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People Share The Biggest Signs Their Company Is On The Brink Of Failure

People Share The Biggest Signs Their Company Is On The Brink Of Failure
Elisa Ventur/Unsplash

Companies can either thrive or falter under the constraints of capitalism, especially during an economically devastating global health crisis that was only a short decade after the 2009 recession.

There are a few signs that can tell you when a company is on its last leg. Sometimes they can limp along for a few more years, but it might not be a bad idea to dust off that good, old resume.


We went to Ask Reddit to hear about those red flags and hopefully we can learn a few things from these horror stories.

Redditor Lofi_While_I_Sleep asked:

"What's a sign that the company you're working for is on its death strokes?"

Here's how you catch the signs so you know when to get out.

What comes before lay-offs?

"Having been through this, they start stripping benefits. Then comes the employee reductions and wage freezes. CEO leaves."

- dontgoforthe1

"As somebody who's been involved at a senior leadership level and had to execute lay-offs/reductions/downsizing, I'll add this; there are markers that come way before it gets to employee cuts. First it comes from top-down communications that start to talk about declining revenue or profit. Then, when senior leadership starts talking about saving, you know 'tightening the belt' it's a sign that leaders are thinking about how to cut spending, but that in it of itself doesn't mean a RIF (reduction in force)."

"The real thing to look out for is if leadership is talking about reducing cost but at the same time are not communicating a vision for innovating or changing the business model in a significant way. If their plan is to save money while doing exactly the same thing then this is the biggest red flag. A company rarely saves its way to profitability without innovating and generating new value to offset the decline. Penny pinching essentially just slows the decline and delays the inevitable."

- Z0MBGiEF

"Well said. My company implemented TPS (Lean) even in office processes before dropping the hammer."

- dontgoforthe1

"Pretty futile, it might buy some time but if your market share is on the decline and the company's products are not really that competitive anymore (and ownership/leadership isn't innovating/pivoting), than no amount of Black-Belt Six Sigma Consultant stuff is going to turn a dying business around. It's like trying to save yourself by going on life support when you really need a heart transplant. It's only a matter of time."

- Z0MBGiEF

"In a similar vein, be on the alert for what might be termed 'musical chairs' behavior among lower and middle management: blame is going to land somewhere and so each little team leader and department head scrambles to cover their a**."

" If you don't have the vantage to see that dynamic firsthand, then be on the lookout for nonsensical expectations, which get followed by different pie in the sky initiatives that seem to be at cross purposes with the last set of orders (which were never really rescinded). Meanwhile your boss looks stressed and dodges questions when asked for clarification. Maybe the boss mutters this place is so f*cked up."

"That's the time to look for other opportunities, before the axes start to fall."

- doublestitch

The "everything's fine" meeting.

"When management calls an all-hands meeting, to assure the employees that everything's fine."

- pullin2

"Sh*t, we have one of those planned for Friday."

- 47-Rambaldi

"Time to update the resume."

- azriel777

We're a family!

"We are PARTNERING with a bigger competitor firm. We will stay a FAMILY and NOBODY is GOING ANYWHERE."

"Means you got bought out and everyone is getting laid off as soon as they have control of your business."

- TehSausBaus

"Yep, 'merger' usually just means 'acquisition' and their ways imposed on you."

"Happened near me when two hospitals 'merged' with the usual puff of management and PR bullsh*t. All that happened was a load of Hospital A's outpatient clinics started closing and moved to Hospital B. Hospital A was the only hospital for 25-30 miles around and people were also travelling long distances from rural areas to get there in the first place, now they're expected to do another 20 miles south to Hospital B. Woohoo."

- _spookyvision_

"Happened to me. It was announced as a merger but it was an acquisition. Six months later our management was walked out the door. We were placed under new managers who then stripped our responsibilities and our access."

- TheDeadGunslinger

"You forgot the cheerful chatter about 'synergies!' How could you possibly forget about how the merger is going to make everything so much better because of all the new opportunities for 'synergies'????"

- theartfulcodger

"Lol. I went to this meeting the #2 said he was taking a pay cut. One of the research drs raised his hand and asked if it would help if we all took a pay cut. Every head turned and gave him a death glare."

- Myfourcats1

"In that moment I would be contemplating a 100% pay cut... By updating my resume and passing it on the the competition. See I can be a team player too, once hired I just saved my old company some cash by not having to pay me anymore."

- CylonsInAPolicebox

A tale of merging.

"I once worked for a company that rented medical equipment like pulse oximeters and defibrillators to hospitals across the US. Branch offices in every major city. I worked in IT, helping to run the mainframe. This was the late 1980s/early 1990s, and desktop PCs at the office were just becoming a thing."

"Anyway, we were extremely leveraged and one Saturday my boss calls me at home and asks me to write a massive report basically summarizing the total sales of every branch office, by hospital, in descending order of revenue. For the last five years."

"To put that in context, the physical output of such a report ended up being a stack of wide-carriage pin-fed computer paper that came up to my waist."

"I'm six-two."

"I knew this when I took the call and closed my eyes and said to my boss, 'We're being bought, aren't we?'"

