Guy Goes Viral For For His Transformation, Receives Hate Messages, Prints Them On A Shirt, Goes Viral Again

No matter what a magical place the internet may sometimes be, it still has its flaws. One of them is online trolling, a practice that has been surging in recent years. With many commenters finding a safe place in the comfort of their home, few things seem to be off-limits when it comes to criticizing someone out loud publicly.

And one Reddit user, a man who recently lost a significant amount of weight, is no stranger to bullies. In fact, after posting his weight loss pics, the man got to the front page of Reddit (big ups to you!) and the trolls went all in on him. “A few Redditors are upset my posts keep hitting the front page and send me mean messages/comments,” the man wrote in a viral post on Reddit.

His response was a mic drop, as he printed all the nasty comments on a t-shirt and pulled it off in his latest post. As you can suspect, the guy has hit the front page again, but this time with all the trolling nastiness fueling the post with 141k upvotes.

Bored Panda reached out to the Reddit user Ethan behind the viral pics of his weight loss transformation. Ethan, who goes by the Reddit handle u/3995346, told us that fortunately, the overwhelming majority of comments are incredibly supportive and positive.

“That being said, there are definitely trolls in the lurch ready to pounce on anyone. I’m certainly no exception. My skin is actually thinner than most on account of my previous weight having stretched it out. However, I do have thick skin (apologies for the obligatory dad joke)."

Ethan said that truthfully, the mean comments don’t bother him at all. “If you’ve grown up being bullied in middle school on a regular basis, a random internet stranger’s comments don’t really matter. I read them in hopes of a good insult that makes me laugh.”

At the same time, Ethan said that he’s likely “not the norm in that way.” He grew up watching comedian roasts and underground hip hop battles. “I even entered and won some minor rap battle competitions myself, so mean comments online are simply not something that fazes me. So when someone hurls an insult my way, I'm just hoping it's creative and funny, which usually it's not.”

To whoever is receiving hate online, Ethan suggests to go for a very easy solution and simply walk away. “Whether by blocking the person online or literally walking away from your computer or smartphone. 'You never want to feed the trolls' is a great rule of thumb.”

But Ethan seems to always find a positive side to things. “I like to toss them an occasional snack, that way I can always expand my wardrobe with more shirts to post as I continue my journey into wellness.”

Weight loss is one hell of a journey that more and more Americans go on every year. The number of people who've tried to lose weight during the previous year increased to 42% in 2015-2016, up from 34% in 1999-2000, according to federal survey data. All these people who have been in this place of their lives know how challenging and sometimes life-changing the experience can be.

Unfortunately, mean comments often become a part of it, but the way people handle them is what makes many people stronger. Wellness teacher and book author Cassandra Bodzak suggests the kill-’em-with-kindness method.

“This is going to sound crazy, but the best thing you can do when someone says something rude about your weight is to come back with a compliment. Cut it off and change the subject.”

It turns out that, by not engaging, you choose not to receive the comment. “It completely shifts the dynamic and now that person is left to sit with knowing that what they said was inappropriate.”

Other methods include taking it lightly, having a laugh, and changing the subject. No matter what you do in the situation, it’s always up to you what you do with a comment someone made about your appearance. If you’re not feeling comfortable with it, you don’t have to accept it.