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People Share The Terrifying Moments Their Gut Feeling Turned Out To Be Completely True

People Share The Terrifying Moments Their Gut Feeling Turned Out To Be Completely True
Photo by Jaclyn Moy on Unsplash

Trust the gut reaction. Sometimes this is easier said than done. But, sometimes, it can be the most important decision you ever make. When it happens, it's best to do what is hardest, go against the grain, and trust the intuition rumbling around your insides. Just to be safe. Need some inspiration? Well, here are stories from the internet about people who followed their gut—and thanked their lucky stars that they did.

1. Don't Ignore Other People's Guts

I'll throw out an opposite one. This was in the late 1990s. Boarding a flight from Dallas to Denver (TWA) on a MD-80. It's evening. The women behind me are clearly worried about flying and it's annoying me, so I grab a book and read to distract myself—no electronics on take off then, remember? Anyway, we take off and pretty quickly after we take off the plane slows down and the flight attendant gets up from the back and scurries to the front.

The ladies behind me are again panicking "That's not normal!!!" and I'm just rolling my eyes, you always slow down a bit after take off! My gut says we're cool. THEN, after about two minutes, the plane executes a really sharp turn and the pilot comes on the announcer. Ok, this isn't normal now. "Ladies & Gentlemen, we're returning to the airport, please ensure your seatbelts are fastened."

Quiet for a bit and then he comes on again to tell us what happened "We lost an engine, this happens all the time, oh, and you may notice a few emergency vehicles on the runway, but that's just normal procedure." As we land I see what looks like every single fire truck at DFW lined up beside the runway. We land without major issue, people clap, and then the pilot breaks us the real news: "Uh, so I've trained for that many times in a simulator, but it's a once in a career experience for a commercial airline pilot."

So my gut was wrong, I was sure there was nothing wrong and there was.

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2. Watching The Ones Who Do Not Smile

I was at a party when I was in college when two older dudes showed up. The place was packed and most people were loaded. I noticed something was a bit off about them. They never smiled and weren’t really talking to anyone. Finally, someone accused them of feeling around in their back pocket and it turned out they were lifting wallets from blackout college kids.

Once confronted, one of the guys got the kid in the stomach with a smallish blade. They left slowly and were never caught. It was pretty surreal. The kid was fine, though, thankfully.

Z_witha_ZED

3. Bouldering Is Dangerous

group of people in white long sleeve shirt and green pants standing on rocky groundPhoto by Mark McGregor on Unsplash

Went for a weekend away with a group from my local Scouting area, back in the ‘80s. I didn't know them all, went to make up the numbers and get some climbing/canoeing/caving done. We stayed in a rented house in the Peak District (UK). One evening, a few guys went out to try "bouldering"—climbing boulders 10 to 15 meters high.

I got there, took one look and said no, we have no climbing gear, that's high enough to die if you fall. I got the mickey taken, called "chicken," etc., so I left them to it and walked back. An hour later one guy fell 10 meters and split his skull open on the rocks below. He was gone instantly.

Stooby2

4. Stranger Danger!

This happened almost 30 years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I was probably 8 or 9 at the time and had been at the store buying candy for the weekend with the girl from next door, she was one year younger than me. A car stopped and the man inside opened the passenger door and asked me and my friend to get in the car. He was picking us up for our parents, he told us.

I could not shake the feeling that something was wrong and remember thinking "this is what my parents were talking about!" I grabbed my friend’s hand, said that we lived in that house "right over there" and pulled my friend with me. Went to their door, rang the bell, went straight in and told the people living there what had happened.

Turned out I was right, we were about to be kidnapped.

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5. Crazy Cocker Spaniel Got Yo Back

This was about 15 years ago. My parents went out for a nice dinner for their anniversary and decided that I was old enough and responsible enough to be left alone for a few hours on a weeknight. I was almost 9 and we owned a fairly protective dog at the time so it all seemed fine. They leave, tell me to lock up and to call if anything happens.

I do so and proceed to party around the house like a rockstar, cause dude I had the WHOLE dang house myself and I could do whatever I wanted, HECK to the YEAH! Halfway through a Sailor Moon marathon, I get a knock on the door. I'm confused as all get out cause it's only been about two hours and they said they probably wouldn't be back till around 10 anyway.

I guess mama has left something she needed AGAIN and swung by to grab it. My front door is a system of two doors, a super old, thick wooden door (the house was originally built in the 30's and this door is still the original piece) and then outside of that (at the time) a screen door. My dog is raising heck at the front door, but I just pull her back to calm down, cause she had a tendency to be reactive to most noises.

Well, it's not my mom at the door, some middle-aged man I've never met before in my life. Puppo is now basically feral so I keep the screen door firmly closed and a hand on her collar as I ask the many what he wants. He starts in on this weird convoluted story about how he has two young twin daughters and how they got into a fight and that one of them ran away.

