Teachers deserve hazard pay. Not only are they essential workers, but they are also heroes who have to put up with the children of strangers every day. You may think little Sally or Ricky is cute, but in actuality.... they're a mini psycho. And our teachers not only have to save themselves but others. And you know teachers always remember the worst students because they leave the darkest impression.
Redditor u/jz2016cubs wanted the educators out there to tell us about some brats they've had to deal with by asking:Teachers of Reddit, what is the worst thing that a student has done in your class?
Eye to Eye
Seth Meyers Lol GIF by Late Night with Seth MeyersGiphyI was co-teaching an unruly 8th grade class with an older woman who wasn't really cut out for the demands of this particular position.
She spent a lot of time yelling and not a lot of time building relationships. Suffice to say we didn't see eye to eye.
That said, I never expected one of our students to bring an armful of water balloons to class and throw them at her mid-lecture.
Jurassic Undies...
I had an 8 year old kid drop trou to show off his new dinosaur undies. Kid was just super excited about dinosaurs and wanted to show off. The week prior he'd brought in some dino books and everyone had been ooooohing and aaaahing so he just thought that showing off his undies would elicit the same reaction.
Considering some of the other stories here, not so bad.
Duck and Look Away
Two things:
- Had a student throw a book at me in the middle of class. They were mad about something that happened before they walked into my room. I went up to them and quietly told them that they can step out into the hallway for a few minutes to compose themselves and chill out for a bit. For some reason they thought I was getting them into trouble (quite the opposite, I was trying to defuse the situation so they wouldn't get themselves into trouble) and he picked up the text book as I was walking off and threw it at me. He missed.
- Earlier this year I had a student attend my class virtually and she decided it would be a great idea to flash the camera. razorhog
"Jesus yes I did"
ben affleck jesus GIFGiphyNot a teacher but saw someone in Biology class who licked a frog's brain covered in Formaldehyde. And when the teacher went up to the kid and asked him if he really did it, the kid says "Jesus yes I did," and goes up to the brain and licks it again. He was sent to the emergency room after that.
Psycho
It was our science class and everyone hated the teacher. Idk why since she was nice. Anyway, she got a fish tank put into her room towards the end of the year. On a day the teacher was absent, one of her classes (not mine) took the fish from the tank and stomped on them and killed them. The next morning I was walking past her room to my locker and she was crying outside of her room and another teacher was comforting her.
On the last day she was absent again and all of the classes made her room a mess. She didn't come back the next year.
Happy Days
I teach adults, so behavior problems or violence very rarely occur. One day many years ago, I was teaching maybe the 3rd or 4th day of a 3-week non-credit English as a Second Language class at the college where I worked when one of the students stood up suddenly and yelled that the class was wasting time with me and I was a terrible teacher and he wanted his money back. He stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. The rest of the class, about 20 others, had watched his rant in complete silence.
When he had gone, I shrugged and said to all of them, "Well, I can't make everybody happy. Some people don't like the way I do things."
Immediately, they all started talking at once, reassuring me that they were perfectly happy with class and something was wrong with him, etc.
When I went to see my boss after class, he laughed & told me that he gave the guy his refund without ever questioning my professionalism.
Who Knows?
Not me, but one of my mentor teachers when I was doing first-year teaching. She was teaching fourth graders that year, which in the US are approximately 9-10 years old. As the kids are coming in and getting ready for the day, she turns around and one of her students is just peeing into his own backpack.
She's pretty stunned and asked him what on earth he was doing and why. His reply? A shrug and an "I dunno."
Chocolate Devil
Hot Mess GIF by memecandyGiphyI once bought chocolate-filled doughnuts for my class as a treat. The naughtiest kid in the class decided to squeeze the chocolate out and rub it all over the brand new white shirt I was wearing to say thank you.
Ewwww.....
Came to class so high that he vomited all over another kid's backpack. The other kid went "Damn, ew!" and yanked his backpack up, effectively throwing vomit all over the room.
