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Pilots Reveal The Strangest Things They've Seen While Flying

Pilots Reveal The Strangest Things They've Seen While Flying

Pilots Reveal The Strangest Things They've Seen While Flying

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If you're flying 25,000 feet in the air you may as well be in a completely different world. Your perspective of the Earth is so skewed that you cannot see the world the same as everyone else. You're soaring high. Things get different. Things get...crazy. Airline and fighter pilots from all over shared the most insane things they've witnessed in the skies above when they answered Reddit user, u/WalterWhiteRabbit, who asked:

[Serious] Pilots of Reddit - what is the strangest or most unexplainable thing you have seen in the sky while flying?

Something's Keeping Pace With Us

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I was a first officer at a regional airline, and we were flying Halifax to NYC. Over the ocean, I looked out my captain's window and saw this greenish looking object a couple miles off *seemingly keeping pace with us. It like metallic green, like the unfinished metal you see on a plane before it is painted. It also had a contrail, but it looked weird, almost like it was on fire. It was small like a fighter jet, and outpacing us

Then before our eyes it started to break apart. I realized then that it must have been a decent sized meteor, with pieces breaking apart and flames shooting out the back

Edit to add: by keeping pace I mean it didn't shoot across the nose or anything, it definitely had some speed on us, but there were no external queues to give an idea how much faster, though it didn't seem like a lot. It was also in a shallow descent

GAU8Avenger

What Kind Of Triangle Did You Fly In?

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Pilot here: once had my engine sputter and die for no reason in a small Cessna... refused to start back up.

glided into a landing in a nearby field ..checked fluids...checked mix...

everything was fine so i turned the key...it roared up, and I cautiously flew back home.

Had a mechanic tear it apart later that week and couldn't find anything...

I guess sometimes engines just...don't

the---Catcher

Flying A Little Too Close To Home

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Was flying in a Grob 109 and I usually just turn off the engine and let it glide. Anyways, I'm flying in Southern Arizona and I feel my aircraft shaking and a thundering noise. I look up and this a10 warthog flys by very fast and way too close. This causes my plane to shake a lot and sends my plane all over the place. This was very strange because what that a10 pilot did was very dangerous and illegal, also the closest air Force Base was like 80 miles away. That pilot also made no attempt to communicate with me and I wasn't in any flight paths or no-fly zones.

Very strange encounter indeed

MotorCookie

Thunder Planes!

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...When you fly through heavy precipitation or areas of high electrical charge (like a thunderstorm) at high speed, the airplane will build up an electrical charge with will discharge in cool (totally harmless) lightning bolts across the windscreen. If you get really lucky though it will cause the metal parts (like exposed metal on the windshield wipers) on the outside of the plane to glow blue with electrical discharge. The best I've seen it though was one night as we picked our way through a line of thunderstorms over the Dakotas.

Pretty much whole plane was glowing, with a large blue jet of electric discharge coming off the nose. It looked like we were flying with a blue-ish landing light on in a rainstorm, only we didn't have our landing lights on.

FlyingJ

"Under Human Control"

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I spent nearly ten years as a Navigator operating fighters, on one occasion we tracked an object that initially was about thirty miles out and rapidly accelerating, turning and jinking in a way that would have put G forces on its pilot that would have G-LOC'd them.

When it jinked away we would turn in to get the nose on him, it would jink away again in a very rapid manner. It reacted to our maneouvres.

So it was under intelligent control and impressing my pilot with its direction changes and speed. When we lit the burners and went supersonic it ran away from us rapidly and within ten seconds I had lost radar contact.

When you're at Mach 1.1 and the contact accelerates like you're standing still it gets your attention.

Could have been little green men, could have been an [experimental] aircraft. Pretty impressive whatever it was.

Jaded_Average

Blowaway Construction Site

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Soaring over the Mojave Desert, I saw a blink, blink, blink... in the near distance at about 3000 feet. I flew over to see what it was. It looked like a 4x8 sheet of plywood or paneling that was light on one side and dark on the other. It was flipping over and over in a thermal. Once I figured out it was solid, I didn't try to get close.

I presume a really strong dust devil went through a construction site and something unlikely happened.

TjW0569

Portal To Another Place

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Not unexplainable at all, but it was creepy AF when I was trying to fly home...

We were in quickly forming convective activity and lightning struck between my plane and the runway. It looked like reality cracked. For a moment I thought something was going to seep into our world.

TJ_Deckerson

I Know What I Saw

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Flying a Cessna 172 I saw a man in an orange jumpsuit with a jetpack fly over me while I was at an airfield, about 300 ft or so.

My instructor didn't believe me and I couldn't find him when I turned around but I know what a saw dammit.

fishpond15

The Biggest Flat Balloon Ever?

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I was in the air over Southern California/Arizona near Yuma last summer. I was flying at about 8,000 feet in a small prop airplane around noon. I noticed this shiny object off our left wing. It looked similar to a metallic magic carpet, so I assumed it was a Mylar balloon that had popped and was floating around. As I got closer to it I realized it was HUGE! this thing was at least as big as our aircraft was, and it was keeping pace with us (about 160 mph) with zero form of propulsion anywhere on it.