Now, this man then claims that he believes his daughter is hiding in my house and would like to come look for her. I tell him no such girl is here and why does he think she would be here in the first place. He goes on into a long story about how this was the house they first lived in and how it's the one she was born in, and how it was like a safe place for her and would be the most likely place she would run away to as it was really the only other place she knows.

So I felt kinda weird since I opened the door and this dude's story hasn't been helping his cause, but now I KNOW something awful is going down. I, in no uncertain terms, inform the guy that he must have the wrong house because THIS house was built and has been lived in by my family since its construction. My dad was born in that house and after my mom and dad told his parents that they were pregnant with my older sister they gave it to them as a present to begin their family. He must be mistaken cause I know all this to be fact.

Heck, there were pictures less than 10 feet away from me on the wall of my dad and uncle playing in the front yard in the late ‘70s. By now my dog is growling like crazy and dude is getting kinda agitated. He insists that I don't know what I'm talking about and that if I would just give him a few minutes to search for his daughter he could be on his way.

The latch on the screen door was broken and I was putting all my strength at the time in holding my dog from the door. He opens the screen door with one hand and with the other reaches for my closest arm. My crazy cocker goes ballistic! Uses all her strength to lunge at him, gets a hold of his hand, and bites down. Now man is yelling and confused.

He pushes back against the screen door and slams it shut to get my dog off of him. Sadie gets pushed back indoors but is still raging. I quickly slam the front door, lock it, and chain it shut. Run around the house and make sure all other doors and windows are locked and then hunker down in the bathroom hyperventilating and wait about 15 minutes until Sadie's growling has calmed some. Check outside, no man or his car. Both long gone.

I call my parents and tell them they need to come home RIGHT NOW PLEASE. When they get home I recount the whole story. Dad goes the check the front door and sure enough on the screen door jam and siding of the house is a large smear of blood. Sadie was treated like a queen and got a whole steak for her to eat on that weekend.

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."—Mark Twain.

Thyme_of_my_life

6. Seriously, Don’t Drink and Drive

laughing people in partyPhoto by Samantha Gades on Unsplash

Not so much something very wrong here but a bunch of my friends wanted to go to this party when I was like 20. I was just sort of like "I don’t know, I really don't want to go to this place with these people." Turns out two of my friends got into an argument with people who lived there, got kicked out, were super hammered, and drove home angry.

Their car flipped three or four times and wrecked about another four cars. My one friend leaves with a small concussion the other leaves with like eight broken bones and walking therapy for about two years. The best part is, the emergency responders said if anyone was in the back seat they wouldn't be here today. That's where I would have been sitting.

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7. Granny Senses

Not mine but my grandma's. We went camping at this one spot in the woods by a small creek every summer. One summer she gets this bad feeling and makes us pack up and we leave. Couple days later they end up finding a body right near our then-campsite.

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8. Mom Knows When Something Is Wrong

My mom had one. I was there with my brother but we didn't believe her at the time. Three years ago, my brother, my sister and I were supposed to meet at mom's place for dinner at 7. My mom and sister are very close; her being the firstborn, the only girl and us being a Lebanese family. Anyway, they talk throughout the day quite a bit, daily.

Around 6:30 pm, my sister is not answering phone calls or texts. My brother and I think she's asleep or just doing whatever and it's nothing to worry about. By 7:15, still nothing from my sister and my Mom at this point is pretty much saying "Something is wrong here, I can just feel it." We still don't believe her but it's not her style to worry and she is really now worrying.

I call up her now ex-husband who was at a conference saying we haven't heard from my sister. It turns out neither has he. I asked if he knew her iTunes credentials so I could track her phone. Turns out she was at home. We called a friend, sent someone knocking at her door, and no answer. My mom started driving there and made the decision that we need to break into the house.

She texted her friends to kick the door down. They did and found my sister unconscious. She had a major stroke and a concussion. The aftermath was very, very difficult. I won't write a novel and be brief. Major stroke, concussion and required open heart surgery. Was told she may never talk and would likely be a vegetable and if we actually wanted to proceed with the surgeries.

We did. She's alive, she talks, she can walk with a cane and will at some point, walk without a cane. She lost everything on the left side of her body. The only part of her that may never come back is her left arm.

MrCarlEdwardsSagan

9. There Are Some Sick, Sick People Out There

two women hugging each otherPhoto by Eye for Ebony on Unsplash

Not me but my mom. When I was about ten years old I got invited to spend the night at my really good friend’s home. My mom said no. I begged her to let me go but she was adamant that I couldn't. She said she just didn't feel right about it and that no amount of pleading was going to change her mind. A few weeks later my friend’s dad was busted for inappropriate child imagery.

After he went to trial it was found that he had also touched several young girls. He would have his daughter invite them over for a slumber party and then touch them when they went to sleep. If my mom hadn't trusted her gut feeling I could have been one of his victims.

