Top Stories

People Describe The Worst Meal They've Ever Eaten

People Describe The Worst Meal They've Ever Eaten
Louis Hansel/Unsplash

Food is a totally subjective thing. What has one person drooling might leave another dry-heaving just thinking about.

Having said that, some stuff is just plain ... wrong.


Have you ever eaten something that hit you so wrong that it kind of upset your soul? Something so foul and sacrilegious that even years later you get a little bit angry thinking about it?

Something that made your tastebuds cry out for you to avenge them?

Then this is the article for you.

Reddit user PhillyGirlLovesBagel asked:

"What's the worst food you've ever tried?"

Friends, your hunger deserved better.

The Worst Burger On Earth

Hungry Kate Hudson GIF by filmeditorGiphy

"In the Dominican Republic, there is a mountain in Puerto Plata called Isabel de Torres. On that mountain there is a restaurant."

"That restaurant sells the worst goddamn burgers you will ever eat in your life."

"Would just like to say, don't be discouraged from visiting the Dominican Republic. The people, culture, scenery, and food there are all amazing!"

"Take it from me, I lived there for six years. 9/10, would recommend. Just seriously - AVOID THIS BURGER."

"They were so bad I almost puked after the first bite and our entire party left. The patty (if you could even call it that) was burnt to a crisp."

"The patty itself looked and tasted like a mix if rice, eggplant, and beef. It also had way too much 'sauce,' which was just a mix of the cheapest available ketchup and those like liquid cheeses that come in a bottle at fast food places."

"Other than that, the burger had tomato, arugula, and burnt cheddar cheese. I really, REALLY, cannot overstate how bad it was."

"The worst thing is that this wasn't a one off with the restaurant. We were a group of five and we all ordered a burger (there were like three things on the menu), and they all came out the same. We left."

- JoshPoshTheGreat

When Mom Was Out

disgusted go away GIFGiphy

"There was a week where my mom was out so my dad had to cook for my brother and I. His first day he made chili."

"By chili I mean that he browned some beef, threw it in a pot with water and added one single packet of chili seasoning to the water and served it to us."

"We had frozen pizza the rest of the week."

-DrGingeyy

Moms Cooking

Schitts Creek No GIF by CBCGiphy

"My ex mother-in-laws meatloaf."

"She literally just pressed ground beef into a square baking pan and threw it in the oven. Zero spices. Zero anything but hot ground beef."

"She also made 'baked spaghetti' which was her take on baked ziti. It was cooked spaghetti noodles with plain tomato sauce in a pan and baked."

"She was so terrified of the 'negative health effects' of salt that she grew to fear ALL spices. Her cabinets and fridge were filled with everything reduced sodium, fat free, sugar free, etc."

"Her cooking made me realize why I had to twist my ex's arm to try REAL meatloaf and baked ziti the way it's supposed to be made. She had no idea what she was doing in the kitchen."

- SugarHooves

That French Flan

Melissa Barrera Eating GIF by VidaGiphy

"I was in France and stopped by a place in Paris."

"I had been travelling for several months and missed Mexican food. When the owner found out I was Mexican, she insisted I try the flan she just made as a first attempt."

"The food was pretty alright, not like home but it hit the spot. She brought out the flan and stood there expectantly waiting for my response."

"It was absolutely the worst flan I had ever had in my life."

"Like it just tasted BAD. Like eggs that were off? Flan is a custard and the temperature line between custard and sweetened scrambled eggs is a fine one."

"I couldn't hide my reaction and she became visibly upset. I ate a little more to be polite but just couldn't anymore."

"I told her I'm just very picky and suggested a few things as I had worked in a bakery that had made some in the past (aside from family recipes). I gave her my contact info and a few weeks later got an email thanking me."

"A group of Mexican musicians came through and told her while it wasn't traditional, it was very tasty and had a good texture."

"She said any time I was back to please stop by for a meal on the house. Unfortunately, the next time I was back the place had closed down."

- Malignantrumor99

Wiggling Away...

Cake Shaking GIF by Miss PettyGiphy

"Jellied salad."

"Lots of my family still thinks aspics are a necessity for family dinners, so there'll usually be a variety of jellied salads. Tomato salad, shredded cabbage salad, usually some kind of weird olive and hard boiled egg combo for some reason."

"All sitting on their plates, perfectly rectangular, wiggling away..."

- LycheeEyeballs

"People in the 50s and 60s put EVERYTHING in gelatin. I’m pretty sure there’s a recipe out there for roast chicken jello."

- XxsquirrelxX

"Because way way back before gelatin came in a packet, it was really time consuming to extract it from bones. Aspic was seen as a kind of status symbol, as well as a creative and colourful thing to make for parties."

