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People Reveal Why They Were Expelled From School

People Reveal Why They Were Expelled From School
Thomas Koehler / Contributor via Getty Images

It doesn't take much to get in trouble at school, but it does take something exceptional to be expelled. The punishment doesn't always fit the crime, but at times these troublemakers can pose a danger to students and the school. An epic prank taken too far, or a disgruntled administration with a grudge, can often derail a students future for years, but it's rare that expulsion solves any behavioral issues. They're just carried with the student to the next school, and the next and so on. People share the best of the worst.

Redditor u/bananapeel12329 asks:

Expelled students of reddit, what was the reason for your expulsion?


This Makes Me Sick To My Stomach

Was absent for too many days. Had doctor's notes and chronic health problems, was told to never come back.

chaosinboots

Student: absent for too many days.

School: EXPELS STUDENT SO THEY MISS MORE DAYS BECAUSE THEY MISSED DAYS.

Teo_1234

What Could've Possessed Them To Do That?

I went to a private Christian University, and I have a friend who got expelled for supposedly exorcizing a demon out of someone in the middle of a wide open courtyard.

wm24rogers

You can tell it worked because she finally yelled, for all to hear, "Jesus, I'm coming!"

Harold76

I mean, isn't that better than letting them remain possessed? (cause, ya know they believe in that stuff)

MTAlphawolf

When Push Comes To Stab

Pulled a knife on a girl who'd been bullying me and beating me up for nearly 2 years, after all attempts at intervention failed. I was in physical jeopardy every single day at school and teachers literally watched me get my head slammed into lockers and did nothing. My clothes were stolen during PE and I had to go to class in my dirty gym uniform. I was shoved down stairs. The vice-principal gave my parents lip service. The parents of the girl who was my worst bully said I was making it up. Cops?

This was the 80s, the cops didn't care about school bullies. So I threatened this in front of a large number of students that I would stab her in the throat if she ever touched me again.

I got expelled, then my mother threatened to sue the entire school district and the vice-principal personally. My mother was not a woman to be f*cked with, and she managed to get them to reverse the expulsion and only put me in in-school suspension for 10 days.

The school still wouldn't move my locker or change my classes but that girl didn't f*ck with me again. No one did for the rest of the school year because they thought I was crazy. So at least that worked.

gambitgrl

This Prank Was A Delicious Treat

Told my classmates the dog treats I brought were jerky. Everyone including a couple from our sister class and the teachers ate them.

Killer____tofu

that's a weird reason to get expelled. it's not like it was poison.

certstatus

I agree. But since I didn't tell them what they were actually eating I guess they looked at it as I was trying to poison people. This was also in elementary school so I mean I can only assume all the adults involved were fairly upset.

Killer____tofu

He's In Prison Now

Can I answer by proxy with a story?

My high school was one of those high schools where we have a cop who just kind of chills at the one busy hallway intersection. Presumably to deal with drugs or fights or some sh*t.

One day a kid was acting out, I wish I knew the full details but all I knew was he started some kind of altercation or fight and the cop stopped him. The kid was said something like "you better get your hands off me" and of course the cop did not get his hands off him.

The kid headbutted the cop and disoriented him then just beat the piss out of him and hospitalized him. That kid obviously got expelled, we got a new cop for our school, and I'm pretty sure that kid is still in jail because I think he was 18 so he didn't even get to get tried like a minor.

This was an extraordinary story, my school was not usually this bad. We had a lot of pot heads and a fight every now and then but that was about it.

Raze321

A Dance To Remember

Wow reading some of these reasons I'm realizing that a lot of people at my catholic high school should have been expelled. We had a dance once and the lights had to be turned on and the dance stopped because two kids were having sex on the dance floor. The girl was a teachers daughter. Also a friend of mine puked on my principals desk because she was so drunk and another girl sh*t in the girls bathroom sink. Oh and another guy punched his gf and a random dude because they were dancing together. All of these people only got suspended for a few days. It also all occurred during dances and somehow the school still continues to have dances.

sillysmiles

He's  A Podiatrist Now

Wasn't my expulsion. Dude in my (Catholic) high school was trouble. Long line of disciplinary infractions. Final straw was that a friend of his got a new car so he decided to wank off on it.

