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People Share The Scariest Thing To Happen In Their Hometown

People Share The Scariest Thing To Happen In Their Hometown
Stevica Mrdja / EyeEm / GettyImages

It seems like just about every town, no matter how big or small, has that one story. For a lot of people that story can be brushed off as a local urban legend - but not for the people in this article.


Reddit user PatrickBateman asked:

What's the creepiest/downright scariest thing to happen to you or someone else in your hometown/city?

What follows are some of the scariest and most horrific responses we could find and confirm. Honestly, it's stuff like this that terrifies people. Warning: The responses you're about to read through include mentions of murder, suicide, harm to children, racism, unexplained death and more. We've even got werewolves and Slenderman in here.

Proceed with caution.

Sister's Jog

"My sister found a teen who had just committed suicide when she was running once. She heard the gun and was just rounding a turn and thought someone was shooting at her. He shot himself in the head."

- zigazigazah

Minor Mysteries

"This isn't exactly the scariest thing but it's an unsolved mystery and it creeped me and my dad out then."

"We just came home to see all the lights in the house were on. The TV was on the Netflix profile select, and the glass on the fireplace was on the opposite side of the room. Nothing was taken, nothing else was out of place."

"In my room, the computer was on and logged into my password-protected account. And I turned it off before. Also, most of my printer paper was gone and the TV in there was on the Netflix select too."

"I still don't know what happened."

- MP8_YT

Werewolf Murders

Giphy

"Some 22 year old guy who claimed to be an immortal werewolf, was "dating" a tween. The two of them came up with a plan to kill her whole family, and did. Both parents and her younger brother were murdered in their sleep."

- mr_cristy

A Lot Of People Assume I'm Racist

"My town is known for a hate crime that happened in 1998, I was only three years old at the time but three white supremacist chained a black man to the back of a truck and drug him down the street. It was pretty horrible stuff and got brought back into the news this year because the last guy was finally executed. A lot of people assume that I'm racist when I tell them where I am from which is pretty awkward considering I work in social services."

- liza5335

"That Guy"

"Sat next to a kid in high school who killed his mom by stabbing her over 100 times. It was a Microsoft class so we were on computers talking all day and became buddies. He would show me pictures of bombs he made from 2 liters, home-made flamethrowers from squirt bottles, etc. I never thought he was "that guy" though."

"He was sentenced to 35 years because he admitted guilt and refused to plea insanity even though the judge advised him to. In trial he didn't try to defend himself. Walked in, said "I'm guilty and deserve prison" - seriously. Judge asked why he did it and he told her that his mom was verbally and physically abusive to him and he just lost mental stability for a bit. Told the judge that despite that, she didn't deserve death and he deserved prison. I don't think he opened up too much about what type of abuse she did because he wasn't trying to defend himself saying he was in the okay."

"Please note this was many years ago before the time you'd make teachers aware of these types of things."

- donutshopsss

To Hide The Evidence

"A guy I went to school and hung out with and his precious two year old daughter where found dead in his car after it had caught on fire. I am not sure if it was ruled a homicide, but I know tons of people who believe they were murdered and then their bodies where burned to hide the evidence. I cannot imagine the pain the mother is going through. She lost her precious little girl and boyfriend."

- Aubs71993

Blame The Aboriginals 

"A little boy was bashed to death by his mother and stepfather in front of his younger siblings. After the little boy died in hospital, the "parents" were questioned by the police and claimed that he'd been attacked and beaten by a group of young Aboriginal boys in a nearby park."

"My brothers in law, who are Aboriginal, were about 12 & 13 at the time. They were pulled aside on the street by police and interrogated aggressively/accused of killing the little boy. There was excessive police force involved. My younger brother in law up to this point had been a very happy, trusting boy...he has never been the same since."

- Trin20k

Just Started Stabbing

"Two girls were randomly stabbed at one of the high schools here. The guy who did it didn't go there, didn't know them. Just walked in an started stabbing. A video of it ended up online... it's all our town was talking about for weeks."

