Does losing weight make you look older?

cwolfman13

I've never heard that. I've heard people say just the opposite, actually.

Ditto....

Everyone tells me I look younger now...I certainly feel younger....

Before:


Not completely after, but my most recent from March:

You look great, but your face wasn't that "round and plump" to begin with. I feel it happens more to those who lose like 100lbs +.

No offense, but I prefer the before photo. Mostly because of the shaved head. EVERY guy looks older bald .Other than the lack of hair, you look great.

LOL...that's just because you can't see the back and my "monkey butt" that's creeping towards the front. Almost the entire back of my head is one big *kitten* bald spot and I got tired of faking it...looking fine from the front, but total sham when someone saw the back. But no offense taken.

Also, I have my tan back now as well...that after pic was in early March...just coming out of winter. As I recall, it was a fresh shave too...like two days old.

mustapekka

I think you did a really good thing getting rid of your hair. It's way more gracious than covering up a "monkey butt" until it just gets absurd (and about 50 times hotter). You did a really good job losing the weight too!

MobOfBricks

I think it all comes down to how this person lost weight. Extreme diets make people look old and worn out.

On the other hand, people who met their goal after hundreds of miles of cardio, tons of weights and balanced diet look better because they feel better, may be younger too.

Mslmesq

It depends on the person, but usually losing weight makes people look younger. One of my siblings is almost 10 years younger but people think I'm the baby because I'm thin.


Chanel famously said:

A trente ans, une femme doit choisir entre son derrière et son visage.

When a woman turns thirty, she must choose between her butt and her face. (In other words, to be slim makes the face look gaunt as a woman ages.)

I don't think that's true for everyone.

^ this. I was going to quote this myself, glad i read the thread. Also, it depends how much baby fat you kept on your face into your teens and twenties. I had thin high school friends with pretty thin faces that at the 20 year reunuion are still thin, but their faces look gaunt. I had chubbier cheeks, lost the chubbiness now, but it was a cushion that helped later in life. Probably still look better tho w/a little extra weight, but i dont care. I chose my butt. :-)

Barbellgirl

It hasn't seemed to for me.

wlaura88

It probably depends on how old you are already and how much you have to lose, like others have said. Apparently it has made me look younger. I will be 25 next month and got carded for a Rated R movie a few weeks ago! I couldn't believe it!

andreearoxette

I actually have heard the opposite and I agree with the opposite. Makes you look younger, but maybe if you are older when you lose weight, the wrinkles that were tightened by fat under the skin are now let loose so they might show more I think.

Oneal77

Maybe, with power lifters, but nahh.. I don't thinks so. www.uncommonwebshop.com

toutmonpossible

I've never heard that. I've heard people say just the opposite, actually.

Ditto....

Everyone tells me I look younger now...I certainly feel younger....

Before:


Not completely after, but my most recent from March:

Now that a couple of people have weighed in, I think you look younger in the first picture, but that's because I associate hair, especially if it's dark, with youth. Your face looks pretty much the same. But have no concern, you look good in both photos.

bumblebums

Look through the success stories posts with pics and decide for yourself. I think people look younger and healthier in the "after" pics.

bumblebums

It depends on the person, but usually losing weight makes people look younger. One of my siblings is almost 10 years younger but people think I'm the baby because I'm thin.


Chanel famously said:

A trente ans, une femme doit choisir entre son derrière et son visage.

When a woman turns thirty, she must choose between her butt and her face. (In other words, to be slim makes the face look gaunt as a woman ages.)

I don't think that's true for everyone.

Coco Chanel also popularized suntans. For the first time in recorded human history, I believe. In her case, the choice must have been frighteningly real.

SisterhoodoftheShrinkingPants

I was incredibly worried about this. I was completely prepared for wrinkles galore...it hasn't happened. THANK GOD.

his_kid1

I will gladly look older, if I can just FEEL younger!

liesevanlingen

It depends...I've lost 45 lbs and people are constantly tell me how young I look. (I'm 41) I mentioned my four kids in a conversation with a new coworker and he said "FOUR KIDS! Um, how old are you?" (I hear this a lot) I said "41" and he said, "I thought you were in your twenties!"
But I've always looked young for my age, and 45 lbs isn't a huge amount. It might make more of a difference if you're trying to lose 100+ pounds.