"And then when it did come in a packet in the 50s and 60s, there was a huge drive to try and market something which was essentially a biproduct of the meat industry as a food staple."

- Bribase

Spaghetti

Giphy

"One of my ex girlfriend's grandmothers had the whole family over for dinner one night. She cooked spaghetti."

"My ex's mom pulled me aside and warned me that it would be terrible. Not just bad. Terrible."

"Boy, was she right."

"Her grandmother boiled water, put in the noodles, DID NOT DRAIN THE WATER, and then dumped some salt, pepper, and KETCHUP into the pot and served it. I had to excuse myself to the bathroom so I could dry heave over the toilet."

- Hollywood899

A Redemption Arc

james franco sandwich GIFGiphy

"This one has a redemption arc."

"My then-girlfriend brought some leftover Ethiopian food and kept talking about how awesome it was and had me try some injera (like a giant sourdough pancake) after she reheated everything."

"It was absolutely revolting. Dry and brittle and weirdly grainy and the wrong side of chewy. Seriously the worst thing I had ever had in my life."

"Fast-forward about a month and we go to that restaurant. I wasn't excited, but whatever. I figure there has to be good stuff and I can avoid the injera bread pancake disaster, right?"

"The staff there tells me the injera is your UTENSIL. You're supposed to tear off bits and use it to pick up your food with."

"You're not supposed to eat it by itself, it's purposefully flavorless. They also say never put it in a fridge or microwave it; at which point my girlfriend stared at the table mournfully as she had served it like that."

"The order arrives and I take a breath, pick up some red lentils with the injera expecting that same dry brittle grainy weirdness ... and I discovered my death row meal, folks."

"It's the greatest food on the planet. The fresh injera tastes amazing and only highlights everything you pick up with it! Gored gored (beef pan roasted in berbere that's super spicy and amazing), injera, and red lentils are now the best food I've ever tasted in my life!"

"If you're ever in Memphis, go to Abyssinia on Poplar. Try the red lentils."

- DarthDregan

This Old Mans Recommendation

gross vomit GIFGiphy

"My dad was finishing our basement in our old house, and he had an elderly man from our old church helping him out with hanging the drywall, electrical wiring, that kind of thing."

"Well, this old geezer knew my family liked beef heart (side note: beef heart is delicious, but you have to be ready for the ventricles - they can be a bit weird to chew on if you don't cut them out of the piece of meat that you're eating), so he says we are gonna love kidneys."

"My dad always loved liver, so he just assumed it would be something similar."

"NOT. EVEN. F*CKING. CLOSE."

"My dad did everything he could to spice this rancid meat up and make it not taste like pure, unadulterated sadness. Nothing worked - it smelled like piss, the house reeked of it for weeks after."

"My dad refused to even try it, my mom took a bite and spat it out, and then they made my brother and I eat a bite. I can still smell that stench..."

"So anyway, we end up ordering pizza and that old fart sat down and ate an entire pound of that acrid organ. Mind you, this is the same old man that would eat bulbs of garlic like they were f*cking apples in the middle of church, so I don't know why that wasn't a red flag right from the start to my parents."

- Potato-In-A-Jacket

That Last Sentence

Season 7 Nbc GIF by The OfficeGiphy

"In High School I got pizza from the pizza shack in the lunch area. The pizza was soggy as hell from the grease. Upon taking a bite, it tasted like alcohol."

"The bread had fermented."

- Spiderbubble

"That last sentence was like a punch to the gut. Wtf"

- WhichButterscotch240

"I think I tasted this comment 🤢"

- SolBlackGuy

Turtle Tea

Sipping Kermit The Frog GIFGiphy

"I lived in China for a while. My employer took we to an extremely fancy restaurant once, one that was apparently listed as one of the 'eight treasures of Chinese cuisine' by the CCP."

"It specialized in accurate recipes from a period that, if I recall correctly, was about 700 years old. They were ... intense."

"They served a tea that was basically just a baby turtle boiled in water and served, turtle and all."

"Beyond the unpleasantness of opening your little cup and finding a whole boiled baby turtle, it tasted like week old gym socks."

- Oh_umms_cocktails

How Is Dressing A Solid?

Channel 9 Michael GIF by Married At First Sight AustraliaGiphy

"Oh, hands down, this is the absolute worst thing I ever tried. My ex-gf's family called it 'dressing' but it wasn't a liquid you pour over a salad or other food."

"It was a cake. A green colored cake."

"I saw them eating it, so figured 'it's cake. Can't go wrong with cake.' "

"Boy was I so very very wrong. It was split pea soup baked into a batter and allowed to harden. Or something."

