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People Admit The Times They Listened To Their Guts... And It Worked

People Admit The Times They Listened To Their Guts... And It Worked

People Admit The Times They Listened To Their Guts... And It Worked

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We have all been there, that gut wrenching feeling telling you don't do it, turn around, or go get help! It's our bodies natural way of reacting to something that isn't quite right and getting your brain to pay close attention to the next step.

lion_vs_tuna asks:

What's your best story about listening to a gut feeling?

These are stories of people who have been at a cross roads and their gut has pulled them through.

Sometimes you just know it's not a good fit

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Interviewing daycares and met with one woman. Perfectly nice, gorgeous house, had fantastic references, close to our house etc. but....I couldn't shake the bad feeling. Couldn't explain it, but I knew it just wasn't "right". Found out 3 years later she was basically hoarding daycare kids in the basement. 20+ that she just put in playpens for hours at a time. The daycare was shut down and she was charged after one kid was seriously injured.

Definitely some red flags here

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I was a birthday party princess in college. Dress up as a Disney character, sing some songs, help with cake, paint faces, typical party stuff. I get called to a party that began at 8 PM. Unusual but not unheard of in our industry, a lot of Spanish-speaking families party well into the night. But I pull up down the street (princesses dont drive) and begin walking to the house, dressed as Sleeping Beauty, my "party box" of supplies in hand. But when I saw the house I knew immediately something was wrong. There were no lights on, no cars, no balloons...but against my better judgement I knocked on the door. This super creepy looking guy in his mid-fifties answers, in a dirty tshirt and jeans, and the first thing he says is "The party's around back." I took one look at this guy and booked it as fast as I could while holding a box, wearing a ballgown and being mildly crippled to begin with. I got into my car, locked the doors, floored it to a 7-11 and called my boss. The "party" never called demanding to know where their princess was. No one asked for their deposit back. My boss called police non-emergency but I dont know if anything was ever done. I'm 100% sure there was no "party" in that house.

The fake officers

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Long story short: Dad nearly kidnapped by fake customs officers

When he was a young adult, my dad went to Madrid to stay with a friend, there was sudden change and they couldn't pick him up from the train station. He had to sleep rough in the station, after being mistaken for a prostitute twice, two "customs officers" showed up and started showing my dad their badges and telling him to go with them. Already unsure because they weren't in uniform, my dad followed them anyway. They were putting his stuff in the back of an unmarked car and beckoning him to get in, all the time reassuring him and showing their badges, when he saw a police officer walking down the side of the road. Feeling that something was really really wrong he went up to the police officer and asked him to help get his stuff out of the car. The police officer went over to the two men, got the stuff out the car and talked to them and got them to show him their papers. Turns out they were fakes and the officer took Dad back to the police station (after arresting the two men) and allowed him to stay the night there. Dad got back with his friend and we all lived happily ever after!

Doctors have it rough

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It happened in the worst way. I was working with a patient who's cancer was in full remission. She looked amazing and was telling me about the trips she and her husband was planning.

Paris, Africa, etc. All the places she couldn't go to because of kids, military, and now cancer, but now, with nothing holding her back she was going to take the world by storm.

It hit me, and it hit me hard. As we where setting up her follow up appointments she asked me if I was ok. I said gas and she laugh me off.

One week later she died in the hospital. Her cancer returned and in record time destroyed her to the point that she was bleeding out internally. They were going though so many bags of blood that the commander of the hospital told them to stop.

I will never forget the look on her face as she dreamt of the future that I knew would never happen and the feeling it gave me.

