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People Break Down The Historical Mysteries That Will Never Be Solved

People Break Down The Historical Mysteries That Will Never Be Solved
Ihor Malytskyi/Unsplash

History, as taught in most schools, should be considered a crime against children.

If Hamilton proved anything, it proved that history can ABSOLUTELY be interesting if you serve it with a little spice. Leaving out the juicy interesting bits is a disservice to us all.

So we're adding them back in.


Hamilton covered the romance, the beefs, and the rapping - so we're going to go in a different direction.

How 'bout a side of mystery with your history? (uh-uh. Stopping myself right there. There will be no rapping.)

Reddit user Apart-Scale asked:

"What historical mystery is unlikely to ever be solved?"

True crime lovers, history geeks, awful-sh*t aficionados and wizards of weird - this article is definitely for you.

Heads up, though, we need to add trigger warnings for:

harm/death of a child

murder

war/enslavement

domestic violence

... yeah humans are awful.

"Hun, Can We Talk?"

confused night at the museum GIF by 20th Century FoxGiphy

"What Pope Leo said to Attila the Hun."

"Attila was taking over the world and made it to Rome and the Vatican. Leo rode out alone and spoke to Attila and convinced Attila to not destroy Rome and the Vatican."

"What was said, only the archives of the Vatican has any idea."

- Xikkiwikk

"Unfortunately the answer is probably really mundane and disappointing."

"Like a lot of miraculous historical events, it probably boils down to 'the story is just bullsh*t we made up later cause it sounded good.' ”

"They could’ve just bribed the Huns."

"Italy and Rome weren’t particularly rich by that time, so throwing a bunch of gold at the Huns and being like 'here let me spare you the time and energy of sacking it all' could’ve ACTUALLY worked because there wasn't enough there worth sacking for yet."

"Or no conversation ever happened and it’s a story developed later as a way for the Church and the Pope to take credit. The Huns could’ve left for any reason."

"Maybe the Pope did try to negotiate, it failed, but the Huns left after that anyway. Pope and Church still take credit."

- pyrhus626

After Alcatraz

anglin brothers alcatraz search for the truth GIF by History UKGiphy

"Whether Frank Morris, John Anglin, and his brother Clarence Anglin survived their escape from Alcatraz Federal Prison."

- onefinegander

"The History Channel has a great documentary about this."

"The two brothers families claim they survived by tying a rope onto a boat and holding on, which they used to do for fun as kids. Their friend claims he took them to Mexico and they lived to old age there with families and everything. They even offer evidence; Christmas cards they received and even a photo of them old."

"I'm convinced it's true."

- Crepes_for_days3000

"Freezing waters, rumors of sharks, handmade boat from vests that they probably had to inflate again and again throughout their trip."

"I saw a picture somewhere which was taken in or around 1985 and there were 2 people which pretty much were the Anglin brothers (you can find it if you search)."

"A body was also discovered by the Norwegian Navy, and it matched the description of Frank Morris."

"To me, the Anglin brothers made it and Morris drowned. Maybe they couldn't carry so much weight and the brothers conspired against Morris? Who knows."

"Fascinating nonetheless."

- CookieAdmiral

Where's The Prime Minister?

coming discovery channel GIF by Discovery EuropeGiphy

"One of Australias Prime Ministers just disappeared when he went for a swim in the ocean, so probably that."

- hulloiliketrucks

"There were suspicions the CIA had a hand in his disappearance because the US was royally pissed at him over his refusal to allow a US military installation in Australia."

"There were also rumours he was kidnapped by a submarine but those were most likely started by the CIA."

- Spookyrabbit

"Wasn't it assumed he was eaten by a saltwater croc?"

- Pyroclastic_Hammer

"Shark got him."

- SuperTrojan

"Probably just drowned and sunk into the ocean."

"The ocean has a tendency to completely an entirely delete corpses once they sink to the bottom. This is why it's rare to find the bodies of plane crash victims and sunken boats."

"Everything at the bottom is evolved to eat corpses with increasing efficiency. Not even bones last most of the time."

- jerrythecactus

"So the mystery is what Australian sea monster had Prime Minister for lunch?"

- CRANSSBUCLE

Not Too Neighborly

Happy Tom Hanks GIF by RegalGiphy

"Not a huge historical event, but one that will haunt my local history for a long time to come, I'm sure. My neighbor killed his whole family, buried them in his house, then went for a trip."

"Nobody knows if he's dead or hiding somewhere; and if so, where? The police kind of screwed up the start of the investigation, so he had a good head start on them."

"I went to the same school as the kids but we weren't the same age, so we didn't end up in the same class. He sent increasingly strange letters to family and friends before he disappeared."

"We didn't really knew them beside living nearby and frequenting the same places as a result."

"His name is (or maybe was if he is dead?) Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès. This was about ten years ago and he was since then featured in multiple TV shows and books."