"My body immediately tried rejecting it, I started retching uncontrollably."

"Worse still, I absolutely hate wasting food. So I tried to take another bite. But oh gods. I couldn't swallow it. Oh it was so very very bad."

"And they were eating it like nothing was wrong!"

"Some foods are an acquired taste, but I don't think I could ever acquire a taste for that stuff."

- Calthropstu

Belgian Beef

Happy Burger GIF by Doja CatGiphy

"Went to Belgium. Friend there took me to a carnival."

"I made the mistake of getting a burger. I figured you can't really screw up a burger."

"I was wrong."

"In Belgium, they don't generally serve beef burgers. What I bit into was absolutely disgusting. I learned later it was a mishmash of pork, chicken and beef byproduct."

"I learned to appreciate the USDA that day."

- [Reddit]

Why'd They Even Ask If They Were Going To Serve This Anyway?

banana GIFGiphy

"I was meeting my new step-mother’s family. They invited me to dinner and asked ahead of time if I had allergies."

"I warned them I had an intolerance to bananas as they make me violently vomit shortly after eating them. Even the smell makes me feel sick."

"Step-mother’s sister made the most horrendous thing I have ever seen:"
"Chicken breast, topped with bananas that had been cut in half length wise, and wrapped with a single slice of Turkey bacon."

"The smell alone made my stomach knots, but I choked it down because I didn’t want to insult them as they were super nice."

"I managed to keep from throwing up until I got home and ended up sick for several days with lots of praying to the Porcelain God. She later apologized to me and said she felt horrible for serving me something so vile because even her own family hated it!"

- PersephoneOnEarth

When God Abandons You

shaun the sheep what GIF by Aardman AnimationsGiphy

"Polish Jellied Pigs' Feet (Zimne Nogi or Studzienina)."

"I don't really feel any additional thoughts, pains or childhood traumas need to be added. The title stands on its own."

"Polish. Jellied. Pigs. Feet."

"Imagine the texture. Imagine the smell. Imagine the dread because this is a 'traditional' dish that was served up at holidays."

"Suffice it to say, God abandoned me in those times of need at our family Easter dinner."

- AldoRaineClone

Four Continents Worth Of Bad

Pizza Party GIF by The InfatuationGiphy

"Oh, how I've been waiting for this question. Let me set the scene."

"I was unlucky enough to catch the 'rona back in 2020, long before vaccines were a thing. I lived in a house with four others, and it effectively meant I couldn't leave my room for twelve days."

"The sole exceptions were to pee or to go to the hospital if symptoms got bad enough. My housemates were kind enough to leave food outside my door for me to snatch like the gremlin that I am."

"On day 5, I felt beyond garbage and decided to order pizza from a local takeout called Planet Spice. Pepperoni passion with extra cheese, as the truest way to fill any void is by clogging arteries."

"It arrived just over half an hour later, and my housemate leaves it outside my door. I open it to find what appears to be a few sparse slices of Pepper-Mystery-Meat-oni buried under a light dusting of cheddar, swimming in its own infinity pool of oil."

"Imagine the greased up deaf guy from Family Guy, but a pizza."

"I was hungry, sick, and in no position to be picky, so I took a bite."

"Turns out you can deliver pizza really quickly if you just don't bother to cook it. They say the 'rona takes your sense of taste - how I wish that was so in my case."

"I tasted everything, up to and including all that old grease."

"It's been over a year, and I've complained to people in four different continents about that pizza. F*ck you, Planet Spice."

- hijinks2

Falafel Sand

"Serving in the military in the middle of deadass nowhere. There were snowstorms so we hadn't received a new shipment of food, so cooks were making do with what they had."

"The problem is that, being a small company in the middle of nowhere, we had only two cooks who switched each other every week: one knew hoe to cook but never wanted to, the other wanted to cook but never knew how."

"This week we were stuck with the latter, whose meals were terrible on a good day. We had not received a new shipment of food for quite a while. This was not a good day."

"Anyways, us being on skeleton crew, our guard shifts were a pretty tiring 8;8- 8 hour shift followed by 8 hour rest immediately followed by 8 hour shift. A bit tiring."

"So, I got off my shift starving mad, went all the way down to the kitchen just in time for food."

"There were only two dishes: eggs, which hadn't been properly cooked; they were liquid inside. They were also all cracked so houseflies infested them."

"And falafel. This base received shipments of this weird processed falafel; nothing like the actual falafel you can eat in a normal place, even if you followed the instructions to a T."

"Our unit had a thing against deep frying food, so the cook BAKED these not-falafels instead of following instructions that would lead to it being passable."

