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People Divulge Their Weirdest Paranormal Experiences

People Divulge Their Weirdest Paranormal Experiences
Finmiki/Pixabay

Some pretty strange stuff happens sometimes, especially when we're alone at night. Whether it's a series of sounds somewhere in the house, a shadow that you can only see out of the corner of your eye, or some lights in the night sky, there are a lot of things we experience that can't quite be explained.


Reddit user u/GiannisXo asked:

"People of Reddit, what is your weirdest paranormal experience?"

20.

I think it was Summer of '97. A little after 9 pm, I heard a very distinct "humming?" noises coming outside.

I looked out my bedroom window. Just past the houses to the west in an open field, I see a dark, unlit object about 150-200(?) feet in the air.

I stare in awe at it for a few minutes, then commercials were over and the show I was watching resumed.

About 10-15 minutes later I hear helicopter noises, coming in fast, and very low. I see 3 military helicopters fly overhead.

-wildbill883

19.

About a month ago, I picked up my brother from the bars. He was pretty much done for the night (Blacked out). Well on our 30 minute drive back home, he looks in the back seats and says "Anthony who is in the back seat", to which I reply no one, it is just you and me. 10 minutes pass by and again he asks, and again I said no one is in the back (as I had previously checked).


With my drunk brother still with me, I met up with a friend at a bar in the town we live in. At this point my brother was really tired, so I drove him back home, with my friend sitting in the back. I get home, and my father had just parked in our drive way. All three of us in my car hop out and my dad says hello to us. Keep in mind 3 of us hopped out of my car, My brother, my friend and I.

The next night my father comes home from work, and he asks me who was in the back seat. I looked at him confused and said "no one, there was three of us only, and my friend got out to greet you". He replies with, "I know, but there was someone else that stayed in the car and didn't get out". I was in shock and confused when he brought this up. I don't know what to make of any of this, but it def creeped me out as my father and brother did not interact the following day due to work schedules. My brother doesn't remember any of it, and my dad brought it up days later, asking me if there was no one in the back. He said the 4th person was wearing a tan jacket.

My friend was wearing all black that night. My dad believes it was his brother, who passed away almost 10 years ago. It's really odd that two people saw something and I didn't, neither did my friend.

-BrotherAnthony

18.

Once upon a time, maybe 15-16 years ago I had a friend, with a trampoline and a big Boxer-dog. We would play, jump on the trampoline, and her dog would run back and forth under it because the two of us whooping and laughing got the dog all excited, as dogs do. Of course, the dog would pant as she ran around under the trampoline, it was a very distinct sound. Couldn't miss it.

Cut to one day when I go over to play, and it turns out the dog got hit by a car and killed, the family buried Molly in their back yard. They had another puppy, a ridiculously tiny dust-bunny of a thing, and it was inside when we started playing on the trampoline. Soon after, we heard a distinct sound, like a dog panting right under our feet. We both stopped, looked at each other, and decided to keep playing, until it happened again. We stopped, and looked down through the semi-transparent trampoline mesh to see there was nothing there. We both heard it, both times.

We both recognized it for what it was. That's basically what started me believing ghosts aren't always just stories, and it wouldn't be my first encounter either.

-aurorallis

17.

Still the apartment in which my mom and I lived couple of years ago. Missing and reappearing items were really creepy. The bathroom light turning itself on several times one night was worse. The handprint on the glass door to the attic (located in the bathroom roof) was the worst. Funfact: my mom told me around one week ago that the landlords mother has died in that apartment and NOONE lived there longer than half a year - including us.

-Joubachi

16.

I don't remember this, but my mom told me the story.

We moved into a new house when I was 4. And one of the first nights I had a dream about a nice old woman who was talking to me the way old women talk to little kids. "How old are you? Do you like pre-school?"
The same night, my mom had a dream about the same old woman. But instead of being nice she was screaming at her to get out of her house.

-Smoochy

15.

So... I know this is long but I'll try to be clear.

One day, my 3 year old cousin and I decided to go up to the attic at my mom's house to get something. On our way up, my cousin asks "Are we going to see the little boy?", to which I reply "What??". I honestly thought I had misheard her and dismissed it.

Well, a month later we do the same and, again, on our way she asks "Are we going to play with the little boy?". This time I knew I hadn't misheard and asked what little boy was she talking about: "The boy that is in the attic". Of course, my very "brave" teenage me noped out of there as fast as possible and casually mentioned both cases to my mom and aunts.

Since the house we lived on used to be my grandmas house, and since we knew she had had a miscarriage there years ago, we started addressing the "little boy in the attic" as my uncle. It kinda turned into a joke and no one gave it much thought.

Two weeks go by and my aunt decides to go to a party with some of her friends. In this group is a woman that she has never met before, a friend of her friend. This woman then asks my aunt if she's okay, with a worried look on her face. She says she is feeling fine. But the woman keeps going and says that she is only asking cause my aunt's father is behind her. Note that her father, aka my grandfather, had pasted away 8 years before that.