GiddyupTim

I think the people answering are a bit confused.
If you are 25 years old -- or even 35 years old -- you are not going to look older when you lose weight. You'll look better.
However, it is very true that as we age we lose muscle mass and the fat in our face gets redistributed.
When you are heavy, that gets masked. And, skin gets stretched and wrinkles disappear too.
So, if you are 40 years plus, or 50 years plus, when you lose weight, you are likely to get more wrinkles, and your tendons jump out, in your neck and other places, because you no longer have the same muscle mass to subsume them.
That looks older.
That's just true.
I tend to think that, once you get to a certain, middle age, you are going to look a little better if you have some fat to fill in where muscle has been lost.

PattyRain

I've seen people look both younger and older. I've wondered if some of it has to do with skin type. I've hoped that people with oily skin look younger since that is what I have! I've thought about that since I often here that people who have oily skin seem to wrinkle less. Since I still have zits at45 it would be nice if something good comes from having the oily skin!

vickygraboske

I imagine that if you lose enough and start to show wrinkles, how someone could say that.
But to me, whenever I see someone who has lost weight, they look younger.

--Vicky

simplydelish2

Depends on how much your skin tightens. The older you are the less elastic your skin is and the more aged you'll look.

jdm_taco

When people get to real low body fat percentage, then yes they may appear older. I think most people end up looking younger.

janel072013

I am 29 and have always looked younger than I am (so people say). For about 5 weeks now, I've been eating healthier and exercising. I'm 5'7 and weight about 150. (I'm not on a diet. I just want live healthier than I have been) I've noticed my face looking older. I thought it was just me being tired one day. But dang, without even trying, I see a difference every time I look at myself. I see laugh lines and my cheeks look a bit saggy. I Googled this and I am so not the only one :-( Do I HAVE to look older to be in better shape. Or is it that I've been loosing fat faster than usual? (I went from fast food and canned goods and big portions to raw veggies and Nutriblasts and smaller portions during meals). Does anyone know if my face will return to normal? It's ridiculous how much older and tired I look.

bcattoes

I think it depends. When someone loses a lot of weight they may have loose skin on the face that wrinkles, making them look older in the face. But if you are fit, your body will look youger.

From close up I don't think my face looks older or younger than before (other than the 2 years I have aged). But the extra muscle, better posture and flexibility that comes from regular exercise makes me seem younger than I did before.

When people learn my age they often tell me I look younger than I am, but I think most everyone gets told that. When I meet friends from high school I think they look about the same age as me.

lisal11

I also think it just depends on how the weight loss changes your face. Seems to vary from person to person.

LaurenEileen74

Yes, you look a little older when you're thin...but when you're fat you look, well...Fat.

jharb2

Older. More wrinkles on face and my eyelids now sag.

pcdoctor01

Ok. Do most people look older when 40lbs or more over weight?

willdob3

Losing weight in a healthy way & to a healthy weight makes one look younger. Much better. Doing it in an unhealthy way will make one look older and sick.

AdrianBry

it depends on how much you lose. If you lose so much that your body fat levels get under 5% then your skin thins out making it easier for wrinkles to form but people who lose weight to their normal range look younger

seltzermint555

I think we've all pointed out various ways it just depends on the person.

I do think clothing can play a big role, though, too in making people look younger when they have lost weight.

I used to work with a woman who wore a size 26/28 and always dressed in pastel colored tops and the same type of black dressy pants. She had a million sweater sets and sweatshirts and all pastel, usually blue or lavender. That was like her "uniform" and now that she has lost a large amount of weight I've seen her wearing a much more modern palette of browns, greys, orange, green, etc and she just looks so much younger despite more wrinkles on her face.

My fiance (now 32) weighed between 350-400 lb when he was 18-22 years old. He shopped exclusively at Big & Tall Men's stores that (especially back then) carried frumpy-man clothes, business type shirts and old man jeans. That's what he wore. He also had (and stlll has) a mustache and full beard. As a result he was constantly hit on by 40-50 yr old women who thought he was around their age. I'm dead serious. Once he hit 25 and had gotten down to his current weight of 225 lb he was wearing mostly athletic style clothing, brands like Patagonia, North Face, and a few skate brands. The older ladies stopped hitting on him and he was carded for alcohol for the first time(s) in his life. I really think the clothes were the biggest part of that.