- deadalnix

Before The Ancient Egyptians

Middle East Egypt GIF by Acorn TVGiphy

"The disappearance of the Lake Fayum nomadic people that predated the pharaohs."

"They had no writing, no records of any form, and lived solely near the banks of the Nile and an ancient lake. They had a community for a long time that included bakeries, agriculture, weaving, and some precursor to religious or artistic elements."

"One day, the people vanished. But I mean JUST the people."

"They left their fish in the cooking pots, dry food stored under the floorboards of their houses, and pottery still on the wheel. It was like they were picked up and carried away or the people suddenly left in a hurry and left everything behind."

"Then shortly after, the material culture of early Pre-Pharaonic Egyptian kingdoms arose."

"Some believe the fayum people migrated north to become the early Egyptians because of unusually arid conditions - but you don't leave food cooking if you're going to migrate. They were nomads, packing up and moving on was their thing. This wasn't how it was done."

"Others say they were killed or captured, but there were no signs of struggle and they possessed and left no weapons. Also, that doesn’t make sense. Why would the invading people leave their entire culture and settlement intact and just poof the people away?"

- Squaragus_Asparagus

"I’d suggest that they may have died suddenly and were then buried by survivors or visitors. Similar to what happened at Lake Nyos?"

"Hypothetical, of course, but not impossible."

- Scottzilla90

"I'd assume some other folks came in to town, highly outnumbered them, and enslaved them all without giving the chance to take anything but the clothes on their backs."

"Egypt was built on the backs of slaves after all."

"This could have been common practice since before the pharaohs, and the people in that village knew it would've just meant their death if they fight back, so they all complied and no one died on site."

- shastaxc

These Low Effort Jobs Have Surprisingly High Salaries | George Takei’s Oh Myyy

Have you ever worked one of those jobs that paid you to kinda sit there? If you have, you know the joy that comes with watching the entirety of Breaking Bad ...

Read The Room

Season 1 Starz GIF by Ash vs Evil DeadGiphy

"What happened to the Amber Room."

"It was a big room in a Russian Palace that was covered ceiling to floor in sheets of amber and gold. The Amber Room was dismantled by Nazis and then all the pieces 'disappeared.' "

"Supposedly it was in a train carriage, hidden in some abandoned tunnels somewhere in Europe. The search continues even now."

"Germany helped build a replica in 2003, but the original panels and pieces are still missing."

- SweetieLove

"Sadly it was almost certainly destroyed during the burning of Königsberg Castle. It was its last known location, and a few non-flammable bits were found in the ruins."

- TheMightyGoatMan

"I had a Russian history professor at college who said that given the amount of debris from World War II in Russia that haven’t been found yet - he said that they continue to find train cars and other artifacts - he wouldn’t be surprised if it was just sitting around undiscovered in a lost train somewhere."

"I find it hard to believe, but it’s not like I have a PhD in Russian history to back anything up."

- Reasonable_Trash5928

"I think it’s just been broken down and scattered to many parts."

"They just found a sunken ship off the coast somewhere in Norway that supposedly has some pieces. On its way to South America with the rest of the Nazis stolen stuff."

- ksnizzo

Rasputin

del mal GIFGiphy

"Rasputin."

"Even if he took the kings son off his asprin to help his hemophilia, how did he know to do that?"

"How did he even get so close with the royal family without anyone raising an eyebrow until it became completely public."

"Did Tsar Nicolas's advisories see nothing wrong with a homeless wizard being associated with the tsar?"

"How did he really die or how did he survive the shot and poison if that story is true? Just so many questions lost to time..."

- alexander_the_ok-

"The answers probably aren't lost to time; they are just ... kinda stupid."

" 'How did he know to do that?' Happy accident."

"Rasputin was a holy man who believed in the power of God over medicine, so he tried to cure the son with prayer. It's what any extremist would do."

"To the uncritical eye, it appeared he had cured him."

"How did he get so close? Alexandra."

"She was so insistent that he had healed her son and he became a confidant to her, even a best friend. She relied on his guidance and wouldn't listen to any bad words about him."

"When the Duma confronted Nicholas about how influential Rasputin appeared to be to his decision making and how bad it was making him look, he simply replied that he would rather deal with the bad press than feel his wife's wrath."

"Yes, advisors absolutely did see something wrong and speak up - but Nicholas was an autocrat so his decisions were final."

"As for the story of his death; the cyanide that Felix Yusapov had bought for the poisoning was later tested to be an inert powder."

"It's likely that a lot of the myth surrounding Rasputins death was invented by Yusapov himself as a way of making him sound like he had won some heroic battle rather than just shot an unarmed man 3 times and had him carelessly dumped in a river."

"Sadly, a lot of the stories that you hear about Rasputin are like this; tales that have been inflated over time to make him sound more like a mythical creature, rather than just a sexual predator and high powered manipulator hiding behind the fake persona of a man of God."