"One girl lived, but the second unfortunately died in the hospital. She was my aunt's neighbor and we had gone trick or treating together as kids. Less than a year after it happened there was a publication ban put on the name of the girl who died. Her family was furious. The killer was getting all of this attention and she, the victim, was just some nameless teenager."

- Ta5hak5

Gutted

"When I was in high school a girl I knew worked at a gas station in town, which I went to everyday after school. She was murdered."

"She went missing and they found her at conservation site naked on the edge of the river. They didn't find her murderer until he tried to kill another girl I knew, luckily she survived him gutting her like a deer."

"Apparently, he and the first girl got into an argument and he proceeded to hit her with the hatchet he had. The first blow didn't kill her so he "decided to put her out of her misery" (his words) and hit her again. To cover his tracks he opted to undress her and hide her in the tall grass along the river."

"The second girl's boyfriend was "friends" with the guy. I believe he showed up when the boyfriend wasn't there or had just left (I'm not totally sure what the situation was this was probably nine years ago) but he got in an argument with the second girl and he gutted her."

"She was able to get herself to a neighbor, survived, and was able to I.D him. When they arrested him he confessed to the first girls murder. It was crazy because I knew both girls, I knew the guy and went to school with his younger sister. I also lived about a minute away from where he attempted to murder the second girl."

"I felt so bad for his sister because she continued to tell everyone what a great guy he was. She had to deal with all the people at school who hated her brother because the first girl was well loved in our small community."

- Aubs71993

Free Baby Clothes

Giphy

"A pregnant Colorado woman responded to a Craigslist ad for free baby clothes. When she arrived the woman that lived there stabbed her and cut out her baby. She left her there to die but she was still some how able to call 911. They ended up finding the crazy lady at the hospital with the baby and she had told the doctors she had a miscarriage. The baby unfortunately did not make it but the woman was able to recover after surgery."

"The lady just recently was sentenced to 100 years. Apparently this has happened several times in several different places."

- justneededausername_

How'd He Get There?

"A young man went missing in the city I went to university in. He was a first year student and vanished walking back home from a night out in town. This is a long walk (about three miles from the pubs and clubs in the centre to the campus) and it was January, so very cold. General theory was that he had passed out drunk and frozen to death, but no body was found in any of the nearby areas."

"Our campus is surrounded by mountains, forests, trails, cliffs... there's a big lake in the middle of it. Lots of places for a drunk person to get into trouble, but still nothing showed up."

"Not even any clues, like some of his belongings or something. Abduction was briefly considered, but again no evidence. It kind of faded out of the forefront of everyone's minds, though the search was never called off."

"Finally the body was found. It was in a remote area of forest, and I believe it was spotted either from the air, or from someone walking at some distance and seeing bright clothing in the snow/frost. The body itself was in an area inaccessible by foot or road, far past the distance he could have walked without succumbing to hypothermia (he was only in jeans and T-shirt). Nobody knows how he managed to get up there, or survive long enough to get anywhere near it, but an autopsy showed nothing suspicious. I know there's probably a rational explanation, but it was incredibly unnerving. It was a long walk, too, and not a single person saw him while he was making it."

- Lavrentiiy

D And His Dad

"A kid that I went to school with started doing meth with his dad and one day, in a paranoid state, they kidnapped a woman and her daughters. They kept them in a house just a few streets up from me, had them tied up and beat them to get some kind of "revenge."

"One of the girls escaped and ran to a neighbor to call 911. The kid (we'll call D) and his dad took off, ended up in a city about 20 minutes away. They stole an older man's work truck and kidnapped the man as well. They then drove to nearby Wyoming where they stopped in a secluded wooded area, beat the old man to death and abandoned the truck."

"They were caught about a week later. D ended up receiving a life sentence and his dad killed himself in his cell before trial."

- LandShark93

Scared Of You

"So I work as a nursing assistant. I approached a new patient introducing myself but she looked terrified and said "I don't know why but I'm scared of you". After we laughed about it."