What a good call

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So my friend and I were walking around at like 2:00 in the morning playing Pokemon Go when it had first came out. It was very quiet and we were just talking to each other when all of a sudden a very loud truck came down the road and drove past us. Then all of a sudden I just got this feeling in my gut that told me to run. I told my friend what I was feeling, and he immediately told me to run. So we ran behind a gas station parking lot and hid behind a dumpster for a second. And sure enough that same truck had turned around at the light and came back to the parking lot and even went behind the store (in their truck) looking for us. They were in and out but, it was still one of the most chilling feelings I've had before

Sometimes it's the little clues

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When I was about 9-10 years old I used to water my neighbors plants for her when she was on vacation. Normally my older brother and i went together but the previous day we got into a giant argument turned into water fight while doing the task so my mom decided we would go alone on alternate days for the rest of her trip. Now my neighbor had A LOT of flowers both in front of and I'm back if her house and tiny 10 year old me had to drag a hose between the two. It wasn't an easy task.

I started by dragging the hose from the side yard to the front. I noticed the back sliding screen door was in the center, where I thought it was usually to the side. I shrugged it off and got the hose to the front door. Then, all of the sudden had a gut feeling something was off and I needed to get out of there. I dropped the hose and went back to my house next door (separated by about an acre of heavily wooded area). I told my mom something was off and I was too scared to finish watering. She brushed me off and we went about our day, telling me we could finish the task together later. She thought I was just too tired or lazy to do it all on my own. I told her that it wasn't true and I got a weird feeling over there. But anyways we decided we would return that evening when it cooled off.

When we returned that evening the back window was broken and my neighbors house had been robbed. One of the large flower pots was now knocked over, where it hadn't been that morning. The screen door was now off to the side again. That means the burglars were probably inside while I was outside watering the plants. We were both terrified and called the police of course.

My mom now believes my gut feelings.

Sometimes you just know about people

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I've told this multiple times at this point, but my mom and dad went to visit some friends in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The friends introduced my parents to their daughter and her boyfriend. Well the entire time my parents were visiting my mom kept getting this really bad feeling about the boyfriend. He made her so uncomfortable for some reason that my parents actually ended up leaving early because my mom kept getting such a weird vibe from the guy. Well, a few weeks after their visit the boyfriend killed my parents friends, their daughter and other kid and then himself. Soooo my mom was definitely right.

When there's a lit cigarette...

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I was joy riding around with 2 friends in the Shenandoah National Forest. We saw that one road was open which had always been gated so we decided to go down it to explore.

We drove probably 10 miles down this road which seemed to be surprisingly well traveled considering its gate is locked 99% of the time. The road dead ended and we got out to look around.

It was obvious some one had been there with fresh tire tracks around, the ground was pretty disturbed as well. The three of us split up to look around more, I came across a fire pit with a few make shift benches, it was obvious the fire had just been quickly snuffed out. I started to get that gut feeling. Then I noticed next to the fire pit a stick drove into the ground, on top of the stick rested a lit cigarette. At this point my stomach had pretty much dropped out of my a**hole. I even drew my pistol and started to quickly, but not in a panicked way make my way back to the truck. It seemed to me that someone was hiding from us.

I get back to the vehicle and my two friends had also drawn their pistols and we didn't even need to say anything to each other, we all felt the same thing, which was a need to GTFO of that hollow as fast as possible. We haven't been back since.

Turns out a short time later a man went missing in that same general area, to this day he has never been found despite many search attempts, name is Robert Fitzgerald. I think some people were hiding out there, maybe making meth, maybe running from the law. I've also heard a very similar story from another redditor who confirmed it happened in the same area and same time frame.

When the ship is about to blow

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This is my grandfather's story when he was in the navy back in ww2.

He was on ship at a base doing some grunt work (it's been years since me or my dad heard the story so some details are lost), and all of a sudden he decided to he needed to get off the ship. So he made his way off, I forget if he had to make an excuse or something. But not even 2 minutes after he got off, the ship explodes.

An aerial attack hit the base. From the Japanese. My grandfather loved through pearl harbor purely because of a gut feeling. Thanks pop pop.

The time you didn't trust your gut

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May I do a not listening to my gut feeling? 2 months before my marriage I had the most gut wrenching feeling that I should not marry the woman I was about to. 8 months later we divorced. I was so i stupid

A positive gut story!

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Really didn't feel like going out for a drink after work with friends, but something told me to go. Met my husband that night in the bar, we've been married 24 years.