My aunt gets very weirded out and manages to say "okay... but he is dead". This woman then says that she knows, but he is asking her to tell ME that the "little boy in the attic" is not my uncle, but my cousin, the brother of my 3 year old cousin that wasn't born cause my aunt had a miscarriage at five months. She told her that the little boy was protecting my cousin and that he always follows her. And that my grandpa wanted us to know.

I don't really know what to make of it. But this did happen and I guess we just kinda repress it and try to pretend we don't remember.

-ClausAlf

14.

I was visiting family in another country. We were driving one night between two coastal cities, it's late, probably 1am and the road is dark with some light posts every now and then. We were talking about mundane things when a huge dog with a fanny pack ran in front of the car, I didn't have time to slow down so we hit it. Instead of a whimper or any animal sound we heard "hijuep*ta" which means son of a b*tch in spanish. The dog got up on two legs and ran into the foliage. My cousin and I screamed and I floored it until we arrived to a toll.

That was the weirdest thing I have ever experienced and to this day my cousin and I re-tell the story at family gatherings.

-notnewfoundsoccer

13.

Was sitting watching television with my husband one evening. The only light was from the screen. A small child, just short enough that the top of its head was right underneath the screen, runs in front of us and into the kitchen. It was too dark in the room to discern any details. For just a split second I accepted it because our kids were about that size at the time. Then, I remembered they were spending the night with my mom. My heart started racing and just as I opened my mouth to ask my husband if he'd seen it, too, he says, "Wait... did you see that?"

Instant goosebumps.

Never came up with an explanation for that one. We were the only ones in the house & had no pets back then.

-oh_sleep

12. 

I got a few less paranormal but still paranormal experiences.

When I was in bed and barely awake, I blinked quickly because of the gunk at the side of the eyes. In between those quick blinks I saw a woman clearly holding a tray and all white. I was confused but I didn’t think much of it.

When I was very young I apparently was talking about a white lady protecting me, which might be a connection to above. My parents said I would sometimes just look up or into the hallway and follow something unseen to them.

When my grandmother’s cat died, she and her husband swore they could still hear it meowing and once it felt like some cat stroked against her leg.

Anyway, my family’s got a few more paranormal experiences. This is just a few.

-HeyDie07

11.

I used to work events at a historic home. It was well known that the place was thought to be haunted and everyone had their own stories. I never believed any of it until one night I was the last one in the house because I was locking up after a particularly late wedding (probably around 1am). I went up to the top floor and the second I crossed the threshold I felt the air change, it got almost...dense? and knocked the breathe out of me. I booked it out as fast as I possible could.

Another coworker said one night when she went up to do the same thing around the same time she clearly heard footsteps and assumed it was another coworker coming up to join her, but when she turned around no one was there and the other coworker had actually been far across the property at the time. Another person said they were walking down the corridor when the door they were about to go through slammed shut in front of them and locked. The facilities guy was absolutely positive the original owners of the home (from the 1800s) were doing the haunting so he started playing classical music at night if he had to be there late to 'appease them' and claimed they started leaving him alone after that.

Nothing too crazy ever happened to anyone but man did it make you not want to be the last person in there at night.

-mimbulusmimbeltonia

10. 

I was riding a bus from class to my car at around 2:30PM and thought I was the only person on the bus as we pulled onto a bridge. Out of nowhere a woman, dressed in nice but disheveled clothes, got my attention and asked what time it was. I told her it was 2:30 and then went back to looking out the window. I glanced back at where she was before the bus had reached the other side of the bridge, and before we'd made any stops, only to realize that I was the only person besides the driver on the bus.

-GodMonster

9.

In 1998 I was walking home from a late night library study session and there were 4 very large, shiny, deep gold things in the sky. They were twirling downward like those seedpod things on trees that sort of helicopter themselves, except these were bigger than cars and were doing it very slowly.

I had stopped and was staring up at them before I even realized it. Then I noticed that about 20 people were standing on the other side of the road, they had come out of a bar. There was only the bar, several houses, and a bridge but that was basically it. These days I would never let my daughter walk home like that, but whatever. I thought it was safe.

I hollered something along the lines of, "What is that?" and one of the people said she thought it was spaceships but I knew that wasn't right, and I went home and told people who thought I was probably crazy. A few years later when I was older and understood the Internet more I looked for any kind of news story or anything, and nothing was available.

I wish for the life of me I had talked more to the people watching the same thing outside the bar (which Google tells me is now gone) but I was more afraid of them than whatever was in the sky.

It was...bizarre. In the intervening 20+ years I haven't gone crazy or ever seen anything like it again. lol

-tbitim

8.

Lived in a "haunted house" for a little bit. That's what the landlord told us anyways but we were all skeptical.

