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Frustrated People Share Their Neighbor Horror Stories

Frustrated People Share Their Neighbor Horror Stories
Christian Stahl on Unsplash

When you buy your home, you expect a certain level of politeness and consideration from your neighbors.

Keep your dogs off each others lawns.

Let them know about any loud parties going on.

Trim your hedges and keep your sports equipment off their roofs.

Simple, right?


Not for some, apparently, as evidence by these frustrated homeowners answers to Redditor narwhal_attack2394 who asked:

"What did your a--hole neighbor do?"


What...Why?

I moved onto a dirt road with several houses on it. My friend has lived down the road his whole life. The people next to my house only come up for the summer and are never there in the winter. When summer comes, however, there's multiple pot holes on the road. Curious, I asked my friend. He said the neighbors come up in the summer and dig the holes themselves in order to 'slow down' traffic.

So, that.

emf3rd31495

Picking A Fight With The Wrong Senior Citizen

Picked a fight with our 70 year old Indian neighbor. Like, an actual physical fight.

Indian neighbor has seen waaay too much BS in his life to tolerate any more and hit him with a nectarine tree in a pot.

Yes the tree is ok. Hilariously, he actually gifted it to me last weekend after I helped him do a bunch of trellis work (we're both keen food gardeners). I haven't been able to look at it without cracking up.

Taleya

Being TOO Nosey

He used to stand on the footpath drunk every afternoon and yell to my husband about what a b**** I was. Once my husband told him to go home and he shaped up to try and punch my husband, who was around 50 years younger than the neighbor.

My infraction? He rang one day to be nosy check why my husband's car was home on a work day. I politely thanked him for his call and let him know my husband was sleeping and had a cold, nothing to worry about.

Apparently I was meant to praise him profusely for being such a caring neighbour, and my husband was meant to follow up with a call once he was awake and also lavish him with praise for caring. Because we didn't, we got to hear about it loudly every afternoon until we moved several months later.

macadamiaicecream

Calling Out Your Kids

Called the cops on our then 6 yr old son because he was playing outdoors in public property.

It wasn't a road or anything. There was no danger whatsoever. He wasn't screaming or anything, she just didn't like kids.

She also told our 3 yr old daughter that she was ugly.

azerty1976

Water On Concrete

Late last year mine said he'll bash me because I got his driveway wet while I had the sprinkler going to water my yard. Not even joking - he flipped his s*** over his driveway getting water on it!

Chromattix

False Accusations

Yelled at me for entering a shared garage to get some of our stuff. He later claimed I was after his gun, which was stored in a gun locker with a lock, that only he had the key for. He was in his 60's or 70's at the time.

Sharkey_B

Jerry Sounds Like The Literal Worst

Ah, Jerry.

When I moved in, he seemed eccentric, but harmless. Apparently my landlord had a conversation with him and told him to leave me alone. This upset Jerry greatly. He cornered me one day while I was unlocking my door and asked me to come sit with him in his apartment. I don't think the place had ever been cleaned and he had Hoarder mentalities. He drank a bottle of wine in about 30 minutes, commenting on all the sad things in his life. Luckily he passed out, so I could leave.

A couple weeks later, he got into a 3am fight with his boyfriend, which resulted in his boyfriend trying to get into my apartment for safety, and eventually breaking into an empty unit down the hall. Cops were called and Jerry was taken to jail.

About a week after that, same boyfriend was over and a fight ensued. This time it ended in very loud sex.


Jerry would flush things you're not supposed to flush down the toilet and would back up sewage into mine and my neighbor's bathtubs and bathroom sinks. Eventually he clogged his toilet so badly that he just ripped it from the wall and left it there.

The cops came twice to my door to ask if I had seen Jerry lately, and asked to search my apartment to make sure I wasn't hiding him.

One day while I was getting ready for work, he came into my apartment with another guy and tried to measure my walls for the "renovation" he was going to do to combine his and my apartments into one unit. But, don't worry, I could just live with him when it was all finished.

Eventually, Jerry got evicted, but would still convince people to let him into the building. For months his mugshot was pasted on all entrances saying to not let him in.

TracingBroads

Misusing Your Authority

Got his cop buddies to come put stickers on our cars claiming they were illegally parked so we had to move them so he would have room for his guests to park.