MuttyAndMalarka

10. Some Devastatingly Flawed Logic

I worked at a daycare. One of the mothers gave me the heebie jeebies. She would show up randomly and be like "my baaaaaaby, I neeeed my baaaaby." Like, moms love their kids and miss them, but her obsession with her daughter really made me feel weird. She ended up killing her daughter so that she could be an angel. It really messed me up when I found out.

ZombieBoobies

11. Trusting The Spidey Sense In The Rain

It was 1:30 am, raining, I was riding my motorcycle down a four-lane road with two lanes in each direction and a middle turn lane. I saw a car approach a stop sign, perpendicular to me, in the parking lot of a bar and though to myself "He's going to turn left in front of me." I was going 45mph, let off the throttle, and about 200 to 250 feet from him, he did exactly what I thought he was going to do.

Grabbed my front and rear brakes, back tire locked up and kicked out to the left. I had maybe 40 to 50 feet in which I would either high-side in front of the car and likely be run over, slam into the driver door or rear driver door or jump off to the right in a tuck and roll fashion. I jumped and my motorcycle slammed into the rear driver side of his car.

I had a couple scratches, bruises, and a sore tailbone. But I wasn't run over or hanging out in his back seat via glass window. Thank God for spidey senses.

ReallyNotRoot

12. That's So Raven

christmas village wallpaperPhoto by Roberto Nickson on Unsplash

Christmas Day 2016. My family and I had packed the car with all the goods and were about to be on our way to my grandparent's house. The car wouldn't start. Let's back up: The whole day I felt I was in a trance or a dream. I kept feeling off and the night before I had a dream that we were driving on a bridge—our tire popped, we slid and a car slammed into my side of the vehicle.

I remembered it so vividly because I see the headlights coming at me in my head still. I get prophetic dreams a lot, but I really didn't think much of it because I also suffer from nightmares. Anyway, we call AAA. Meanwhile, I'm refusing to get in the car because everything feels OFF. The guy gets there, tells us it was our battery, so he charged it.

I still felt very off but seeing as he fixed the problem I get in, he turns around and says to my mom, "I just wanna check your tire pressure for some reason." Not kidding—he said one of the front tires was EXTREMELY high, was, and I quote from AAA dude, "About to pop if we were to drive, especially on a highway or turnpike." He fixed that too, free of charge.

The feeling of being uneasy and dream-like faded and I felt fine. Made it to grandparents house—awesome mashed potatoes. I know when to trust my gut.

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13. Giving Pastors A Bad Name

I used to be a lifeguard in a very small gated community with a lot of wealthy people. I also used to sing at the local church services. I met the pastor in that context and something about him just seemed...off. It wasn't anything I'd be able to articulate. I just didn't like him. He just made my gut drop. Later, I noticed that the local pastor was spending a lot of time at the pool watching the little kids swim—one little boy in particular.

He would have a towel ready for him, he'd have the kid sit on his lap to dry off. As far as I knew, he wasn't babysitting him. He was just there, watching and touching. It made my hackles rise. I told his parents that the way the pastor was interacting with their son made me uncomfortable. They investigated and it turns out the pastor was going to their home when they weren't there and "spending time" with that little boy in his bedroom.

They didn't give me any more details than that but it was implied that something sexual had been going on. I don't know what happened to him after that but he was obviously removed as pastor from the church. It's so important to trust your gut on these things.

why_renaissance

14. Just Say No, Mmmkay

At a research institute, I walked into a mouse procedure/surgery room for a quick moment to grab something and leave. After walking out I felt, well to be honest, like I was a little high. There were three other people in that room, including 2 undergraduates so I got worried and went back inside to check things out. When I got back inside I asked if they were feeling ok, one of the undergrads turned to me and said she was fine, but was flushed and looked a little out of it.

So I went around to all the isoflurane chambers (odorless volatile liquid that KOs mammals at low doses and kills them at higher) looking for leaks. Sure enough, the gasket at the bottom of one of the chambers had failed and it was leaking out and immediately boiling into a gas, and filling the room. I told them their isoflurane was leaking, and the postdoc told me they were fine and that he uses that machine all the time.

He also pointed out that the isoflurane was in an air curtained biosafety cabinet and so even with the leak, they were protected. I called him an idiot because a biosafety cabinet recirculates air and doesn't evacuate it like a fume hood—which is what he should have been using. So I ignored him, propped open the door, and ordered the undergrads to get out of the room.

I then went to their lab manager and told her what I had found. Their lab manager came down like the wrath of God.

Chagroth

15. Crazy Step Mother

a woman with grey hair wearing a brown cardiganPhoto by Foto Sushi on Unsplash

My father started publicly dating a woman shortly after my mother passed—I later learned she's likely the woman he'd been having an affair with. I liked her. One evening my father took me to one side and asked how I'd feel about him asking her to marry him. I got an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach and felt nauseated.