"He swore me to secrecy."

"About 300 people worked at that HQ. We were informed we were losing our jobs by... [drum roll please] ... a voice mail."

"We came back from lunch on Friday to a company-wide VM telling us we were 'merging' with our next largest competitor. Of the 300 people in that office, maybe six got jobs with the merging company."

- dramboxf

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Pinching pennies.

"A really subtle one is when Purchasing suddenly starts thrashing around looking for 'new' vendors for basic things like copier paper, pens, staples, sh*t like that. That means they've burned their existing vendors by not being able to pay bills. I've seen it happen at least twice. Both companies ceased to exist within 12 months."

- dramboxf

"Could also be a sign they're trying to pinch pennies on office supplies. If how much you're paying for a ream of paper matters for your company, you're probably in trouble."

- 00zau

"Light bulbs are different colors or brightness. When the maintenance department is using lightbulbs that are a different color temperature of the existing lights it is because someone isn't paying attention or because they are using old stock and not re-lamping whole zones at a time due to inventory or labor constraints."

- hippybiker

"This is especially true of retail stores. Once the regular vendors start demanding cash on delivery, well-known names start disappearing off shelves, and they are being replaced with Chinese knockoffs called 'La Croisiet,' 'Bakemister' and 'Cuisine Art,' well…springing for the store warranty on your blender is an even dumber idea than usual."

- theartfulcodger

Employees have to get paid.

"I'll add my own. We've been on paper checks for 6 pay cycles because ADP (our payroll software) is too expensive. Getting out asap."

- Lofi_While_I_Sleep

"Yeah, that's probably a sign that you're gonna bounce that check soon."

- 00zau

"Yeah I once worked for a company where the CEO had previously gotten in trouble with a state board of labor for not paying out employee wages after going under. Shame I didn't find that gigantic red flag before I took the job, because they went from aggressively building a software team to firing all of their engineers in like 8 months."

- hurrdurrsocrates

There's a lot of signs.

One Redditor had a whole list.

"From my experience:"

  • "Long time employees are forced in to retiring"
  • "Management is constantly fighting each other"
  • "Good employees quit without cause"
  • "Company is behind on their payables or they're scrambling to find new vendors"
  • "A LOT of closed door meetings between management"
  • "Consultants are brought in"
  • "Hours are cut"
  • "Benefits are cut"
  • "Wage freeze"
"This is really bad news for my employer, which is a state."

"I was going to mention the consultant thing. Its a sign to watch for when there are other concerns. Obviously consultants can be used for a whole host of things, but when its a last ditch effort to overhaul the organization, you're on thin ice."

- dr_freudenstein

"And to add:"

  • "Promotions are frozen along with wages"
  • "Older employees are laid off with a huge push for bringing in college students that they can pay much less"
  • "Janitorial and coffee services are cut down"
  • "Bathrooms are migrated to one ply toilet paper"
  • "In-house jobs are shipped off to contracting companies or overseas"

"When the top level management, right under senior management are replaced with management consultants. Been working in corporate USA for over 30 years, all they do is sow fear, uncertainty, and doubt about the current staff, try to stay as long as they can to suck the company dry."

"Our consultants were from Accenture at my last company, yes the same company that worked for Enron."

- MadLintElf

Positions aren't being filled.

"No positions are being filled when people quit. Delaying of pay. Silence of management. Key people leaving the company."

- Tired_of_yer_ish

"At my former employer HR would hassle you into interviewing and hiring absolutely useless internal candidates just because they had applied. You have told us you want a role opened, so you will fill it."

"And if it went on long enough unfilled, or someone else had 'held the fort' for long enough, HR decided you didn't need that extra body and pulled the post. Therefore you could hire nobody and anyone holding the fort had to continue doing so."

- _spookyvision_

"Saying we are overstaffed and not hiring newcomers when everyone is doing 3 people's job and the workload is out of hand."

- Lord-AG

If you're working on commission.

"If you're in sales and they start messing with the commission structure every couple months, that's a pretty big sign. Especially if they start doing stuff like, 'If you sell $x of accessories on a ticket, then your commission rate changes to this other arbitrary number.'"

- ashok36

"That's a clear sign to bounce. Messing with pay is a deal breaker. Not necessarily a sign of the end of the company though, sometimes it's undervalued sales team by a greedy management. Or if the company suddenly thinks the stuff will 'sell itself.'"

- Odd_Grapefruit_5587

Not trusting the movement towards digital.

"Micromanagement, lack of vision, 20th century strategy, distrust of digital. Going through this right now."

- Toygr

"I'm in the Midwest and I see the 'distrust of digital' far too often. If company leaders are simply unfamiliar with a lot of digital tools and resources out there that's one thing (that's how I get hired), but if they're full-on against making use of digital tools and resources that's when you walk away because they are on a downhill spire."

- Gorssky

If any of these things are happening at your work place, it might be time to start checking out LinkedIn and Indeed.com.

This is a strange time for job hunting as record numbers of workers are quitting. It's up to you when you want to jump ship, but make sure you're keeping your eye out for those red flags.

Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

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.