Anyway, the next day I checked her blood pressure etc and everything was fine. She asked to go to the toilet so I helped her across. 5 minutes later I go to check on her and she's lying on the floor, no pulse, no breathing but her eyes are wide open staring at me as I begin chest compressions and I snap her ribs within the first few. Never forget the feeling of her bones moving under the skin and looking at her eyes. That's why she was scared of me. I genuinely think she had a premonition."

""Unfortunately after the crash team came and an extensive effort of resuscitation the decision was made to stop. It was about 6 years ago but I still remember her name. Autopsy said she died from a blood clot in the lung - sudden and not something I could have picked up when I checked her before walking."

- GledaTheGoat

The Star Athlete

"Star athlete at my high school executed his girlfriend with a single gunshot to the back of her head. His case garnered national attention for some time because he was about to join the US Olympic team, until he got locked up. He was released several years later after he was exonerated. But those of us in his class know beyond all doubt that he did it."

- AJNSD619

Creepypasta

Giphy

"I live in the city in Wisconsin where the Slenderman stabbing happened. For those unfamiliar, two middle schoolers lured their friend into the woods at a sleepover, they then stabbed her multiple times and left her there to die because "Slenderman told them to." Slenderman is, essentially, a creepy meme. The girl was found the next morning by a man riding on a bike trail and she somehow survived."

- Unfocusedgamer

"Not just multiple. 34 times. They stabbed their friend 34 times as a sacrifice to a creepypasta."

- 1-1-19MemeBrigade

Bruce

"I used to live across the street from Bruce McArthur."

"He's a serial killer that killed at least eight LGBTQ+ men who were in Toronto. He also preyed on LGBTQ+ men who were homeless."

"He buried victims' body parts on his property and apparently in a nearby ravine that I used to play in with my friends."

- reves-de-lavande

They Still Don't Know

"In my village, there's a railway that goes along a forest and a road. On that railway, there's a bridge for cars to cross. One day someone found a puddle of blood with traces of dragging. Thinking it was an attempt at suicide or a boar that got hit by a train, the person that found it called the mayor and the mayor called the cops. The police also assumed it was a suicide, so they came with a forensic team to get samples, etc."

"The "creepy" part is that no one really cared. My grandmother even said "good riddance". I was like 12 at the time, I didn't understand anything."


"I asked my mom about it when I was 17 and she explained that it was a 27 year old drunk guy that played around on the bridge and tipped over it. He got badly injured, dragged himself in the forest and died there from blood loss."

"He was not really liked in the village, he was known to vandalize houses, break signs, let his dog chase teens, burn hay inside barns, shoot at cats with his paintball gun, etc. People knew because he would always brag about it, but they wouldn't complain to his parents because they were nice people."

"They found the body about one week after the accident. Everyone went to his funeral but the parents were the only one to cry. To this day they still don't know that there son was hated by everyone."

- Hyperbawl

Distracted With Toys

"So I was best friends with this girl that lived with her wonderful grandma across the street. My friend's estranged mother just went up to the house one day, and, distracting my friend (who I think was about 8 or 9 at the time) with toys, she walked up to my friend's grandma and shot her twice, and when she was still alive, buried an axe in her head.

"My dad went across when he heard the gun shots and described brain matter and blood all over the china cabinets, the walls, everything.""

"The killer is in jail now. And my old friend... I don't even know. I heard she's tried to attempt suicide numerous times, but I haven't seen her in almost 10 or so years. I wish I could see them both again. It makes me tear up when I think about it."

- Andromeda0_0

The School Pretended It Never Happened

""The high school near mine had a student commit suicide over the summer the same year I graduated. The school made it worse my not commemorating him, banning any articles of clothing that were dedicated to his memory, and didn't even give him an empty seat during when he was supposed to graduate."

Info also later came out that the student went to the counselors before he died and asked for help, but they basically told him to eff off. It's scary how mental health is downgraded where I live."

- eeveecatcher

Small towns can have huge problems.

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!

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.