Not everyone looks back on school with fond regard. What may have been the best time for a certain group of kids (a.k.a. "Popular") was not fully shared among all students. Awful times during such formative years can lead to terrible memories you never really move past from, as these stories are evidence of.
WARNING: *The following article contains discussion of suicide/self-harm.
Reddit user, u/teddirbus, wanted to hear the unhappy haunts when they asked:
What is the worst memory you have of school?
Scaredy Pooper
Giphy"Grade 5, took my first and last sh-t in school."
"Some younger kids kept jumping into or under the stall..."
davidbesp
A Lasting Physical Mark
"Teacher punched me directly in the face."
"This was 3rd grade, I can't remember who it was, and as far as I know, She is still a teacher."
Errotenthesynth
Too Much Blood
"When my classmates would play this game where they would hit a coin into eachother's knuckles until they bled just for fun. Or when they made a guy cut himself, like they told him to do it "because it was cool and they all did it" or stuff like that, when they actually didn't. Even now I hate remembering the blood stains on the desk."
pixiedreamgirl-
Smoke And Fire
"I have too many bad memories of school. When I was in middle school nobody would believe a word I said. They thought I was a dumb kid who amounted to nothing. They were wrong when a fire broke out and I smelled smoke. It was an electrical fire and I was the scapegoat. Good thing I had an alibi. I was in band class and the fire broke out in the science wing. Nobody would believe me except the band director who had proof I was in his class at the time of the fire. Took forever to clear my name, but it wasn't enough."
NightHawk877
Accusations Without Evidence
"Not my worst memory, but pisses me off just thinking about it..."
"My primary schools art class was situated in the library. The teacher gave each kid a random image from a book to draw. I meticulously recreated the grey-scale nature scene and used graphite shavings for a nice shadow effect."
"The teacher then aggressively tore up my artwork and accused me of making a photocopy...
Happened 20 years ago and I still think Mrs S***** is a b-tch."
deoswan
Compounded With Interest
"I was bullied in school. had a very bad bully in elementary school. probably 4th or 5th grade. Would beat/hit me on a daily basis. Then one day after a school break (1 week) we all came back to school."
"Then said bully came to me and said something along "i usually hit you x amount a day. I haven't seen you for 9 days so i should beat you 9 times x now""
"Then we negotiated how much he could beat me. Classmates, teachter etc. didn't say anything."
"And then he were allowed to hit me some 40 times. good times."
NicolajN
Boys Pointing It Out
"In sixth grade I was wearing neon pink pants to school. I didn't realize until halfway through the school day that I had started my period and had huge splotches on the seat of my pants. I had to use a jacket to hide it and pass it off as me sitting in spilt coffee."
Dicloniusqueen
One For Every Stage
"I have a bunch"
"Kindergarten my teacher forced me to drink milk even though I was full so I threw up on myself."
"Middle school during a test my bully had some halls he found on the ground putting it on my desk saying how I dropped my candy (saying I'm fat still am ) I flicked it off it fell on his chair thinking I threw it he threw it at me and it fell in my bra I was trying not to cry. he said are you crying for your mommy? What was worse is that the school counselor was there to look after us because my teacher was at a meeting. She couldn't see that I was in distress. Same school gave my journal photocopies of my journal to my parents because I got into trouble"
"Different middle school same thing happened where they photocopied my journal and got into my Facebook messages gave it all to my parents."
theathena7
Sweating It Out
"We had a threat made and the middle was evacuated. They put all of us in the football stadium. We sat in 95°F direct sunlight for about 2 hours. They tried distributing water but couldn't get enough. Once people started passing out they moved us to the High school auditorium. It was a tight fit but at least we had AC and reheated sandwiches for lunch. Nothing was found and in the end our hall pass policy was stricter. There was also an adult monitoring the bathrooms at all times for the rest of the year."
HatchedRaptor
Holding Onto It, Even Though You Hate It
"Drama club kids making a game of seeing how far they could push me until I quit the school play once they got the other designated punching bag freak to quit."
"They wouldn't give me a copy of the script and someone only lent me a copy to photocopy once I swore I wouldn't tell who let me have it. They'd move my stuff around whenever they found my latest hiding place. I got threatened physically, and got cornered and told what a f-ck-up loser I was a couple of times. They got me to stand at the very end of the cast photo and I was the only one that got cropped out in the yearbook photo. They did so much sh-t, if I detailed it all it would be a wall of text."
"It f-cked me up for a while and I never went for another play even though I loved being onstage. But I never gave them tears and I didn't quit."
Umuiyan
SPOILER: Everyone Noticed.
"1st grade, my teacher wouldn't let me use the bathroom until my desk was organized. She was pretty mean in general. I really needed to pee. The rest of the class was dismissed, so it was just her and I, and I couldn't focus because I had to pee so f-cking bad. So I did, standing there. Then I promptly left and hoped no one would notice."
