because she brought one from home.

Kids would throw stink bombs at every school assembly.

There was a controversial "off the chain" vs "off the hook" divide.

Super Casual

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From what I remember, everyone dressed super casual. Hoodies, T shirts, baggy pants, girls pretty much all wore flip flops every day despite it being rainy most of the year. No neatly gelled hair, slim chinos and fitted shirts for us. Pajama pants were more common, though. There were a few guys that were Eminem wannabes with bleached buzz cuts. Then you had your typical cliques like jocks, stoners, geeks, and goths.

Kids would walk around with their disc-man and those cheap over the ear headphones that came packaged with them. They'd keep a folder full of CD's except 90% of them would be CD-R's they got from friends.

Most of us didn't own cell phones until my senior year in 2006 when Motorola Razors were really popular. Same thing with social media. I don't remember Myspace being all the rage until 2005 or so, at least at my school.

In the morning my friends and I would go to the computer lab and watch flash animations or play games on Newgrounds or Miniclip.

Coyote Ugly Fashion

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-I honestly hated much of the music (except maybe Ryan Adams) and listened to a lot of older stuff and started getting into country, like the Dixie Chicks.

-Coyote Ugly is a good example of the girl's clothes. Super low cut jeans with thick tanks, halters, or western tops. Finish with chunky belt. I also didn't mind the velour lounge suits, so comfy.

-I hated the frosted tip look on guys. But loved when guys started to grow out their hair a bit. LOVED trucker hats on guys. Also the chunky ribbed sweater was really handsome.

-Sex and the City was on Sunday nights, and for the rest of the week radio and TV talk shows would discuss the modern relationship topic the show would bring up. Also a lot of talk about the fashion.

-Still were into photos. We just bought disposable cameras and took a zillion pics, sometimes making photo collages / scrapbooking.

-You could research online for homework, but it was slow. We were only allowed to use 2 internet sources, and the rest had to be a book from the library.

-Lots of burned CDs, and then everyone had an iPod

-The "WB" station = Felicity, Dawson's Creek, Gilmore Girls, Angel, etc.

Thanks, ICQ

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Since almost nobody had cell phones, the way to get a hold of somebody's contact information was to ask for their AIM ICQ or MSN screen name. Met my now husband on ICQ random chat. He was from Australia, I'm from Canada. I was 14 lol. We stayed in touch for 10 years before he came to visit and well, he's still here. Thanks, ICQ! Lol

Teachers Would Think You Were A Drug Dealer

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No cell phones, so if you wanted to talk to your friends outside of school, you had to call their house on the only phone, which thank God was cordless so you could take it in your room. If he wasn't there you had to leave a message on his answering machine and hope you were there when he called back. You would make plans ahead of time and flaking was super bad because there was really no way to communicate after you left he house.

A few kids started getting cell phones in like my junior and senior year, but it was only the ones who could afford it and teachers would think you were a drug dealer.

Separate Devices

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They had to use the term 'personal electronics' on prohibited items lists because phones hadn't eaten cd/mp3 players yet, so you'd three or four separate devices. Also I spent a lot of time getting hassled by the teachers for having chains on my pants.

The Weirdo Group

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Me and my friends were the wierdo group: skaters, goths, metalheads etc; we all sorta clung together as there weren't enough of us to form separate cliques.

Pant legs were big enough to fit two legs or more into, and when it snowed it wicked up to your thighs. Studded or spiked belts paired nicely with those jeans, as well as the bondage straps hanging off the back. Chokers, chokers everywhere! Goths had spikey ones, and preppy girls had those stretchy ones. A lot of guys had spiked hair back then too, usually with a color added to the tips. Girls used a lot of fun clips in their hair, and scrunchies. Platform shoes/boots were a must for me, as well as hoodies. I owned and still have to own a lot of hoodies and flannels. Several of us also sported trench coats.

Gay And Out

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It was a Big Deal to be gay and out. It usually meant you either had super progressive parents, or parents you weren't afraid to piss off. Our sex advice came from Adam Carrolla and Dr. Drew.

Tests For No Reason

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You had all of the overprotective BS as today, but crappier versions that people were less experienced with and easier to skirt around. It seemed like we were the test class for a lot of stuff in my school. So like, the same amount of overburdening standardized tests but they didn't count for anything yet.

Search Engine

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We had classes in "how to use a search engine." There were various options available: Lycos, AskJeeves, AltaVista, DogPile, Yahoo. Not everyone had internet at home so getting online was a novelty; people would queue to use the computers at lunchtimes and breaks. Eventually Google took over.

Cucumber Melon

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1998-2002. Everything smelled like cucumber melon lotion from Bath and Body Works. Butterfly clips. Putting on gobs of glittery lotion before square dancing in gym class, and the boys acting like we slimed them. Really low-cut jeans with the thong sticking out over the top. Eyebrows plucked to basically one hair's width. Black eyeliner. Watching South Park at parties after band concerts. That weird five minutes when swing music and dancing was hot.

H/T: Reddit

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.