The senior parking lot was a busy social scene before and after school. People would arrive around 30 minutes early and hang around their cars. Couples would have a pre-class makeout, folks would chat etc.

So this guy, in front of all of us, pulled his pants down to his knees and began beating his baloney. It was funny for the first three seconds or so. Then it became clear that this guy was going to finish the job.

Some girls made disgusted sounds. Some guys laughed. Most people were just sort of in shock in having witnessed that.

Dude was gone by the end of the day. Announcement that afternoon to all students that he was no longer permitted on school premises, to include the parking lot, and no one was to permit him entry to our buildings.

He's a podiatrist now.

TheFire_Eagle

It's All Fun And Games Until Someone Gets Punched

Happened to my best friend.

In marching band in high school we all sat at the same cafeteria table. At the end of it, someone punched someone in the shoulder and said pass it on. And down the side of the table you'd get punched in the shoulder, you turn to the person next to you, punch them and say "pass it on".

My friend across the table was just playing the game and punched the kid next to him, we are in high school mind you. This kid starts crying, and I mean crying really really hard. Lunch is over and he runs to the assistant principal and tells him. The principal gets involved and the punched kid's parents come in at the end of the day demanding my friend be expelled.


The assistant principal interviews some of us from the table and I said we were all playing and nobody punched anybody hard. He didn't buy it. Friend got expelled for 120 days. Had to reapply back to the school at the next school year and when he did was put on academic suspension which meant any screwups and he was permanently expelled from the school district.

As for punched kid, I read a news article a couple years later where his father beat up his mother on Christmas Eve over.

Americasycho

That was a hell of an ending.

The_Pelican1245

The Administration Strikes Back

Lightsaber battle.

My friends and I arranged a giant lightsaber battle on the last day of my sophomore year of high school. It was a huge hit with the students, but the faculty wasn't thrilled.

Being a private school, they felt it hurt their image and singled me out as the ring-leader. On my first day back after the summer I was put on academic probation and expelled about a week later for "profanity".

Went to public school for my junior and senior year.

CarlSaganMan

It's A Catholic Man's World...

I had a girl in my Catholic high school get expelled for getting pregnant, but her boyfriend who admitted it was his was allowed to stay.

samisoy

What a great way to teach kids responsibility, and give that unborn child a real headstart at life.

BobbyRobertsJr

Watch Your Language

Not me, but my brother got expelled for using a vocabulary word correctly in a sentence.

For context, it was not that long after Columbine, and people were overreacting to every little thing. My brother was not a bad kid, but was a bullied kid with a smart mouth. He had a history of making "threats" (read: he once told another kid he was going to eat his grandchildren).

Long story short, it was English class, and the teacher called on him and asked him to use the word "retribution" in a sentence. He said something to the effect of "I will have retribution on those who have wronged me." School took it as a threat and with his past record, he was expelled.

Oztaroth

Honestly there's no real way to use that word and not make it sound creepy or threatening.

PanOfCakes


My friend and I stole a girl's reading book, singeing the edges of the cover so it would look like "lost pirate booty," and hid it in the art room. Then we used three rolls of masking tape to create a 3D spiral "maze" of stickiness that criss-crossed the room, and gave the girl a singed-edged "pirate map" to locate her book. She rolled her eyes at us, clambered through the tape-maze, and retrieved her book, calling us "dorks" and laughing.

However, a teacher discovered the taped-up art room before we had a chance to take it down. My friend and I were called to the principal. I figured we were going to get in some trouble to wasting tape, or possibly suspended for using a lighter inside school.

Nope.