I told my father I didn't want him to and he asked why as he thought I liked her. I explained that I did like her but had a bad feeling and he said: "that's just a feeling, they don't mean anything." He already had the ring and proposed straight away. I got really excited about the engagement, the wedding, moving house, and my impending little sister.

After the wedding, she changed. And when my half-sister was born, she went crazy. She abused me, my sister (my mother's child), and later, my half-sister (her own child). He only left her when my doctor told him something was clearly going on with her that was affecting my health. She was putting a substance that I'm intolerant to in my food and my father wouldn't believe me and would force me to eat whatever she made.

However, I couldn't get a doctor alone without her to tell them. My maternal grandmother told him if he didn't leave her she'd go for custody that he finally left her. He accused me of lying for the entire time leading up to that and has never asked me about any of my attempts to get help since.

PhDOH

16. Saving Yourself From The Chicken Dance

The one I best remember was about ten years back. I was a groomsman at a friend's wedding. Partway through the reception, I was suddenly struck with a feeling of impending doom. THEY ARE GOING TO PLAY THE CHICKEN DANCE NEXT! Frantically I started searching for someone, crying, "Let's go smoke! Who wants to go smoke?" I don't even smoke, but it wasn't hard to get a group together.

When I came back, sure enough, The Chicken Dance had been danced, and I was the only member of the wedding party to escape its embarrassing talons.

totalperspec

17. A Bad Gut Feeling Is A Rational Deduction From An Observation

Got off the subway at night, there was one other person about half a block behind me on my route home. This is a totally normal thing, has happened thousands of times. Totally normal-looking dude, not even following me closely. I had a bad feeling. Such a bad feeling that, when I turned the corner on my way home, I broke into a sprint and hid behind a dumpster in the shadows partway down the street.

By the time he came around the corner, I was well hidden and could see him from my hiding place. As soon as I saw his reaction to the fact that I wasn't there, I knew I had been right to hide. He started LOOKING FOR ME, muttering to himself, he went up and down the street, looked around corners, I hid and held my breath until he was gone. It was terrifying. I am so glad I had that sudden, inexplicable impulse to hide, and listened to it.

MissPerdicament

18. Baby Sis Fall For The Wrong Dude

brown horse with silver round pendant necklacePhoto by Luisa Peter on Unsplash

My sister was 18 years old and bought a horse from a guy who was married and 47. My parents liked the guy and became friends with him and his wife. I knew something was up because he and my sister would talk constantly on the phone. My mom actually asked his wife if that was cool and she said it was totally fine and he did this a lot with other kids who needed “horse advice.”

Yeah.

My parents wanted to send my sister to stay with this guy for a whole summer so she could ride and show horses. I told them the relationship was clearly inappropriate and not to do it. They were like, if the wife doesn’t mind, then who cares?!? Within two months he had left his wife. Within four months they were engaged.

Four months after that they got married, and one week after that, my sister was pregnant. This guy has had many parents accuse him of being a pedophile and coming on to their underage daughters. His own son has nothing to do with him. And he’s not even good looking or rich. Just a gross, hideous hillbilly with leather for skin and three teeth.

Good job, baby sis.

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19. It’s Not Your Fault

Two years ago, I was on my way back home on my bike. I had to go over a bridge and on one side of the bridge, there was a girl, crying. On the bridge, there were two 14-year-olds (one pretty tall, one pretty small), head to head, seemingly about to get into a fight. When I went by, they stood back. I thought something was off, but I told myself fighting among 14-year-olds over what I thought was a girlfriend, is normal and not dangerous, right? Turns out, the taller one of the boys jumped off the bridge to end it all only minutes after I passed, the smaller one couldn't physically hold him back.

Had I stopped and listened to my gut feeling, I might have been able to help and talk him out of it.

KIMDOTCOM

20. Hiding Something Under It All

On a recent date with my girlfriend. I couldn't place it, at all. She was herself, if not a little more playful. She looked like herself, in jeans and a hoodie. I just couldn't quite place it...until we got home and it turned out she was wearing an adult toy harness all night...I have no idea how that was comfortable.

21. Just In Time

yellow and white van on road during daytimePhoto by Ian Taylor on Unsplash

Not me, but my coworker. She got a call last week that her sister-in-law didn't show up for work and didn't call or anything. She's been working three jobs recently and was complaining she needed a good night's sleep. Coworker said she probably slept through the alarm clock, but her husband insisted that she go home and check on her because it wasn't like the SIL to just not show up for work. Coworker was annoyed but did it since her house was only 20 minutes away.

Coworker gets there and it turns out she had overdosed on some sort of opioid and then had a heart attack. Oxygen levels were extremely low, and paramedics said that if coworker hadn't gotten home when she did, SIL would have been gone within minutes. Thank god her husband had felt that something was wrong. Always go with your gut.