Once one of my roommates borrowed my LOTR replica of the One Ring (because of course). When he came home, he set it on the top of my bookshelf (I saw him do this) and then came into the living room with me. We're sitting on the couch talking and hear something drop under the couch... It was the ring. Have no idea how that happened.

By that time we were so immune to sh!t happening that it was like... "Hey, Christine!" go back to talking.

-passivelyaggressive1

7.

I once lived in a haunted loft apt. Lots of odd things happened there, but my sister vehemently refused to even listen to the stories...at first. She would actually snarl when she called us liars.

Then one day she was visiting and while she was in the bathroom she began shouting: "I'll be out in a minute! Get away from the damned door!"

My roomate and I looked over and the doorknob was twisting back and forth by itself while my sister was getting angrier and angrier. When she burst out of the bathroom and saw how far away we were from the door she turned totally white.

Was absolutely hilarious.

That place turned several non-believers into believers. I wish I could have taken that ghost with me when I moved.

-nannylinn62

6.

Went running with my dog and saw a white outline of a young woman running alongside me out of the corner of my eye. When I looked over, nothing. About 5 mins later I got a call that my great grandmother had passed, she was in hospice. Still think about that a lot.

I think it runs in the family. My mom will straight up say "I need to call X, I feel weird" and sure as sh!t, there's a disease/illness going on. My great grandmother used to talk to dead people and my family thought she was crazy until they figured out the house she used to live in was owned by the couple she "talked" to years earlier. Found this out a year or so ago, been about 5 years since she passed away.

-Unforgotabble

5.

When my son was a baby we had a sound monitor next to his crib and my wife was downstairs and heard a voice on the other end of the monitor saying "what are you doing cutie? Huh? What are you doing?" She said it sounded playful like how people talk to babies or pets. She ran up to his room thinking someone was in the house and he was just laying there awake looking around.

When he got a little older and could walk and talk some, he was laying on the living room floor playing with blocks. Something down the hall caught his attention and he got up and stared down the hall. I asked him what was wrong because he kept looking at me all concerned and then looking back down the hall. He ran over, climbed in my lap, and pointed to the hallway and said "monkey" I think maybe he was seeing some kind of shadowy apparition and monkey was the only word he knew to describe what he saw.

That house always creeped us out, even before he was born. We always had that weird feeling like someone was watching us, and one time I got slapped on my foot while laying in bed.

-BoonieBlair

4.

About 4 months after my old cat died (RIP Neesa ;-; ) we got a little kitten. The night we got her, I was laying in my bed, trying to get to sleep after all of the days exitement. I felt pawsteps on my back, and there she was. Clear as day. She curled up on my pillow like she would always do before she went to sleep. I was so happy she was back, so I didn't make a big deal of it in hopes she would stay. I fell asleep with her by my side. When I woke up, she was gone, and one of her old toys was on the foot of the bed. I still cry when I think about it.

-Ivylizardxx

3.

It was probably my brain, accessing information way faster than it could communicate to my body, but one day as I was walking from parking my car to work, I heard this voice as I was getting closer to the intersection. It kept screaming at me, "check this out! look up here, no really this is cool, check this out!!! LOOK UP HERE".

I didn't feel like anyone else was hearing this, I was alone, and it felt like it was for me, and the voice wasn't my own. I hit the walk button, and finally decided to stop ignoring the voice. I look at the top of the building as the light turns green to cross the street, three floors up where the voice seemed to be coming from, and I see.... a flag. A stupid flag on a building. Woo. A flag.

Just as I'm about to step into the intersection this giant white truck barrels through the intersection and takes a right, exactly in the spot I would be in if I hadn't looked up to see what the whole hullabaloo was about.*shrug*

I'm just glad I waited to cross the street.

-gnapster

2.

Once I was house & dog sitting for my then gf's sister and her bf, they always told me about how weird stuff would always happen like washer and dryer door would randomly fly open, the front door would open if it was closed or close if it was already open, just weird stuff like that. Didn't ever really think much of it because I've never personally experienced anything like that ever.


Well the first night I was there I was laying in bed with the dog when all of a sudden the dog got up and started barking like crazy in the direction of their closet(which was open and was the length of the entire wall), I looked in that direction didn't see anything so I just turned around to try and calm the dog down and as soon as I put my head back onto the pillow every single one of the hangers started to move in order just as if someone took their hand and dragged it along the entire length of the closet from left to right. No windows were open and the bedroom door was closed, that's the first time anything like that happened and I couldn't come up with some reason that was even remotely possible as to why it would be happening.

-bloodin1234

1.

I have an ongoing one for 5 plus years. I work graveyard shift in a largeish senior "community". Different levels ie seniors Apts, retirement, assisted living and long term care. Its actually a very nice setup as far as all the horror stories you hear about senior care. At night the doors (all handicapped accessible, push button and door opens) are locked and armed to the call bell system. Every month or 2 one of the doors randomly opens itself and sets off the alarm. Every damn time someone somewhere in the facility has passed away.

-hickorydickoryshaft


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.