After everyone had washed up, I had to hold the rest of class outside since the smell was so bad. Luckily it was my last class of the day.
Poor Fish
Ugh, when I was in school we had this biology teacher who was really passionate about fish. Her classroom had a great big fish tank with this massive frowny-faced moron dwelling in it. He was pretty chill, presumably generations of pupils had tapped on the glass until he didn't care any more. Some absolute oxygen thief decided to pour in the entire box of food and other crap from around the biology lab into his tank and killed the poor fish.
No Funny
I had an older student whom I didn't even teach walk in and start threatening some students. All parents had to be notified, the older student was suspended, and I had to file a police report.
Not fun for anyone.
Hostage Crisis
crazy stanley kubrick GIFGiphyOh another kid about 13 held me effectively hostage with an industrial staple gun to my forehead.
genius...
I'm the student here, well in 3rd grade I had the farts and I knew I wouldn't make it to the bathroom in time so I knew I was hopeless...
UNTIL, I thought of a genius plan! I would clamp my butt down to the seat sooo hard with my hands that it would muffle out the sound...
Genius
genius...
Next thing I heard was this HUGE sound you could only hear if you went on a trip to hell. It was almost as if you were in a stall next to Satan himself taking a poop. It echoed throughout the whole classroom. Everyone (including the teacher - she was only giggling) started laughing. I just thought it was an accomplishment at the time but now every time I think about it, I feel embarrassed.
Slither
Someone released a snake. It was my first year as a teacher and honestly was way over my head. The kids found a snake at the bus stop that morning, one of my kiddos decided to grab it, keep it in his pocket for at least two hours then to release it in the middle of my lesson 2nd period.
Bottoms Up
Covid brought hand sanitizer into every classroom here. Kids would grab the bottle and squirt it into their hands. Some would take the bottle to the back of the room for friends and bring it back. One kid took the bottle and used it. Went to give it to a friend. I kept teaching. Next thing I know he has his hand up. "MISS, IS HAND SANITISER SAFE? CAN I DRINK IT?" Little idiot drank half the bottle with his friend.
Roasted
Pull the fire alarm after roasting another kid.
Lmao, I'm imagining the kid that did the roasting making some kind of roasted/on fire pun and then being like, "somebody call the fire department" and pulling the alarm.
Help Wanted
When I was a German teacher in France, in between classes, when all rooms were empty, I heard a child screaming in the class room next door. It sounded like he was being tortured, truly horrible. I rushed to see what was going on, there were only a teacher and a 12 year old kid in the room. He screamed that he wanted to kill himself and that he wanted to jump out of the window. He also threw really bad insults at the teacher, but I couldn't understand everything as my first language isn't french and his panicked voice was not a 100% understandable to me.
Turns out, the teacher just asked him to copy the notes off the board into his notebook and it caused a really bad reaction. Don't know why, I never asked the teacher about the child again, didn't want to be nosy. I just know that he had to be escorted by the police as he didn't let anyone touch him.
Sparky...
season 12 episode 13 GIFGiphyI had a student in my 6th grade homeroom (which was a science classroom) just stand up, calmly walk across the room to the counter height lab surface and jamb a paperclip into the power socket.
He was a mostly fine, there was a pop and some smoke and he flew a couple of feet back, but that was it.
Sliced
Not a teacher, but I remember a girl getting mad at another girl over something trivial and cutting her finger off with a pair of scissors in 3rd grade. For some weird reason this girl didn't have normal school type scissors. Her mother had given her what looked like the type that comes with a kitchen knife set. We all freaked out when the finger hit the desk. Never did see that girl again, I assume she got expelled.
Out the Window
Threw another student out the window. Things escalated so quickly I didn't even know there was a problem until it was done. Window was open (no broken glass) 1st floor, and I never heard about it ever again.
London
Kids I didn't teach running into my classroom and spraying fire extinguishers... Having glass test tubes thrown at me... Having basketballs thrown at me... Oh the list never ends. Suggestion: don't teach in London.