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22. Uncle Comes Home

A guy came to the door one day, looking for my mom. I was probably 13 at the time. Immediately, I had most of my body behind the door, ready to shut it. I just had this awful feeling about him. He said he hadn't seen her in a long time, and that he was just coming from church and was in the neighborhood. Ok, so this guy is trying to communicate that he's a good person, and that and his weird smile just made me trust him less.

I told him my mom was napping. She wasn't. She was at work. So, he left a note for her with his name and number on it. I took it & closed & locked the door. Then I looked at the note & immediately recognized the name. It was my uncle. I hadn't seen him since I was five when he got locked up for offing my aunt and cousin.

phridoo

23. Nick of Time

I was at a bar in October of 2013 or 2014, if I recall. Anywho, I lived in a particularly rough neighborhood at the time, and I was enjoying a few drinks. I had this horrible feeling of uneasiness looming in the back of my mind, so I told my buddies I'm turning in for the night. They called me the following morning and informed me that the bar had gotten shot up and like three people were injured. It was about two hours after I left if I recall.

Saberaltersan

24. Mom, Something Is Up With The Dog

short-coated beige puppyPhoto by Andrew Schultz on Unsplash

A couple years ago we had a young dog, about one and a half, who had epilepsy. Of course, we had to give him meds multiple times a day to help with it. One day he basically just stopped eating. After a day or two I told my parents that we should take him to a vet. Cue "No, he'll get over it." About a week later, he's still not eating and we take him into the vet for a periodic checkup.

Turns out he has liver failure that is almost guaranteed to progress into heart failure. We ended up having to put him down a couple of days later, simply because we didn't want him to suffer. I told you, mom.

FuzzyCollie2000

25. No One Knows You Better Than You

Not so much a bad "feeling" but I think it feels appropriate. I was a freshmen in high school going out for football for the first time. I'm pretty average, probably on the scrawny side. About two weeks into practice I started having terrible back pain. I told my mom, who said "you’re just sore, suck it up," so I did for a while.

I kept going to practice for another week before I finally had to tell my mom she had to take me to the hospital or I’d go without her. So she sets up an appointment and...it turns out I had slightly broken a vertebrae. Tiny cracks on each side of the same vertebrae. Safe to say I don't take her advice much anymore.

BrobaFett26

26. Epic Party Turns Into Epic Arrests

Pretty simple one. Went to a party that was just shoulder-to-shoulder packed from the moment I arrived. I could barely move through the house. People were spilling out onto the lawn and everybody was acting a fool. Way too many people there and I figured it was about to go downhill fast. So I grabbed my friend and we bounced.

As we were leaving about 10 to 12 squad cars passed us on the road headed towards the party. City, county, and state officers—it was a small town so they probably asked for help. Found out later the party got shut down, obviously, and the officers painstakingly ID-ed everybody there, busted everybody involved with throwing the party because of underage drinking, everybody that was underage, found a load of drugs and busted people for that, and ended up towing a boatload of cars because nobody was sober enough to drive.

Even people that were fine to leave didn’t get to leave for hours. We just took our asses to a bar and drank like normal adults.

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27. Knowing Your Own Appendix

woman leans on wall in white fur jacket docking her head while holding it using her leaf handPhoto by Carolina Heza on Unsplash

A couple of years back, I got a stomach ache. I'm not normally prone to them, so it felt a little strange. When the pain moved to my side, I knew something was wrong, so I called the doctor, who called me in for an emergency appointment—I was worried it might be appendicitis, he agreed. I got there, got prodded and poked and told there was nothing wrong with me—“if it was really your appendix, you wouldn't be able to sit there and talk to me.” Fair enough, so I went home.

Later that night, I start throwing up, so I knew something was wrong, so off to the hospital. The complete idiot of a doctor prodded and poked around again and declared it was just a stomach bug, or maybe a urine infection. Told me to drink some flat Coke(!) and go to the doctor in the morning—bear in mind, I'm so pale as to be actually grey by this point and can barely hold down any more than a couple of sips of water.

Later in the morning, I'm still not feeling right so I get my SO to take me to the doctor again. More of the usual prodding and a “well it's probably an infection, but I'm going to refer you to the hospital, just in case.” So I get to the hospital—long story short, I have a whole bunch of tests, but they're still not convinced it was appendicitis. I was, by this point.

They eventually agree to do an appendectomy, using keyhole surgery. So I go down for the operation, which they reckon will take an hour or so “and don't be surprised if you still have an appendix when you wake up, we're going to have a look first.” I woke up about six hours later with a 4-inch incision on my side.

Rather than the three small holes I'd been told to expect, there was a tube sticking out of it. I asked the nurse what the heck happened, and got “oh yes, your appendix was really bad, apparently. I think it burst as they were removing it.” So yeah; not only did I have appendicitis like I thought, but I had it really bad. I ended up in the hospital for another week being treated for sepsis.