I'm So Excited, I'm So Excited, I'm So...Scared

I had to go before the school board to see if I was gonna get expelled but they decided not to. I sold a bunch of caffeine pills to my friends for .25 a piece and they were all worried about drugs. They even sent them off to be tested.

RosieTheTortoise

I do the exact same thing. I'm a debate kid currently in HS and I sell caffeine pills at tournaments. It's a really good place to sell caffeine because tournaments usually have wack scheduling. Us debaters usually have to be at school at around 5-7 in the morning after being in round until about midnight at most tourns.

Since the debate community has a huge adderall problem, its understandable why a kid selling caffeine pills at tournaments would be concerning to schools, so I make sure nobody says anything. Nobody that's an administrator has found out yet, and its an easy way to make a quick buck.

Adstrata

A Porn-Again Muslim

Was watching porn in the back of the class with a couple of mates, we were 14 and it was religion period. Half way through the volume randomly went up and you could hear f*ck me while the teacher was reading Quran.

parzoval-down50

This is amazing. I'm not really religious, but I attended a Muslim school from grade 3-6 so given how strict they are on the most mundane sh!t, this really cracks me up. Could you expand on that story please.

Youre-mum


I moved to Lebanon from Germany at the age of 7, parents thought It would be a good idea for my sister and I to go to a religious school (religious and cultural reasons). I studied there for about 10 years of which have not only pushed my sister and Myself away from Islam, but also my parents actually (ironic right?). Anyhow, I only got excluded for 10 days, when my dad picked me up and asked me why I was excluded, I told him it was porn and he couldn't stop laughing.

Even funnier though, our school was split in half, boys section and a girls sections. One time, my sister forgot her lunch at home, so i crossed to the other gate to give her half of mine. I got caught by the head teach, slapped on the head and then excluded for 2 days again (cuz we're not allowed to communicate with the girls??).

I always talk about how the Middle East is rather stereotyped to extreme by the west, but the more I think about sh*t I've gone though the more i start to see why we're getting all of this sh*t.

parzoval-down50

Wait, Are 'Penis Inspections' A Thing?

Coffee in middle school.

It all started with this one kid, I'll call her Becky. Her mom drove her to school every day, and her mom bought her Starbucks. She'd share it with her friends, giving the sips. It was one of those real sugary specialty drinks that masked most of the coffee flavor.

Becky and her friends were pretty popular, and as they went so did the school. It became a hip thing to come to school with a coffee. Didn't matter if it was Starbucks, Tim's, Dunkin or even McDonalds, if you had coffee when you walked into school you were cool. It was actually pretty funny seeing kids trying to swig down bitter coffee to fit in.

When it really caught on though, the administration noticed. Concerned about the health problems, and someone potentially getting burned coffee became banned.

The thing was, at this point everyone was addicted. Kids were sluggish, getting caffeine withdrawal headaches and becoming miserable.


I was in a unique position of being the only student on the school web page club with a first period study hall. I would pop my head into homeroom, say "I'm here." then head to the club room to update the webpage/watch launchcast video on an unblocked computer. The club room was basically a few computers in a room connected to the east wing teachers lounge. Nobody used that lounge though, as the west wing was only like 3 years old and had a brand new lounge with new furniture and a TV.

Anyways, all that is to set the background for the suspension. The old teachers lounge had a coffee vending machine in it. 50 cents for what I now realize was crappy instant coffee. I saw my opportunity. I'd have my friends give me a dollar and their order. I'd sneak into the lounge, get them a cup, and once they got a bathroom pass, they'd swing by and pick up their coffee. We were smart and used cans from the juice vending machine (soda had been banned, but we had a Minute Maid machine).

Like Icarius though, I got too bold. I would go to second period with my can of coffee. The jig was up when my arm got bumped and I spilled hot coffee all over my crotch. I held my tongue from screaming and was wearing camo cargos, so that teacher didn't know, but 3rd period was gym, and it was penis inspection day, so coach noticed the redness. I failed penis inspection for the 3rd time that year and got suspended for a week.

PenisInspectionLiar

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.