Mr. X
Not a teacher, and I wouldn't say this is the worst, but more like the weirdest thing that happened in a class. For one school year I went to this behavioural treatment facility/school. I was one of the more well behaved people there because I wasn't acting out at all but I missed a lot of public school due to severe depression and PTSD. However, a lot of the people there were not well behaved and either had juvenile criminal records, violent tantrums/episodes, or were like me and we're quiet and reserved but couldn't really function in day to day life for various reasons. There was only one kid from the same town as me who went to school there, we'll call him X.
X wasn't aggressive but he was a stoner who would purposely push people's buttons by disobeying or doing the exact opposite of what they asked of him. He was also very stubborn and would sometimes just ignore any directions given to him. One day X showed up obviously high as a kite (turns out he ate three "brownies" that morning) claiming he thought he was gonna die, and in general being very disruptive to the class. The Counselor in charge of the room finally had enough and told him he had to leave the room and go to the nurses office until things settled down. X gets into a verbal sparring match with the Counselor about how he has a right to stay in the room and he doesn't want to leave.
Things escalate far enough to where he starts hurling insults at the Counselor. In a moment of frustration the Counselor snaps and yells at him to knock it off. (He almost never raises his voice) There is a moment of silence as the two of them stare each other down. Suddenly X drops on the floor and starts barking at the Counselor and running around the room on all fours. Finally the orderlies step in and escort him out, meanwhile the rest of the class is dumbfounded as to what just happened.
Poor Sod
Math class, we had a new math teacher and the whole class bullied him away by using a gluestick on the blackboard, filling it up a good bit and making their own paper spitballs and shooting it at him. The whole class except me had to stay after school and got detention. The bullied teacher told the principal I was the only kid out of a class of 30 that genuinely wanted to attend the lesson. After only 2 days of actually trying to teach our class, I never saw the poor sod again.
Snipped
Hair Wig GIF by WallowsGiphyOh and another kid (6?) Cut a giant chunk of my hair off near my scalp.
Pyro Kid
UK teacher checking in. I had a 15yo heat up coins in the bunsen burner then pass them to his unsuspecting mates. One kid got a circular burn on his palm, pyromaniac kid was sent out and then started swearing about me on the corridor (halls).
Pyro kid's mum came into school the next day trying to beat me up, she got through the main locked gate and then into the science building before someone finally asked her wtf she was doing.
luckily I was at home with a suspected miscarriage so she didn't get to smack me one.
The school were all surprised Pikachu when I handed in my notice!
Kick Rocks
Not me but one of my high school teachers. She was walking to her car after school and this guy hurls a rock from the second floor balcony at her. She was just laying there and we thought she was dead. Thankfully she just had a concussion and needed stitches. She quit teaching a few years later and ran for mayor. She won!
Speak up Matt....
I was in a class in 9th grade that was a dual period (2.5 hours) so we had a break in the middle. Our regular teacher was out on maternity leave and we were given a sub that had never taught the subject before. She was incredibly difficult to understand half the time and then would yell at us when we didn't give the right answers. Well, after reading animal farm one of the students in our class got the bright idea to rebel and show his distaste for her authority. So one day we get dismissed for our break and Matt comes and tells each of us we don't have to go back to class. He took the phone cord and unscrewed the door handle to the classroom locking the teacher inside.
This was before cell phones and there were no classrooms next to ours, so she effectively got locked inside for over 2 hours as we all never came back and then went to lunch after. The vice principal ended up finding her in absolute tears. The next day the principal came to class and made us each apologize to her individually. When we were done, she screamed at us and abruptly quit. I still feel horrible even though she really was not a nice person.
Stay in Public School
Not my stories, but i have two from when i was a student at a catholic private school. when i was in second grade, some kid stabbed one of my friends (?) in his eye with a mechanical pencil, he still has a brown dot on his eye where they stabbed him, and in 3rd grade one of the older kids brought in a pigeon to class. our school had a pigeon overpopulation, so they were fairly common in my school, but this was the first time someone brought one into the classroom instead of the pigeon coming in by itself.