TheAngryBad

28. Unsung Hero

I got to the airport early, got something to eat at the restaurant, and boarded the plane. Everyone is on and I suddenly get a feeling of panic. Nothing else, just panic. I was used to traveling back and forth every week, so no problems flying, but in this case I had to get off that plane. I grabbed my stuff, ran past the flight attendant and said don't wait for me I will get another flight and sat down trying to calm down.

Announcement comes over the speaker that they are looking for me, my flight is leaving. It leaves. I watch the flight start to take off. This was in Detroit. Then it happened. The worst cramps I ever had, and I ran to the bathroom. Some seriously bad food from the restaurant. I would have been on a two-hour flight stinking up the plane while ejecting the contents of my stomach from both ends. I am sure the entire passenger compartment thanks me, though they do not know...

TheRealOneTwo

29. Expertise

Airline pilot here—warning, do not continue reading if flying makes you uneasy. One day we loaded up passengers and cargo and everything and we were ready to taxi. I noticed that the nose of the airplane seemed to be higher up than usual while we were sitting on the ground. I told my first officer about it and he agreed.

We double checked the weight and balance and everything seemed to be right. I decided to just taxi out towards the runway and see if the wheel struts would go back to their normal positions during taxi. Still felt weird to me. Something wasn't right. I told ground control we needed to go back to the gate. Called Ops and told them we're headed back because I think something isn't right with the weight and balance.

After we get back, I ask them to check how much ballast we have in the aircraft. It's verified on my sheet as 500lbs., but I have a feeling...Turns out, yep, they forgot to put it in the plane. So had we taken off, the center of gravity would have been out of whack—way past limits. It could have resulted in an airplane that was impossible to control.

Just like that 747 that took off and had the load slide to the back. That was a day that I was really pleased that I had so much experience flying to give me that feeling & that feeling could very well have saved my life along with others.

TangoFoxtrotSierra

30. Not Walking on Sunshine

woman wearing white sheer lace wedding gownPhoto by Thomas AE on Unsplash

I came home to my mom supposedly being out for a walk and my little brother seeming worried that she hadn’t come back yet. I noticed that her keys were hanging up. I just had a sinking feeling that something wasn’t right. Why not take your keys? She hadn’t gone for a walk. She had put on her wedding dress, locked herself in a back room that you can only unlock from the inside, and had taken a whole heap of pills to kill herself. She survived.

This was over 15 years ago but still haunts us.

trontrontronmega

31. Suspicious Minds

After my mother went to bed each night, my dad would go out to his car beside the driveway & talk on the phone for about 15 minutes. I never heard what he had been saying or who he was talking to, but I felt that something wasn’t right. I outed him. He had been having an affair for about ten years.

The_Withheld_Name

32. Off a Cliff

As I climbed out onto a cliff to get a picture of a cave in the middle of a waterfall, something felt weird. I then began sliding down the cliff. I barely caught myself on a fracture in the rock, and eventually got my feet back on solid ground. The next day, my sister had the news on and they found a body under that same cliff. He'd been missing for a few days.

Texan_Greyback

33. Rookie Initiation

a row of old trucks sitting on top of a grass covered fieldPhoto by Documerica on Unsplash

We had this regular customer who was very weird indeed. I worked in an auto wrecking yard and he always came in and bought random, off the wall things. Anyway, me and a new guy load some stuff into the back of this guy’s van. He gets in to leave and the new guy is standing behind the van, next to the building. I say: "Hey, I wouldn't stand there if I were you." New guy looks at me puzzled, but moves anyway. Sure enough, weird customer puts it in reverse and punches the gas. Backs his van right through the wall of our office, right where the new guy had been standing…

CrookedSmileUte

34. Threat On The Docks

A former co-worker, Jason, told me this story. Jason was working at a dock in China and unloaded shipping containers from huge international cargo ships. A typhoon had just passed, and many of the inbound ships had been delayed for days due to the extreme weather. Once the weather cleared, there was a backlog of ships waiting to be docked and unloaded.

To make matters worse, a tropical depression had just been upgraded to a tropical storm and was expected to make landfall within 48 hours. It was organized chaos as the dock workers frantically tried to unload three times the volume of shipping containers in half the time. Jason was a Senior Cargo Agent, and his job was to verify that the information on the offloaded shipping containers matched the information on the manifest, and to visually inspect shipping containers for damage.

A cargo agent had to sign off on all cargo before an unloaded ship could disembark. As there were a limited number of spaces for ships to dock, it was crucial that the cargo agents verify the unloaded shipments as quickly as possible so that another ship could dock immediately. Everyone at the dock had walkie-talkies (hand-held portable two-way radios), and Jason heard Dock Manager 1 going absolutely crazy because an unloaded ship had been waiting in the dock for nearly two hours, and no cargo agent had verified their delivery.