"Cook also burned them in the oven, so they were as dry and tasty as eating a handful of sand, and as coarse too."

"Tl;dr after an exhausting week of limited food due to supply shortages, we had for dinner liquid housefly eggs with a side of black clumps of sand that masqueraded (in name only) as falafel."

- xland44

So Bad It Had To Be A Money Laundering Operation

Episode 14 Shawarma GIF by The SimpsonsGiphy

"My husband and I honeymooned in Quebec City, a place well known for its exquisite food scene."

"Unfortunately we were beyond broke at the time, and our only criteria for food was 'cheap.' I vividly remember walking down the road past expensive restaurant after expensive restaurant packed with happy diners, desperately trying to find somewhere we could eat without dine and dashing."

"Then I caught sight of the shawarma place."

"Now my husband and I love shawarma more than anyone should love any food, and shawarma is nice and affordable, so our day was made."

"We should perhaps have put some thought into why someone would open a shawarma shop on a touristy road, in a place where people only come to eat French food."

"Or why, unlike every restaurant on the strip, this one was completely deserted."

"The lack of meat cones did give us pause, as did the owner's unfeigned shock at having customers, but it was too late to retreat."

"I still don't know how you make shawarma that bad, but I viciously hope that some unwary CRA employee tries to eat lunch there one day, and audits the life out of that money laundering operation."

- Ok-Chain5315

Ammonia Biscuit

Biscuit Gravy GIFGiphy

"Ammonia biscuits."

"What's an ammonia biscuit? What it sounds like, unfortunately. My brother, while still a baby, got into the kitchen while my mother was cooking and spilled floor cleaner everywhere."

"She made (USA southern style) biscuits anyway without checking to see if the flour had been contaminated."

"At dinner the two older kids (including me) tried the biscuits and spat them out saying they tasted weird. My parents -knowing full well that my younger brother had been spraying cleaner all over what was cooking - decided that we were just spoiled brats who were entitled and complaining because we didn't appreciate our mother."

"So, they forced us to eat them."

"After yelling, berating, and threatening us. We choked down biscuits but weren't interested in eating anything after that."

"My dad finally took a bite of one, spat it out, and said it tasted funny."

"Because HE said they tasted bad, they finally connected the two events and decided to take the biscuits away. No apologies were ever offered, though I did get yelled at for 'not telling them' before my dad tried one."

"Even though BOTH kids spoke up repeatedly."

- semiloki

Does Milk Really Do A Body Good?

Stone Cold Steve Austin Reaction GIF by WWEGiphy

"OK so there is this milk. Its made in Bretagne which is in north of France; I go there every year."

"Every year I hate this milk, yet I always try it because: 'hOw cOuLd i hAtE mIlK???' "

"Every single god damn time I want to vomit. Every single time I want more."

"oh btw it is like a half fermented milk, so like milk/yogurt."

- SuperCatoz

"Not a food, but a beverage. Fermented horse milk."

"Saw a bottle of white liquid at my grocery store with a picture of a horse on it and big Russian lettering. Bought it, tried it, and regretted it."

- Idoarchaeologystuff

The Flavor Of Heartbreak

Sad Season 1 Episode 1 GIF by NBCGiphy

"The single worst bite of food I ever had:"

"So this is the first year I realized that November 11th is also know as Pocky day in Japan."

"My husband loves Pocky, so on 11-11 I took a long lunch and went to my local Asian market to buy my Hubs a wide variety of Pocky and covered his computer desk with them."

"One of these was an innocent looking packet called 'sweet corn.' "

"That night, after the hugs and kisses and thank-yous, I tried a bite of the corn pocky. My body Has never ever rejected something so quickly."

"It was like my brain was flashing 'Danger! Get it out!' "

"I like corn. I really do. But it was like straight up licking the inside of an expired can of corn."

"And the after taste was like being punched in the teeth with fake butter and bile. It was the flavor of heartbreak."

- KaneOdamion

Alright, you've made it through Reddit's horror stories, it's your turn.

What have you eaten that you seriously wish you could un-eat? Do you actually like any of the things listed here?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

Want to "know" more?

Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.

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.

In 2017, I returned to my office after my lunch break to hear my supervisors discussing Tom Petty. This seemed like a random topic to me until one of my supervisors told me Tom Petty had passed away. He was a huge fan of Petty and spent the next hour or so combing through the internet to get more information.

He came back into the room my other supervisor and I were working in and announced that Tom Petty wasn't dead after all. News outlets had jumped the gun to announce his death, but he was actually still alive.

The next day, I came in to find out that Tom Petty was dead; the news may have been premature, but true.