"Spoiler: everyone noticed."
sara_cattt
When Teachers Focus On The Wrong Problem
"Probably at the beginning of 10th grade. I was getting a lot of stomach problems + anxiety and depression were hitting my life hard. So because of the problems above I wasn't really going to school, I was barely eating anything, and I just wanted to sleep my life away."
"One of the school council teachers (that I was good friends with at the time), said "that I wasn't trying hard enough and that my depression is a joke." I never talked to her again and I ended up switching schools in the middle of the school year."
Tenebris_Ignis69
A Snapped Finger
"In grade 1 my friend Colin and I were in the bathroom, and I leaned up against the stall doorway not realizing my finger was in the hinge. Colin thought it would be funny to slam the door, and to this day I don't know if he knew my finger was there or not. But he swung that metal door closed so f-cking hard that he basically broke my finger in half without breaking the skin."
"I cried so hard that I got a nose bleed, and continued crying even harder until, to the discovery of all the faculty in the office, you can actually cry hard enough to bleed out of your eyes. I popped enough blood vessels that the whites of my eyes looked completely red, and as a result of the pressure on my face from crying so hard I started crying blood. I'll assume this isn't just my worst memory of school but maybe a few of the office people too, since they had a small child with entirely crimson eyes with trails of blood streaking down his cheeks like a horror movie screaming and pointing a crooked finger at them."
Theguywhoalwaysdies
Having Fun At Your Expense
"In kindergarten I peed in the lunch line and when I got back from changing there were kids sliding around in the water where they mopped it up. I was MORTIFIED."
"I'm sure I had worse things to happen but this was the one that has stuck the most."
sgf12345
I'll Have Your Finest Milk Pizza, Please.
Giphy"In second grade, the kid next to me at lunch poured his entire carton of milk all over my pizza, so I went to throw it away but the lunchroom monitor said I hadn't eaten enough of it and made me take more bites of it so I was just standing there crying by the trash cans and eating milk-soaked cafeteria pizza until I had achieved some arbitrary level of 'done-ness.'"
CaughtAllTheBreaks
Running Away From The Real Problem
"My dad kidnapped us for the first time and put us in school. When my mother found us she went to school to get us. I didn't want to go. Cause she physically abused me and I was kind of happier with the less abusive parent. I ran throughout the school as police officers, teacher, and my mother looked for me. I think they found me in the bathroom hidden in a stall. It took them a bit to find me. But I remember not understanding why the school, the place I would escape to, would give me over to a woman who beat me."
symbioticgestures
When You Just Want To Get Out
"I was put in a group of kids that were classed as 'bad', even though I was a good kid, even having my head of year vouch for me. I lost most of my friends because of this split and with the fact that the year before, I lost my best friend to heart failure, I was hoping to die."
"They called it 'Nurture', but instead of a desire to learn, I had a desire to GTFO by any means necessary. Five suicide implications later, I moved schools. Best decision of my whole life."
ZeroTheGopnik
The Most Real Feeling Of Drowning
"A group of students tried to push me under water repeatedly until I was almost there they were going to drown me. I managed to escape to the side of the pool and grab the edge while they tried dragging me back into the deep. Then a girl got out of the water and one by one pulled my fingers from the edge. I cant remember how I got out eventually."
Omepas
Betrayal
"My entire school experience... but one that really sticks out is when a teacher I liked and trusted completely back stabbed me when I made a sex joke during class and he overheard it... then he proceeded to give me a 0% on my project I worked 3 months (which was voted best the class by then students) and refused to shake my hand or even look me in the eye... just completely rejected me as a person and continued to crack down the whip on me like I was some kind of monster... and I'm a girl! I never did anything else aside from that joke!"
"All the other students worshipped him because he was young and hip, yet there I was... completely dehumanized"
"This later pushed me to try and kill myself a second time on the night of my 17th birthday..."
Nyah_Chan
Sharing In The Awful Together
"Getting my period and bleeding through my clothes. Walked around all day with blood on the back of my skirt until someone told me and I had to tie a jacket around my waist. This happened a few times in middle school. I had heavy periods and had to wear khaki clothes."
"Not as bad as my husband's worst memory, though. When he was in 9th grade, during an assembly a student pulled out a gun, shot at the ceiling once (sending everyone running and screaming)"
OverallDisaster
It's a wonder any of us graduated!
Do you have similar stories to share? Let us know in the comment section below!
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
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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!
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.
People Explain Which Overly Hyped Foods They Just Don't Understand
We all have our favorite foods, food preferences, and even foods that we don't like.
But there are some popular foods out there that just don't make sense. Nonetheless, we keep seeing them advertised, included in movies and TV shows, and of course, our loved ones ordering them while we look on in confusion.
Curious about others' food preferences, Redditor YarnSpectre asked:
"What's one food everyone seems to go crazy for, but you just don't understand the hype?"
So Much Sugar
"Nutella. It’s just okay."
- Former-Finnish-4653
"Way too sweet for me, I’d probably love it with one-fifth of the sugar."