Jason radioed Cargo Agent 1 assigned to that area, but there was no answer. He then radioed Cargo Agent 2, and still received no response. He then radioed the next closest Senior Cargo Agent 1 and asked him to drop everything and verify the cargo immediately. After thirty minutes, Dock Manager 2 radioed that the ship was STILL docked.

Jason then radioed Senior Cargo Agent 1 who he had sent over there and did not receive a response. He then radioed Dock Manager 1 who had been screaming into the radio and again received no response. Jason was now the only Senior Cargo Agent in the area, and it now fell to him to verify the unloaded shipment and get the delayed ship out of port ASAP.

As he got into his truck to drive over, a nagging feeling of dread kept telling him not to go. He ignored the feeling and drove there anyway, all the while trying and failing to radio anyone else in the area. When he arrived at the unloading zone, he couldn't bring himself to get out of the truck, and later said that it felt as if he was being physically pushed back into his seat.

Jason then picked up his radio with a shaking hand and broadcast, "Unknown threat near unloading section four. All workers evacuate immediately. This is not a drill." And just like that, a multi-billion dollar port was shut down. A HazMat team was soon dispatched and found that a shipping container damaged in transit had been carrying a heavier-than-air type of inert gas.

The gas leaked and displaced the air, then became trapped between several rows of closely stacked shipping containers. Every person that approached immediately lost consciousness. Five people were found lifeless near the damaged container, and Jason was later fired because he did not actually have the authority to shut down the port.

Jason filed the Chinese equivalent of a wrongful termination lawsuit, but was strongly encouraged to settle, or else the Chinese government might find him partially responsible. As a white foreigner in China, this was a very real possibility, and he ended up settling for a modest amount. Jason still blames himself for what happened to Senior Cargo Agent 1 and gave the settlement amount to the man's widow.

Forgive_My_Cowardice

35. Father Knows Best

My dad was driving our whole family in the car, zipping along as he was prone to doing. Then, just before a blind corner, he started to slow down for no apparent reason. Like, slowed down a lot more than was really necessary. A second or two later, another car comes speeding around the corner on our side of the road. It would have been a head-on collision had dad not felt the uncanny urge to ease up.

Minifig_Monkey

36. Physical Reaction

man in black jacket and black pants standing beside graffiti wall during daytimePhoto by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash

In 2014, when that year's X-Men movie came out, I went to go see it with my best friend. Two thirds of the way through, I felt the most off I've ever felt. Sick, chills, feverish, gut drop, time warped, the works. I peeked at my phone & had dozens of texts, missed calls, & voicemails. My dad had passed.

samdramayhem

37. Second Opinion

I hadn't been feeling well for a few weeks. I was having shortness of breath despite being pretty athletic and could feel my heart pounding. I saw my doctor, who diagnosed it as anxiety, prescribed some meds, and sent me on my way. But I just...had this feeling. A few days later, I woke up and had trouble walking to the bathroom without losing my breath.

I don't know why it even came to mind but all I could think was, "Something is wrong. This isn't anxiety. I need to go to the ER right away." So I walked myself to the hospital and asked if it was possible I had a blood clot. I was reassured that if it was a clot in my lung, there was no way I could have walked to the hospital. I convinced them to test me anyway annnnnnd it was a pulmonary embolism. Listen to your instincts, friends!

KikiTheArtTeacher

38. Nightmare is an Understatement

Things have been rough lately, but last Wednesday I woke up extremely sick to my stomach and very anxious. I felt like crying the whole day. My best friend's brother called later in the afternoon to tell me that my friend had taken his own life the night before. It has been a nightmare ever since.

HighDingyDoo

39. Seeking an Explanation

white enclosed vehicle trailerPhoto by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

I was with a large group of friends including my brother, and we were playing hide and seek outside at night. My brother and his friend decide to go into a snowmobile trailer to hide, and I told them I’d hide under the trailer. Little did I know, the trailer was balancing on two wheels. As I was hiding under the trailer, I suddenly got the worst feeling.

A feeling that I needed to get out of there right away. I can’t even describe the feeling but I got out quick. Seconds after I got up, they made the trailer unbalanced by getting inside and it crashed exactly where I just was. There’s no doubt it would’ve ended me in seconds. I stood there in complete shock. I couldn’t believe I was so close to never seeing my family again.

relatee

40. Til I’m Blue in the Face

My siblings and I were swimming at a neighbor’s house with their kid, while the adults were inside. Randomly, a thought came into my head of "Where’s my sister at?" She easily could’ve gone inside or have walked home across the street, but I felt like I needed to find her ASAP. I got all of us kids to search and we discovered she was at the bottom of the pool, completely blue. She made a complete recovery and is now one of the best parts of my life.