This is a classic example of the rumor being started on the internet. Sometimes, like with the news of Tom Petty's death, the rumor can run wild and appear everywhere. Other times, the rumor can be seen by just a few people and dismissed. However, a lot of times, these rumors turn out to be true.

Redditors know a lot of internet rumors that turned out to be true, and are eager to share.

It all started when Redditor strakerak asked:

"What started out as an internet rumor that ended up being infamously true?"

The King Of Pop

"Michael Jackson writing the music for Sonic 3."

"He actually did, but was never credited on the game because it would breach his contract with his record label."

– -WigglyLine-

"He did the same when he appeared on The Simpsons. He appeared under a pseudonym, and the Producers said it was an impersonator."

"Only years later they confirmed it really was Michael."

"His singing voice was actually done by an impersonator, though."

– given2fly_

The Truth Comes Out

"In 1998, US Men’s National Team captain John Harkes was shockingly cut from the team right before the World Cup. The coach claimed it was because Harkes wouldn’t fit into his new preferred formation, but rumors flew on the early internet that it was actually because he had slept with his teammate Eric Wynalda’s wife. The rumor was so well-known in soccer circles that Harkes expressly denied it in his autobiography the next year."

"Fast forward 12 years to 2010 and Wynalda admits it’s true. The coach then came out and admitted it was why he dropped Harkes, but that he’d planned to keep the secret as long as Wynalda did."

– guyfromsoccer

Video Evidence

"The Tim Burton Hansel and Gretel that aired once on halloween in the 80's."

"I heard for years that it was fake but I knew it was real because my dad recorded everything in the 80s and he recorded that. We let a good friend of ours borrow it and switch it over from VHS to DVD and soon after that it made its way on to the internet , and there it is now. I know it's our copy because the tracking in the beginning is screwed up. Still have the VHS."

– Frozenthickness

"There was a similar story with a Nickelodeon movie called Cry Baby Lane. It was supposed to be so scary that Nickelodeon got complaints and denied its existence for years. Someone uploaded a taped copy to youtube about a decade ago."

– PattiAllen

The Movie Business

"That North Korea hacked Sony Pictures because of The Interview movie."

"I worked in the movie business at the time and the account managers at Sony all basically needed to get new identities as all of their personal information got leaked online."

OldMastodon5363

"My partner worked on that movie and the production bought all the crew 1 year of an identity theft tracking service."

CMV_Viremia

Keep Away From The Ears Of Kids

"Some banned episodes or scenes of cartoons."

"For example, I remember there was a Dexter’s Lab cartoon where he clones evil versions of DeDe and himself and they swear like every other word (censored of course), and people debated whether it even existed cause they only aired it like once. Now it’s pretty accessible online."

– Spledidlife

Yes, It's True

"Echelon, a massive electronic espionage system by the US and allies to intercept all electronic messages, especially emails."

"In the mid-nineties it was a topic on conspiracy BBS boards. A lot of people in my bubble at the time (mainly uni students in Europe) were including fake threats to the US in the their email signatures as a way to "protest" and "fill the system with false alarms" (obviously useless)."

"Then, in 1999-2000 came out to be true and a lot of security service agencies from UK and other US allies started to admit they were part of the espionage network."

– latflickr

How The Mighty Fell

"John Edward’s love child."

– ACam574

"A reminder that he was cheating on his wife while she was hospitalized for cancer treatment."

– Fanclock314

Ugh...

"Carrie Fisher's heart attack. Some a**hole who was on the same flight was livetweeting the whole medical emergency and justified it by insisting she was just making sure the family was informed."

– everylastlight

It Actually Happened

"Every year around her birthday there was a rumor that Betty White died. When I heard she died, I scoffed, saying that dumb rumor is back.... then saw it on the news. I was in shock."

– Known-Committee8679

"The fact that Betty died literally right before she turned 100 is such a Betty White way to go out."

– Paganigsegg

Big Actor, Small Roles

"I distinctly remember some rumors about the reason why Bruce Willis was taking so many roles in sh*tty movies before it was announced he has dementia."

– KampferMann

"RedLetterMedia did a deep dive on his recent movie activity to try and work out why exactly he was taking part in basically scam-movies. They noticed he had an earpiece in one of the scenes and joked that the director was feeding him lines. I remember they even disclaimed over the rumours at the time, and possible made a follow-up vid when it was revealed to the public."

– CardinalCreepia

What To Do Next?

"That the writer of LOST were making it up as they went."

"Turned out to be absolutely true."

– homarjr

That last one was kind of obvious!

Do you have any to add? Let us know in the comment below.