I bought a corner lot in a newer subdivision so i have curb and sidewalk on two sides of my property. The side of my house has plenty of room for parking which i sometimes use, my stepson uses, and sometimes the other neighbors I like use. New neighbor bought a house on the other side of the street from my side, and doesn't have a lot of street parking for his lot. He claims that the parking on my side of the road is his because it is across the street from his house.

When confronted about the fact that it is just parking and no way belongs to him, me or anybody he told us he knows people in the police department that can take care of this. He also picked this time to scream pretty specific mean things about all his new neighbors and how each one was s**** like he is watching us.

deathtastic

I Need To Sleep, Jerry!

Rang my doorbell at 4am over and over and asked me to go with him because there was an emergency and it was important. Went with him and he took me over to his car and started asking what I thought of it and looked very proud.

In other words this dude rang every apartment in the building at 4am to get people to look at his new car.

Aqueluna

When They Do ALL The Things Wrong

Ahhhhhhh! Please allow me to vent because I am in the throes of this b.s. at the moment.

First, they have 4 mini-Dachsunds that never shut up. I cannot even open my backdoor without these little dogs going off, and they just leave their dogs outside all day. I enjoy sitting outside on a nice day and reading, but nope, I can't concentrate over the ear-splitting constant yapping. Now, I am a dog person, I own dogs and love dogs, but this complete lack of consideration is mind-boggling.

Second, they rent (and I own), but the crazy wife told me she owns a 3' strip of my property and they'll be moving the fence over. I don't have a huge yard, 3' is a lot of space, and did I mention THEY RENT. I brought out my survey to say "No, you don't own it and no, you aren't going to be moving the fence," and she continued to say that they had their own survey but refused to show it to me.


Third, they seem to think it's no big deal if they come into my yard. I came home from work to find they'd moved their water drainage into my backyard.

They complain about my tree and asked me to cut it down. I said no. They put their garbage cans in my driveway. I've witnessed the wife empty her vacuum cleaner in my driveway. She has blown piles of leaves that haven't even come from my tree into my driveway. Even after I put locks on my gate, she climbed up on a ladder, LEANED OVER THE FENCE, and leaf blew all the leaves IN MY YARD AND THAT WERE ALREADY IN PILES all over my yard. After that, I put up cameras and have future plans to press charges for trespassing the next time this crazy b-tch pulls another stunt...

UnderBlackWings

Cats Are People Too, Darn It

Moved in with 2 cats. Decided she would rather have a dog. Took the 2 cats, set them on her porch, and made them "outdoor cats". Stopped feeding them. Didn't spay either. Now our neigbhorhood is overrun with 10 or so male cats and these 2 have a new litter each every few months.

A--holes. Animals aren't a decoration you can just throw out when you're bored with them. They are living creatures, damnit.

Jack_is_a_Potato

Early Morning Shots

One of them was a cowboy builder who even conned his elderly nextdoor neighbours into getting their roof done for £10,000 even though their tiles were almost brand new, he then took all their tiles to re-tile his roof for free and put about 10% of his old crappy tiles on their roof then abandoned the project completely, don't worry though we got him arrested and he had to sell his house to pay back his victims although the cost of his house didn't even come close to covering the full costs

another neighbour would stand in his back garden really early in the morning then start shooting local birds with a crossbow when they woke up and he put the bodies in regular bin bags and left them in the street where foxes ripped them open and dragged dead birds all over the place, now we have no songbirds in the area

JohnHW97

Sicking Her Son On You

Not one of her neighbors can stand her, she's pissed off everyone on all sides of her.

Her son's a cop so she'll send him over to b**** at you if you violate any of her peeves. She did that about one of the dogs, (she hates animals) and my wife answered the door. Her poor kid got an earful and told to go home before she called his captain to complain about the momma's boy that lives next door harassing people. Hilarious.

She regularly gets into it with her neighbor on the other side, which is a mistake, since that woman is taking care of a dementia suffering husband and puts up with zero BS. I can hear her regularly telling her to get bent.

penny_can

GLORIOUS

  • Screamed obscenities through the wall at my children because they were "talking too loudly" in the middle of the day.
  • Screamed at us through the walls in the middle of the night so we could "see how it felt to be disturbed."
  • Regularly dumped his old food out of his bathroom window into our shared backyard. Rodent infestation took place shortly thereafter.
  • Stopped paying rent to our landlord because he felt that the landlord should have warned him that he might be able to hear his neighbors.
  • Dumped his trash on our shared front porch.