intergalacticsnack

41. Dog Days

I was letting my dog back inside. She walked right past me with no tail wagging or happy smile, walked right through the kitchen without wanting a treat, and went straight to her doggy bed. I knew something wasn't right, and within ten minutes we were in the car to the emergency vet. She had a tumor rupture apparently, and it was clear what needed to be done. Still breaks my heart.

marry_me_sarah_palin

42. Bail On Out of There

Robert Pickton | Court TV interview in 2002 about Robert Pic… | Flickrwww.flickr.com

I had a coworker who used to go to parties in high school. Several of the parties in her senior year were at some guy’s farm. She went to one and bailed right away saying it felt weird. The guy who owned the farm turned out to be Robert Pickton (if you know, you know).

rustyshacklefordrsw

43. With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?

Came home very late one night. My parents and sister were already asleep. House felt funny. Dogs were barking in a strange way. I looked around and noticed that my stepmother's car was not in the driveway, but her purse was in the kitchen. My dad's wallet was not on its usual place. I then caught someone creeping around in the backyard, and the commotion woke everyone up.

The creeper was one of my sister's friends. Turns out, her friends decided to break in due to the fact that my parents never lock the doors and the dogs all knew them. They planned to steal my dad's cash and credit cards and take my stepmother's car for a joyride. We found the car in the next subdivision. Why was creeper-boy not with his other buddies?

He figured he could zip back over and spend some "quality time" with my sister, and my timing was just about perfect. He ended up ratting on his buddies and getting a reduced sentence. His parents were mad at me more for injuring their little boy than they were at him for breaking into people's houses and stealing cars.

Cabalagent1

44. New Rule: Always Pick up the Phone

My mom called me in the middle of the day on a Sunday. I was going to ignore it and just call her back later like I tend to do, but something just didn’t feel right. So, I picked up. She was calling to tell me an emergency squad was working on my brother and I needed to get a hold of my dad right away.

wildthingsroam

45. You’ve Got a Friend in Me

man in black t-shirt and black shorts sitting on bedPhoto by Ramiro Pianarosa on Unsplash

I was walking back to my dorm from class and had a gut feeling that I needed to see my friend right away. I walked into his dorm room and found him on the floor seizing. He is fine now, but it was still weird that I just knew something was wrong before I had seen him at all that day.

ASuds_65

46. Changing the Course of Family History

When I was little, my cousin who lived 30 minutes away was my best friend. Our parents used to meet up at my grandmother’s house every week just so that we could play together. Occasionally, I would go on sleepovers to her house. One weekend when I was staying over with them, it was coming up to bed time and I had a really weird feeling and just wanted to go home.

I was crying hysterically and my uncle eventually brought me home. This year, I found out that my dad had planned on leaving my mother that night, and me crying saying that I wanted "Mammy and Daddy" made him change his mind. My mother doesn't know this, nor do any of my siblings. My dad told me one night while we were out at a bar and he had a few too many.

caithamach13

47. First and Last Day on the Job

I used to clean vacant houses for a living. One day, I was working at a house near the end of a dead-end street. There were maybe six or seven houses on the one side of the street before an intersection with a stoplight, so it was a pretty heavy traffic area. I was cleaning out the property just fine when my Spidey-Sense suddenly went off the charts.

I was inside the house but I pretty much dropped everything, got in my car, and started to drive outta there. On the corner, I saw a weird looking guy and had a nasty feeling about him. When I got home, it was all over the news—that guy was wanted for offing an officer, making the start of his career right on that street corner about 15 minutes after I hoofed it. I told my boss that I wasn't going to go back to that property. He understood.

LightHouseMaster

48. Off the Road Again

car dashboardPhoto by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

I was driving home late one evening and I had the strongest feeling that something was wrong. At the time, this meant that I took the long way home because I thought my subconscious knew there'd be some speed traps on the turnpike. Next morning, it turns out an impaired driver had caused a huge multi-car accident in the exact stretch of road I would've been driving on. The driver and two others lost their lives, and another 5+ people were injured. I'm not a superstitious person by any stretch, but this is always something that's made me wonder.

Yung-Thick

49. A Horrible Event

I once went to an event with an ex and I was in a bit of a crummy mood all day for various reasons. The whole time, I felt like something really bad had happened to someone close or that a generally bad thing happened. The next day, I learned that just a few hours before I went to the event, a classmate of mine washed up on the beach.

Permalink

50. I’m Having a Reaction to This One

About ten years ago, my mom said she had a really tiring day. When she was going upstairs, she said “Goodbye” instead of “Goodnight” and it just really sat wrong with me. I checked on her a little later and she wasn’t waking up, so we called 9-1-1. Turned out she had taken a bottle of pills. I was terrified I was going to end up alone with my horrible stepdad. When paramedics arrived, they asked him if she had any allergies and he said no, and it still frustrates me that I had to be the one who told them about her allergies.

SlootyLooty

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.