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People Break Down The Most 'F**ked Up' Thing To Come Out In Stores That’s Now Discontinued

People Break Down The Most 'F**ked Up' Thing To Come Out In Stores That’s Now Discontinued
Nathália Rosa on Unsplash

Ah, the good old days, before things like product testing and consumer safety commissions.

If someone would buy it, at some point you could probably sell it.

Even if it was a really bad idea or really, really dangerous.

Lawn darts, anyone?


Redditor fishermen4life2 asked:

"What was the most f'ked up thing to come out in stores that’s now discontinued?"

That Radioactive Glow

"I guess radium watches and jewelry that glowed in the dark and gave people terminal cancer." ~ locrianmode81

"Hand painted by the way, with no protective equipment. The workers became known as radium girls, and there’s pictures of them playing with the paint, putting it on their teeth and stuff. It’s messed up." ~ Vicorin

"They licked the brushes to narrow the tip so they could paint those small parts." ~ Thomisawesome

"It's sad that it took quite a long time to establish the link between radiation and cancer, by which time the damage was done. Radium toothpaste was popular for a while, as were radium food supplements."

"It’s odd how obvious we think the link is today, even Marie Curie dying of cancer at a relatively young age wasn’t seen as an indication that the stuff was harmful. In the early days they genuinely did not know." ~ Global-Technician990

Play With X-Rays

"Many shoe stores used to have fluoroscope X-Ray machines for customers to see how well their foot fit into the shoe they were trying on. They were often unshielded and were highly radioactive." ~ doingthehumptydance

"Yep, when I was a kid a local shoe store had one and when you got a new pair of shoes you could stick your feet in and wiggle your toes and watch where they were in relation to the edge of the shoe."

"I think I only got to use it once or twice and then my parents got real nervous about them and didn't take me to that shoe store anymore. Then afterwards I'd go home and sleep right next to a wind up alarm clock that glowed in the dark."

"I'll tell you, if you ever wonder why some boomers are how they are, it's possibly because you have no idea what shit we were exposed to as kids, between radioactive sh*t, lead, asbestos, all kinds of plastics, various powerful insecticides that our parents applied to lawns that we'd then play on..." ~ oldepharte

"...and our pediatricians had them in their offices, too. I used to love to sit on the table and watch my bones move as I wiggled my fingers, turned my hand and see the two bones in my lower arm articulate...they'd just let me play like that while Mom talked to the doctor." ~ Spirit50Lake

"They were particularly hazardous not for the customer, but for the employees operating them."

"If you've ever had chest or dental x-rays done on you (and theres a good chance you've had at least one of these done), after the attending nurse/dentist puts the shielding on you, they will step out of the room while the scan is happening."

"This is because they do these scans several times a day, and while each individual scan's radioactive dose is low, the cumulative exposure to several a day being done can add up and result in cancer or worse."

"These foot x-rays were done at a time when this concept was not well understood, and many employees got sick from the radiation exposure." ~ Metlman13

Bang, Bang, Boom!

"As a UK school boy, trips to France were an excuse to buy explosives. I don’t know if they still sell them or not, but ‘bangers’ as we called them were like little sticks of explosives where you lit the fuse and retired to a safe distance."

"All the souvenir shops sold them. They came in different sizes and strengths. Once you got your bangers home, you blew up as much stuff as you could."

"Apples still on the tree were good. Toys were fun too. The more f'ked up kids would explode live frogs etc. This was in the 1980s." ~ Kirkoid

"As the little sister of a 1980s UK school boy, can confirm. My Sindy doll didn't stand a chance." ~ ThanksMrBergstrom

"In the US, the firecracker laws vary from state to state. I grew up in a state where they were illegal but we had an uncle who was an inter-state truck driver and he'd bring back all sorts of explosive goodies for my brother to potentially injure himself with."

"He'd give them to my brother on the sly, of course. My mom didn't approve." ~ jinantonyx

"French person here, you can easily buy firecrackers/bangers but their size/explosive power is regulated now—you can’t buy really big ones. Those available are the size of a finger." ~ LCSdrd

Light It Up

"I watched some YouTube series about things in the home that could kill you throughout history and apparently when electricity started being common place in homes, nothing was yet regulated and inventors went absolutely buck f'king wild with the products they put out."

"The series specifically mentioned a table cloth with uninsulated electric mesh wiring running through the entire thing which you could plug in, and no, this was not designed to be a heated blanket."

"It was sold alongside other electrical accessories you could just plug right in to the tablecloth by stabbing the prongs through the fabric and the mesh wiring."

"This obviously resulted in electrocution and fires." ~ Korrin

"Why would you even want an electric tablecloth? Like what could be improved by electrifying it??" ~ aMoustachioedMan

"It's like a invisible extension cord for a table lamp or something." ~ piggyboy2005

"Powering lamps on it without the need for cables running across the tabletop (or drilling holes to hide the cables)." ~ alanthemanofchicago

Toxic Holidays

"Fake snow made from asbestos." ~ sublater

"My grandmother had an artificial Christmas tree that in some way made it snow on itself. You’d plug it in and fill the tray with asbestos snow and watch the 'snow' fall on the tree."

"She used that machine in the 80’s when I was a kid. No f'king wonder I have all these respiratory problems…"

"She bought it in the 60’s according to my mother." ~ DogMedic101st

"It baffled me when I found out that asbestos is like, a natural thing."