We continued to get closer to observe it, got within about 300 feet and called air traffic control to let them know and ask if there were any military drones in the area. They responded negative and I got the chills, didn't dare get any close. Still boggles my mind trying to think about what it could have been.

backwards_sallad

Flying Among The Falling Stars

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Corporate pilot. I fly at 45,000 feet a lot. Anything over 43,000 and it just gets creepy. The wind noise gets really quiet and the airplane starts to make strange noises. Passengers never seem to notice though.

The noises are really the result of the bulkheads and aircraft skin expanding/stretching because of the pressurization. It's still creepy.

When I flew freight, most of my flying was done at night and in Canada we saw quite a few meteors that appeared to be really close to us.

YupYup_3

Satellites As Friends

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Military helicopter pilot here (MV-22s, USMC). I fly with night vision goggles a lot. Away from cities (think like middle of the ocean), you see an INSANE number of meteorites in the night sky.

I also see what I can only assume are satellites-- fast moving single point light sources with no strobe (flashing light; an airplane would have a flashing light) constantly. Again, this is all under the aid of NVGs.

bobafeeet

No Drone Can Go That High...

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Happened a few months ago. Was cruising along at 24,000 ft and spot something out of the corner of my eye. Look up and there was something small and drone like to the left of our flight path.

By the time I grabbed the controls to decide if I was going to kick off the auto pilot, we zoomed past it like it was stationary. It just passed our left wingtip. Both myself and FO were WTF? Neither of us were certain but we were pretty sure such a small drone couldn't make it to that altitude with the thin atmosphere and -30c temperatures.

Googled it later and they can go nowhere near that high.

LuckyDragonNo5

Bears Below

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I used to fly a Hawker 748 up in uncontrolled airspace in Northern Ontario and Manitoba. In the summer the polar bears come off the ice of the Hudsons Bay and stay on the mainland.

We would follow the coast 50 ft off the deck and on a good day you could see a hundred of them or so. They did not appreciate it. They would look up at you for a glance and then start running!

TheDownvotedCanuck

Oh Yeah...Meteors Can Hit Us

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Flying Cessna 182 from Arizona to California at night.

Big ass meteorite shot past us at about 100ft in front of our plane. It was a really neat to see.

Then I realized it could of hit us. Kind of freaked me out.

YOU_WONT_LIKE_IT

Going Nowhere Fast

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This one isn't really unexplained, but funny.

It was a rather windy day. I was on the ground in a Cessna 152 just after my pre-flight checks, running the engine up. To my left, about 10 meters away was a bird frantically trying to fly forward against a headwind. It had zero airspeed. It tried for about 1 minute to hopelessly fly forward before giving up and letting the wind carry it across the taxiway and out of my view.

Captain_Spicard

Cigar-marines?

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Saw a cigar shaped object at about my 2 o'clock once during my student solo a few years back. Multiple others were reporting it too, it looked like a submarine in the sky.

Scared the sh-t out of 16 year old me, and haven't seen anything like it since. It was moving in very odd directions and was not communicating with anyone. The several others that saw it had no idea what it was either. Reported it to ATC and they advised us to steer clear because they were unsure of what it was.

Wasn't a blimp or anything else I've ever seen in the sky.

Airplanesnsh-t

Sounds Like A Kubrick Movie

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When I was about 7, I was sitting next to my father in the glider he was flying. We flew past a mountain, and I could see a lake at the top of it. There was another glider, completely vertical, nose down, hovering above the lake. Its only movement was to slowly spin about its axis, like it was dangling from a string in the sky.

Being a dumb kid, I didn't understand the impossibility of this sight, so I didn't point it out to my father. Still have no idea what the f-ck I saw.

piceus

The Desert Sun Is A Trickster

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I used to fly small airliners in the grand canyon. We would regularly see sundogs, false reflections, mirages of las vegas in the air, and double suns. The reflectivity of rising hot air and of rainy weather creates really crazy visual illusions at times.

captainloverman

Come On, Man. Gross.

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Some idiot on the old San Mateo bridge waving his d-ck at us.

D_Clare

Falling For It...

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One time I was flying a Cessna 152 by myself on the coast of Florida and saw an oval shaped thing flying in the distance in front of me so I got closer and closer and started to freak out because it looked like it wasn't moving then eventually I saw fins sticking out of it and "Goodyear" on the side and felt like an idiot.

Flightyler

...and Getting The Heck Out Of The Sky

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On one particularly sweltering summer in Michigan, the temperature was approaching triple-digits with lots of humidity. I decided to hop in a 172, climb up to 10,000 feet, open up the windows, and fly around for awhile to cool off.

I eventually got up to altitude, opened the vents up, and was enjoying the nice cold blast of fresh air. After about 10-15 minutes, I witnessed a large, swollen, disfigured clown's head fly past the right side of the airplane.

After determining I was in fact not suffering from hypoxia, I turned around to see what the hell had flown past my airplane.

My eyes had not deceived me. It was indeed a large, swollen, disfigured clown's head.

Apparently, someone had let go of their helium-filled party balloon. The pressure differential between the inside of the balloon and the outside atmosphere at 10,000 feet caused it to stretch and distort into an unholy clown mutant from hell.

Cessnateur

H/T: Reddit

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.