"There are a lot more Rasputins - manipulative predators hiding behind the persona of a man of God - out there."

- ImSigmundFraud

Mystery Men

Sesame Street Mystery GIF by PBS KIDSGiphy

"The missing men of Bermagui, NSW, Australia."

"Five men disappeared in the 19th century. Like completely vanished off the face of the planet, with some very confusing things left behind."

"So few people know this story, yet it's such a baffling one."

"The men, one of which was a geological surveyor, went on a trip to scout new gold mines along the coast. Three days later the boat was spotted sitting stationary with only one man aboard."

"Later that same day along the beach people found the boat and things got weird."

"From what I remember:"

"On the beach now called Mystery Bay (due to this mystery), there was a doused campfire with a meal for one, not quite finished."

"There was a boat nearby, which had been deliberately scuttled with holes made from the inside, rather than from the outside. At least some of the holes were confirmed to be bullet holes."

"The hull was also stuffed with rocks - but also pillows and clothes and everything was dry."

"Inside the boat were some papers belonging to one of the missing men, who was supposed to be taking a boat trip with a local policeman instead."

"Also inside the boat was at least one bullet cartridge and vomit, as though someone had maybe been seasick."

"The bay was right below the hilltop where two of the men had been camping, and the other three men who disappeared were boatmen."

"The problem is that there's no real evidence of a crime, so it's not considered an unsolved murder case. Five men vanished and there's all this confusing stuff, but it's not a crime. It's just... a mystery."

"Honestly, I'd believe alien abduction or sea monster over a crime, because I don't see how anyone could've killed that many men and not left evidence of it behind, even if it was a gang."

"There's a monument at the bay, but I've never been to that part of New South Wales. Would love to go, though."

- CeliaEquus

Baby Beauty

Monsters Inc Reaction GIF by filmeditorGiphy

"Jon Benet Ramsey."

- lukovdolboy

"I don't remember the channel or program (I want to say PBS) but it was on child pageants and contestants. Jon Benet and another girl were the main ones because of all their wins."

"I swear it was PBS because I caught it at a weird hour and it all played back to back. It followed their circuit for maybe a year or so?"

"I mostly remember how pretty she was and learning words like 'flappers' (for hiding teeth) and just how much they go through to keep such a hectic schedule (the ones that went to lots of them) as far as school and even the practice and makeup and all that."

"It was such a blur."

"And I remember parents that didn't understand, or care, that their 4 year old had simply had enough."

"Not all were bad situations, many enjoyed it so it wasn't like an undercover or shockumentary or anything - but you could tell in some instances that being unhappy may be a norm for some of these babies."

"I remember the parents being especially cruel at times to the kids because of their frothing desire to always have winners. I remember Jon Benet saying she didn't want to do them anymore."

"It was uncomfortable to look at at times and it sure did stick with me. Next I had heard, that poor child was dead.

"I can't stop myself from believing the mom did it or had it done. I stay wondering about that baby."

- bonafidebunnyeyed

"Jon Benet and I were in pageants together."

"I knew her from age 3 til 6 and only a few things stand out from that time. Her whole family was always weird."

"We often stayed in the same hotels and her mom tried to control everything, I remember slipping her pieces of my waffle at breakfast since her mom only let her eat yogurt."

"I distinctly remember seeing her face and the words 'dead' and 'murder' on tabloids in the grocery store and asking my mom what murder meant."

"It was very upsetting and still breaks my heart."

- clarissaswallowsall

"Agreed. Whoever really knows what really happened has been keeping their secret(s) for a very long time and will likely take those secrets to their grave if they haven't already."

"I also think the truth is likely something we could never think of because it's such a unique situation."

"Web sleuths and journalists seem to have a very hard time figuring out what's important and relevant and what's not. I think many people point the finger at someone in the family, while others still think it's an intruder."

"I still have no idea what really happened but I wish someone would just come forward with the truth already."

- Hotlikessauce69

The Vault

National Treasure Gold GIF by Divi ProjectGiphy

"There is a huge ancient temple in south India with vaults full of treasure that have been locked since God knows when."

"Historians tried opening a few and it is said that those who entered the vault were never the same after they came back."

"Some people believe it was cursed. I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with superstition and everything to do with stuff that may have grown or been trapped inside coz it was undisturbed for many hundreds of years."

"I read on it and it appears they opened 5 small vaults and there is one massive one which holds around 1 trillion dollars worth treasure but it is sealed and they are not able to open it without destroying the 500 year+ old monument."

"The problem is that the temple is covered with gold so any damage would cost a fortune. I would love for someone to solve the mystery but for now government has sealed it away forever."

- Venomally

Reddit has had their turn, now it's yours.

What unsolved-something are you pretty sure we're never going to know the truth about?

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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.