Newly Thin People Reveal Unexpected Benefits From Dropping The Weight

Society puts on pressure to always be losing weight or trying to get to model status with your fitness. Whether or not that is attainable, it is important to stay healthy, and eventually, doctors will tell people that their health is at risk and to start losing weight. But what happens to the people who do?

u/chknbt asked Reddit:

What unexpected benefit did you find from losing weight?

Here's what we learned.

The biggest benefit that I didn't see coming was how easy it is to dry off. After a shower or bath or whatever it's kind of a pain to get all that skin dry, and you have more crevices for water to gather. It takes no time at all when you have less you to go around.

Last summer, I lost 80 lbs(36kg) I was amazed how little I would run out of breath. I was able to go up flights of stairs and my friends would be out of breath. It felt amazing.

Better sex. Even after just a few pounds lost. Bonus - strength training makes everything better too ;)

Went from 205 to 135 pounds. I'm fucking cold all the time.

Buying clothes is not only cheaper but easier. So many more options and styles.

I guess it's dumb to say this was unexpected, but I was able to run for the first time. I lost weight without ever exercising, I just ate less. One day a friend wanted to go for a jog and I went along. I couldn't believe how far I could make it without dying. I still hate it, but it was nice.

It actually taught me discipline. It taught me to commit to myself and a goal.

I was thin, then I wasn't, now I am again so nothing was a surprise physically really though the take away made me a better person.

I applied the same logic of okay, this is my goal now I have to work a little every day to achieve it to my side hustle and it's really been paying off after years of stagnation. I'd say it's a huge benefit.

Higher quality sleep, waking more refreshed, even though sleeping a shorter period.

My whole life, my mom told me I was built like a line-backer (I'm a woman). I assumed that if/when I lost weight, I would still be "big-boned". I've lost 80 pounds and to my immense joy, I don't actually have wide shoulders.

I poop less.

(Probably because I don't massively overeat anymore as opposed to losing weight itself, but it was still oddly disconcerting).

I cannot say enough about the health of my digestive system. Before it was all fast food, fried foods, and processed foods and now that I eat fruits and veggies with every meal I wonder how the hell I even had a bowel movement before in my life. It was pain. It was all suffering. I just knew nothing else.

My blood pressure decreased from 154/89 to 118/64 - "ideal," according to the doctor.

Same person, women smile more, confidence increases, women smile even more.

I lost weight through straight weight lifting. Put on muscle, calories burned lifting + increased metabolism from more muscle + change in body composition...

People treat you like a person.

I became slightly underweight and it caused my jawline to become very attractive and I began attracting a lot of women. Didn't do me any good because I am in a relationship but it felt good to be flirted with at work with random women 18-30 years old. Never had attention like that in my life.

I became more motivated with my music/hobbies and spent a lot more time on them instead of eating or watching TV.

A couple things come to mind:

I thought getting a leg rash from a long walk was normal. Turns out it's mostly a fat person thing.

I can squat without putting my knees in agonizing pain.

The clothing options! There is so much more you get to wear as an XL rather than a XXXL.

Oh and women are actually attracted to me now. That part's nice too.

Tying shoes without getting tired

It's obvious now, but I never consciously thought about it: I never realized just how much difficulty I had moving through crowded areas. Concerts, busy restaurants, even open-venue events like ren fairs and carnivals. I'm sure at my heaviest I annoyed people as I made my way through the crowds, and it was doubly annoying to me as I tried. But now I'm smaller and more limber and graceful, and squeezing through tight spots or into tiny restaurant booths is easy.

Didn't realize I'd become "the hot guy". I lost weight originally for health reasons.

Back when I lost all the weight, I walked up to my wife (fiancee back then) and I said a few things in passing, then said good bye. She was meeting a girlfriend who saw me with my wife. My wife texts me and says, "Emily wants to know who the hot guy is that I was talking to...."

I remember thinking, "Yeah wtf? Who's the hot guy she's talking to?! ....oh, ME! I'M THE HOT GUY!"