Landlord did not renew his lease. Took him to court, got his unpaid rent money back plus additional payment for damages to the apartment. It was a glorious vindication.

Zamboniqueen

Worst Dinner Guest Ever

On a near daily basis, he throws temper tantrums, yelling, stomping, throwing tools, slamming doors and screaming at his family over some petty nonsense.

I feel bad for is family and I'm genuinely annoyed each time I hear his voice.

malice_or_stupidity

Creative Plumbing

It started by letting her kids and animals run wild in my back yard. So, I dropped $5k on a 6' privacy fence that my father-in-law and I built. Then she had her water turned off for lack of payment and began pooping in plastic bags and throwing them over my fence. When confronted about it, she kindly denied and then took to social media.

I called the landlord and had an eviction notice served the next day.

Durania

Offer Unsolicted Gardening Advice

Ripped up and threw away my mum's sweet pea plant that she got from her friend who died of cancer.

When she complained he started ranting about how our garden is a disgrace and an embarrassment to the neighborhood and we need to replace all the grass and plants with concrete.

annoyednerd2

It's A Neighborhood, Not A Club

He would blast EDM music almost every day starting from 9 AM, especially on the weekends, and once I asked him to please keep it down until 10 AM he changed his habit.. to 8:30 AM.

alderchai

Pure. Evil.

When I was 10, my neighbor -- an 80-something year old man with a Christian radio station -- shot and killed one of my dogs. When I went looking for my dog, I asked my neighbor if he had seen him.

He told me that he shot a dog like that this morning.

Frozen, I asked where he was so I could bury him. The old man told me that his body was in the dumpster and that he would shoot me too if I didn't get off his land.

I ran through the woods back to my house, screaming out loud in anger and punching trees until my knuckles were torn and bloody.

When I got home, I called the police and the K9 unit came out to my house. He retrieved my dog's body and I buried him.


The worst part was that my dog was very sweet (I know that generally sweet dogs can be threatening, but it was very against his nature) my neighbor had tied him up and broken all of his legs.

I have never felt more rage in my life. My mom took the man to court and he was charged with animal cruelty and the judge asked how much money I thought the dog was worth. I was dumbfounded and croaked out that I didn't want money -- I wanted my dog.

The neighbor was fined $500 and I made him pay it to the local humane society.

The man had the ten commandments posted all around his house, so the next night I took a red sharpie and circled "Thou Shalt Not Kill" on all of his signs.

I doubt anyone will see this comment, but damn... writing it was kind of therapeutic. My dog's name was Hershey, he was a mutt that was born in my bedroom -- he was only 2 years old and such a good boy. Thanks Reddit.

mmont49

Ignoring The Ones You're Supposed To Not

Neglected their daughter to the point that she'd sneak into our house and steal food from our kitchen.

CPS was called.

Bedlambiker

...Wow.

When I was a teenager and lived with my parents we had this one neighbor family that seemed sorta off. One day the father knocks on our door and tells my parents they haven't had power for a long time and begged to run an extention cord to one of our outside outlets for the day so his young kids could have cold milk with their cereal in the morning.

My parents agreed to do this for one day. The neighbor kept up their part and disconnected the cable after that day. A week later they hook it back up again without us noticing. A month goes by and our electricity bill is basically double what it normally is. Parents head to the backyard and find the cable plugged in, yank it out, and confront the neighbor.


At first the father doesn't show his whole body and cracks the door, but my stepdad gets him to open up the door after pointing out that he is concealing a gun (he didn't have to pull the gun out). Stepdad demands and explanation as to why the cable was run to our outlet and the dude just sorta mumbles incoherently and shuts the door, locking it.

Bad neighbor family was in a duplex and their neighbor, sharing the building, comes around and asks what's up. Parents explain the whole story and how the next step was calling the police. Good neighbor is a former police chief and is friends with the entire force, he offers to make the call.

Several cop cars arrive. Bad neighbor father and mother are arrested. Turns out they were running a meth lab inside the house. The mother was a prostitute and the kids (a boy and girl between ages 7-10) were malnourished. The kids were put into foster care.

No other bad neighbor has beat that high score yet.

Naleid

Mr. Rogers isn't everyone's neighbor, unfortunately.

Do you have a neighbor horror story! Drop it in the comment section below.

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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.