"Unfortunately that's true of a lot of desserts, though. Most would benefit from a cut of at least 25 percent of the sugar."
- Mindful-O-Melancholy
Not-So-Chocolate Cake
"Red velvet cake. I've had ones that were supposed to be excellent but it's just red cake."
- dedmuse22
"Most red velvet cakes are just s**tty vanilla cake with red food coloring. Get one (or make one) the correct way with non-Dutch-processed cocoa powder, buttermilk, and vinegar. It's an incredibly smooth, very different type of chocolate cake."
- whiskeyclone630
Mastery Makes a Difference
"Those multicolored cookie things that everyone was making into cakes or something for a while? Macaroons? Macarons? I don't think I've ever had one that tasted good. They're pretty, but that's it."
- TensionShift9576
"Macarons. I never cared for them either."
"I had one yesterday at a potluck, homemade ones. They were seriously something else, with some sort of butter cream and jelly inside. Never had anything quite like it. Now I wish I had grabbed a few to take home."
"I still won't eat store-bought ones, though."
- Totally-A-Banana
The Wrong Kind of Spice
"Hot Cheetos or Takis. Anything with the artificially colored spicy powder."
- jadziasonrie
"Takis texture is my issue. They’re like semi-stale rolled-up Doritos."
- addvalue2222
The Sugar Cookies of the Midwest
"Those dry-a** Walmart sugar cookies."
- ComiNotub
"They taste like play-dough cookies came to life."
- Significant_Potato29
For Garnish
"I mean, people go crazy in both directions, but cilantro. There’s the whole 'does it taste like soap or not' thing, but it’s usually presented as 'people either think it tastes like soap or they find it amazing.'"
"I am neither. It doesn’t taste like soap to me, but I also don’t love it. Meh."
- Whiteums
"I don't think it tastes like soap, but I do think it tastes weirdly metallic. I don't go out of my way to avoid it in pre-prepared food, but I usually leave it out of things I'm preparing myself."
- caffeinated-tea
Fancy Decor Only
"People like how fondant LOOKS. I refuse to believe a single soul wants to EAT it."
- sorandom21
"It's like eating a candied raincoat."
- BlueShirtGuy
Back for a Limited Time
"Every time it comes back, I’m SUPER excited for the McRib at McDonald's. I bite into one and then… the spongey texture hits me and makes me remember why I don’t need to buy it ever again."
"Then, somehow, McRib season rolls around again two years later, and there I am in line…"
- the_yellow_jello
"I'm convinced this is why they only bring it out every once in a while. Nobody actually likes it, but they wait just long enough for you to forget that it's no good and then hit you with a combo of nostalgia and 'limited time only' FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)."
- FiveAlarmFrancis
A Seasonal Tradition
"Pumpkin spice. It’s fine, but absolutely not anything to make a fuss about."
- AdMaterial9419
"There is a car parts place in a small town I drive through to visit family, and last year on their reader board, they had: 'THEYRE BACK! PUMPKIN SPICE BRAKE PADS.'"
"And now I can never see anything pumpkin spice and not think about it, might have been my favorite reader board sign ever."
- deadcomefebruary
Pure Caffeine Addiction
"Energy drinks like Red Bull or Monster."
- DishIntelligent5645
"I'm an avid Monster drinker, but I totally get it. I'm always trying new and interesting energy drinks I see, but so much of it is just garbage."
"The white Monster tastes like 90s Fresca to me and is the only energy drink I love."
- broniesnstuff
Overly-Complicated Drinks
"Can it be a beverage? Because I kind of hate IPAs but everyone else seems to love them. And I like beer, just not IPAs."
- AngelOvTeOdd
"I have nothing against people who want complex beers. It's just not for me. I want an easy as f**k to drink fizzy yellow beer for when it's hot out. And a nice smooth stout for all other times. When I want more complex flavors, I'll go for wine or scotch."
- I_will_be_me_Arsenal
Just Too Expensive
"What about lobster? I can dig it with drawn butter and I ain’t mad at it. But f**k me if I’m gonna pay $29.99 for a lobster. I’d rather eat shrimp."
- nosaj23e
Questionable Value
"Truffles. I paid $60 this weekend at an Italian restaurant for eight slivers on my pasta shaved in front of me. I barely tasted anything. I don't get the hype."
- heybuddy
Improved Gut Health?
"Kombucha."
- Tiny_Wasabi2476
"Ah, yes, dirty pond water."
- meteorguy
Rich Tastes
"Caviar."
- malYca
"Everyone goes crazy for caviar? Most people seem to dislike it."
"Though admittedly, people who do like it tend to like it a lot."
"That all being said, I really don't like it, either."
- Heathen_Mushroom
When it comes to food, to each their own, but it was interesting to see some undeniable fan favorites like pumpkin spice hit this list.
It just serves as a great reminder for a larger picture idea: Don't be unkind about the things that might bring someone else joy.
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.