"With a name like that, I swore it was man-made."

"Though I also never bothered to look into it's history since it all ends with 'yeah it got banned for giving us cancer & sh*t'." ~ vizthex

"They also made Tinsel that was strips of lead foil. Kids used to chew on them and many pets died from them." ~ The_Last_Ron1n

"I found a box of lead tinsel in my grandmother’s attic. I regret tossing it out. It would’ve made for fun conversations about the olden times." ~ jjetsam

"I have a small clear plastic ornament with a little bit in it. It's part of what's left of the tinsel my grandfather used to use year after year."

"My parents kept using it until there wasn't enough left to bother and then made the ornaments. They have one and so does my brother. It's a fun keepsake, and it's all safely within plastic." ~ Hidesuru

Fried Worms

"There was a product called the 'worm getter' in the 80s, basically a rod that shocked the ground outside your house that for some reason caused worms to come out of the ground so you didn't have to buy them yourself."

"Yeah there was about 30 deaths attributed to this thing from people shocking themselves and it was recalled." ~ Maximus-53

"My dad just built his own with an extension cord and a metal rod. Stick it in the ground and plug it in." ~ SC487

"That product was safe, and it included safeguards to protect users and anyone else nearby."

"What happened was, people balked at the price and figured they could make their own using electrical wire and pieces of rebar with electrical tape for handles."

"So Washington banned the legitimate, safe product." ~ wufoo2

"Literally the first thing that popped up when i googled this was an article saying 30 people died from copy cat devices that were essentially just rods with extension cords. Not the worm-getter itself." ~ Zappy_Kablamicus

"My great grandfather used get rid of moles in a similar way… several car batteries attached to metal rods in the ground and then flood the yard. My father once ran into the yard right before Grandpa Joe flipped the on switch."

"My dad said Joe never truly yelled at him except for that one time. If it was enough charge for a yard full of moles, I imagine it would have been enough to severely damage a child." ~ janbradybutacat

Un-Rely-Able

"The whole reason that tampons today have warnings about toxic shock syndrome was because of a brand of tampons [Rely] back in the 70s." ~ AwfulDjinn

"GODDAMN IT I MISS THOSE TAMPONS! They were the only ones I could wear that didn't make me get up in the middle of the night to change out."

"They weren't made to be left in the entire cycle - it's just that they never. leaked. so people would be stupid and not change them regularly and get sick. And they were the only tampons that I couldn't feel up there all the time."

"They were like little mesh teabags filled with tiny super absorbant sponges that gently expanded in all directions. Personally I only ever used them at night."

"OK, to be fair, I had endometriosis something wicked (although it took 15 yrs to diagnose) and I'm far past the age of menstruation, but those were The. Bomb."

"People who can't use things according to directions are why we can't have nice things." ~ Toirneach

Numbing Narcotics

"During the First World War, department stores, including Harrod's, sold kits containing syringes, needles and tubes of cocaine and heroin.

It was promoted as a present for friends on the frontline—shoot up to make life in the trenches more bearable and alleviate the horrors of war." ~ SockpuppetPseudonym2

"To be fair, at the time heroine was still considered fairly tame. People still took opium to sleep at night and cocaine was in cough syrup."

"This ends abruptly after this period, but it’s was a more intoxicated time." ~ midnightword

"Cocaine and heroin were relatively common medicines back then. Also as many have said when dealing with WWI levels of bullsh*t..." ~ whitexknight

"Well the horrors of WWI trench warfare are pretty awful. I’d have appreciated this care package were I on the front lines." ~ schmidthead27

Eating Not-Gummi Worms

"Diet pills from Sears catalog in the early 1900s."

"The first pill was a tapeworm egg."

"The second pill was a drug to kill the tapeworm. You'd take it when you reached your desired weight." ~ Tathas

"In a similar vein, DNP - dinitrophenol, an explosive literally used to burn fat."

"In layman's terms it allows the body to turn stored fuel ie. fat into heat uncontrollably. It'll cook you from the inside out and a fatal dose is not very much at all." ~ Budpets

Heavy Metal

"My grandfather had a kit for kids to make their own lead soldiers. It came with the molds for the soldiers, a bunch of ingots of lead, and a cooking pot to melt the lead in."

"Then the child could pour the molten lead into the mold, wait for it to cool, then play with their new toy. What fun!" ~ PaulsRedditUsername

"The amount of lead and mercury that got casually played with by kids before about 1980 or so is really quite astounding. My Dad grew up in the 70s and remembers his mother melting lead in an old frying pan so he could play with it."

"They’d also fool around with mercury when a thermometer broke."

"No, my Dad wasn’t abused or raised by morons. That’s just how it was back then, people didn’t think anything of that stuff." ~ r3dd1tu5er

"This one's a double whammy. A poisonous, molten metal... For kids!"

"Looked up the melting point of lead thinking it couldn't be that high, right? It's lead after all."

"Nope, 651.5 degrees Fahrenheit." ~ emartinoo

"When I was in elementary school in the early 1980s, our teacher brought out a large glass beaker (probably three inches by eight inches) about 3/4th full of mercury to pass around. At least she warned us not to touch the mercury…" ~ spect0rjohn

"I was a kid in the 70s and distinctly remember playing with Mercury. It’s so pretty…" ~ FkedupUnicorn

"Makes you wonder what we play around with that we don't think about right now." ~ holigay123

The good old day...

It's a wonder anyone survived.

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People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.