Poisoned
Not a teacher but... Kid in my class a while back was a huge idiot and whined about everything. In science, there was this powder used for an experiment we were told explicitly to use only for the experiment. Kid eats it and the teachers had to call Poison Control.
Just Plain Mean
Not my class but my next door neighbor's room. My coworker had surgery on her knee and was on crutches. Crutches suck and she was really struggling with them so other teachers and the kids would help her as she schlepped around the room or up the hallway.
We had a student who was mean. There is no other way to say it--just a mean kid. He would watch students and teachers and figure out their weak spot and then poke it.
I never dealt with him myself but I heard him saying just horrible, hateful things to people. His favorite thing to do was to walk out of class and then wander the halls for hours; even our assistant principal washed his hands of this kid.
I happened to be in the hall after the bell rang, getting kids to rooms, etc. My coworker came hobbling up the hallway from the bathroom, towards her room. Mean Kid sees her and I saw his face light up. I swear it was just an instant in time as he beat her to her door and dumped out his entire water bottle.
Then he laughed and said something like "Try to get in there now" and ran off in the other direction.
My coworker had to freeze in place, lest she slip on the water. I ran to get paper towel from my room, another teacher called security, and my coworker had to stand there, visibly shaken.
I've seen worse but that was just such a quick-thinking and horrible thing to do.
Law & Order : 3rd Grade
I was student teaching a third-grade class (eight-year-olds) in an inner-city. The students were not permitted to go outside for recess or PE class, because an occasional stray bullet would find its way to the playground, just to set the scene properly for you.
We were doing an arts and crafts thing, where you cut out pictures from magazines to make a collage.
One little girl apparently pissed off one of the boys, because he lunged at her with a scissors, regular scissors, not little kid safety scissors, like he wanted to stab her. I was fortunately close enough to them and dumb enough to just react- I jumped between them and managed to get the scissors from him while he kept trying to get past me, yelling, "Let me cut her" the entire time.
Security came and took him away and I never saw him again.
Flay Him
Wasn't a teacher yet, but knew a guy in HS who flayed a dead cat's face in science class (we were dissecting them) and made it into a hand puppet. Think he got detention, but pretty sure that was it. His family owned a big insurance company and were flush with cash, so if he got in trouble, it was light by comparison.
Why that car?
disgusted nick miller GIF by New GirlGiphySo story from my dad who was in high school around the 60-70s. His teacher had a cabrio car, the students took a poop in the car. End of story.
Lead from behind
A kid stabbed another kid in the back with a pencil and then threw it at me and ran. The kid who was stabbed turned around, saw the pencil and punched me in the face. Neither the teacher nor the kid that was stabbed believed me that it was the other kid, despite the fact that I had never been in trouble prior to that and the other kid was suspended at least once a month.
Audio Files
Not a teacher but when I was in high school I had a friend bring in a portable speaker and hid it in my math teacher's class room. Once class started he began to play the most vile porn audio, after a couple seconds the teacher heard it and began to search he classroom for where the sound was coming from, he would pause the video on his phone for the noises to stop and she would give up and go back to teaching, this happened continuously for the whole 80min class until the last 10mins she caught my friend. He was subsequently sent to the head masters office where he had an in school suspension for 2 weeks.
Fueled
I wasn't the primary teacher but an English language assistant and had a 12-13 year old whip out a lighter suddenly and nearly light his classmate's hair on fire in music class once. Luckily we caught him before the flame touched hair.
Different student threw a fit in class and like violently flung her individual desk/seat across the room.
I Hate Her
In gr. 8 I hung out with this group of girls who were lead by this one girl who went on to become pretty popular in high school. We used to hang out in the girls change room during recess to avoid the snow. The change room was beside the gym and kids had to leave their outdoor shoes outside the gym entrance. She'd leave the change room every day and grab some random kids' shoes and dunk them in toilet water before returning them to where she found them.