Avoiding the trap

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I've told this story before, but it was when my gut told me to not stop and help a woman in distress, and to keep driving. She turned out to be a ploy for a group of people who attack people and steal cars from those who pull over to help.

It's a creepy feeling.

Dodged a disaster

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It was like someone was telling me to stand in my kitchen. I had everything I needed to leave for work, but this feeling of forgetting something was so strong I just stood there. After I checked for everything again, I took a step towards the door and it was like someone was yelling at me to stop, so I stood for 10 more second. And then the feeling went away, like a gate was lifted and I could pass.

Got in my car and did my normal drive. Hit some heavier than normal traffic before coming across a 5 car pile up. One car was turned 180, others were smashed and everyone was standing around on their phones. Had I left like I wanted to, I would have been it. I knew it, too and just said out loud, "thank you."

When you save your own life

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I was walking on the sidewalk of a busy street. As I approached a streetlight where there was also a trash can, I got this weird feeling and decided to veer my path away from the street and toward the shops. After I passed the trash can, a car jumped the curb and smashed into the streetlight/trash can.

Can't explain it. Just felt like I needed to get away from that one area and a moment after I moved, a car crashed there. I totally would have been hit by it had I not moved away.

When your partner is manipulative

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I always had gut feelings that my gf was lying to me but she'd make feel like I was the one who was lying. Turns out, my gut was right all along.

Literally dodged a bullet

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I'm a recovered drug addict and party girl. For two years of my life, almost everyday was focused on going to parties and getting drunk and high. I would go to random parties and take random drugs just to achieve this.

One Saturday, a good friend calls to invite me to a party at his brand new house. It was going to be a good party, with a bunch of my friends, and lots of substances to partake in. For some reason though, my brain told me to sit this party out. It was probably the first Saturday, in over a year, that I had chosen to stay in.

Woke up the next morning and found out that some of my friends, including the one who had invited me, had gotten into a huge fight. One of the guys pulled a gun out, chased the others through the house, and shot two guys: one in the stomach and one in the face.

Literally dodged a bullet there.

That is intense

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happened a few months ago on my way home from work. It was almost 12am and here in small town, USA the streets were virtually empty. Saw a woman and a child on the side of the road and she was trying to get my attention so I slowed down to ask her what was wrong but only cracked my window and kept my doors locked. Something seemed off almost immediately. I offered to call the police and she started getting very flustered and just kept asking if I would get out to help her and eventually I just said sorry and left. Out of pure curiosity (and a bit of stupidity) I decided to circle around and pull off to observe from a distance and felt the most intense fear of my life when I realized there was a man on the other side of the car and that he had probably been there the entire time just waiting for me to get out of my car. I got away from there as fast as I could. This also doubles as my biggest story of regret because I did not call the cops and I have no clue why. I guess I was terrified and just wanted to get the hell away from there but a few days later another woman about my age disappeared from the area and I will always be convinced that I encountered the kidnappers just days prior and if I had contacted the police instead of doing nothing then she would be safe right now.

Talk about instincts

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Was hanging out with some friends at their apartment with my boyfriend when I was 17. Got a terrible feeling and just wanted to go home. Begged my boyfriend to come home with me, but he said I was a party pooper. He wanted me to stay. I couldn't shake it though and just wanted to leave. I had this bit of anxiety balled up in my tummy for no reason.

I went home, felt better, went to sleep. 6 am I get a phone call, it's my boyfriend. There had been a murder right outside their front door, they were all being detained by the police. The nice seeming neighbor lady went and shot her twin sister.

Epic gut feeling

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Worked at the World Trade Center and woke up on 9/11 with the feeling not to go to work that day. Didn't go, thank God.

When it's time to stop studying

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A few years ago my roommate and I were at her university library studying late at night, we had intended on staying all thru the night (it was open 24/7) but she suddenly got the urge to go home. A half hr to an hour later there was a shooting at the library we were at, no one died thankfully! but still very scary

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.