Dirty Air
GiphyI'm not a teacher, but a classmate of a kid. They find it funny to let ham and cheese sandwiches rot in the ceiling panels of our home room, and spray deodorant into the school ventilation system, and of course he vapes. :(
Stop Fighting!
I taught high school special Ed, emotionally disturbed, for quite a few years and actually the kids were better behaved than a lot of "regular" kids usually. Worst was one boy called a girl who was over 300lbs fat and I stepped between the ensuing fight because I didn't want to clean up the blood (the boy deserved the ass beating he was about to get though). I had to keep the girl off him and got slammed into a filing cabinet in the midst of it. Girl came back after a hospital stay so embarrassed about what she had done and apologized repeatedly.
I was fine other than a sore back for a day or two.
Beyond that event - had some chairs kicked and pens or scissors thrown. Had a senior who was going to fight a little freshman and when the senior stood up and took off his shirt the entire class stood up so he knew if he touched the freshman, he was going to have to take on 12 other people too.
Boy Bye
Boy Bye GIF by TinasheGiphyI am not a teacher but this was pretty bad. In my third grade, there was a kid who acted really bad. He did some bad stuff like turning the lights off in the middle of the class, leaving everyone thinking that it was a power outage.
He also introduced himself to a guest speaker with a wrong (but funny) name in front of the whole school. The speaker mispronounced the fake name and the entire school laughed at him (the kid was well known and had siblings in multiple grades).
The teacher made him apologize in front of the school to make up for his bad behavior. But, the worst time was when we were in lunchtime with parent volunteers patrolling the playground. He ate bird poop off a bleacher, freaking the volunteers out and getting him sent to the principal. I don't know what happened after (if he got detention or suspension or anything like that).
Purge
College professor here. Overheard her talking about wanting to shoot up a rich neighborhood if a Purge situation ever happened. Big no-no to insinuate possible shootings of any kind, so I reported her. Word got back to her about who turned her in, and she threatened me in front of class. After a couple of meetings and 2 weeks out of my class, she reappeared as if nothing had happened. Scary crap, man.
Poor Kitties...
I'm not a teacher but when I was in 3rd grade this kid brought kittens, yes like actual baby cats to school... in his backpack. At recess he was letting a bunch of kids pet them (I didn't). The teacher found out and looked in the backpack and... as it turned out unfortunately because these kittens were so young, and away from their mother, and in a zipped up backpack, they were actually dead. A bunch of kids in my class were petting dead kittens in a backpack.
Choir Mischief
I was invited to take a high school choir to a state music education festival, a great honor for me. Concert went off without a hitch. In theory, moments like these are highlights to many conductors... cherish every moment.Turned my phone back on afterwards to learn that another student of mine, one in a younger choir that was not part of this conference performance, had slammed another students head into our classroom piano (much to the horror of that substitute teacher). Brought me right back to reality. Blood was dry on the keys when the bus dropped us off at school that evening.
Hope he's well...
I'm not a teacher, but a few years back another class from my grade bullied a teacher so much that it was rumoured he attempted suicide. He never came back after that.
He was a bit different, but nothing bad where he would deserve any of the treatment he received. The class would purposely be super disruptive - yelling, talking over him, not completing any work and overall disrespecting and insulting him.
This went on for the whole school year. It was confirmed that he did have some mental health issues going on, but nothing else was ever said.
They thought it was funny but now realise that it's very sad. No one really knows what happened to him.
The Injured Saint
Back in high school we had this absolute saint of a teacher; she was super sweet all the time. We were in a combined class with some jerks though, and near the end of the year the final drop in the bucket came: one of them hit her in the face while she was talking to him and ran off; as she was walking behind him to get him his friend slammed a door into her and knocked her on the floor.
She wasn't injured or so, but that was the only time we have ever seen her mad. And boy was she mad haha.
Former Idiot
gordon ramsey idiot GIFGiphyEmptied a bin over another student's head. Luckily it was a few years ago now, and they both laugh about it.
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.
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.