wrinkles

maggiepz

Not sure what board this should go on but I know it will sound vain but when you are older and you lose all that fat is your face a lot more wrinkly? I know skin sags and some will bounce back by some stays saggy.

I will be 64yo next month. Whenever I am out with my grandchildren everyone thinks I am their mother, not their grandmother because I have few wrinkles. SIGH. I know it's more important to be a healthy weight than show wrinkles but as I have been morbidly obese for ~35+ years, I often don't get many compliments about my looks so those compliments have meant a lot to my self image.

I have 51 pounds to go to be at the upper end of my ideal weight. I am reading about people getting comments that their face looks gaunt when they get to ideal weight. I won't have all that fat any longer to fill in those age related wrinkles either.

Anyway it's more important to live 10yrs longer than look 10yrs older but does anyone have any tips on how to keep your skin healthier to be able to bounce skin back better?

I am eating pretty healthy, taking vitamins and using coconut oil to moisturize my face. I try to remember to dry brushing my body at least once a week. I have to step up and do that more often.

There's lots of stuff on the internet but you never know which tips are bogus. Anyone have any real-life experience?

Again I apologize for my vanity

missysippy930

No tips, but congratulations on your success. I’ll be 69 on Wednesday and have lost a lot of weight. I too have good genes and few wrinkles. It’s really not much of a concern for me though. I feel so much better and can get around so much much easier that, for me, that’s enough. I do use moisturizer, but only around my eyes and mouth where my skin gets really dry, and that’s mainly for comfort as dry skin feels tight to me. It sounds like you’re taking precautions for smoother skin. I understand the gaunt look worry, I’ve gotten a couple of those comments, but it is a big change, especially for people that haven’t seen me for a while. The positive comments still out number any perceived negative ones.

Maybe someone with more of a helpful regiment will be able to give you better advice. Keep taking care of your skin, and good luck getting to your goal!

maggiepz

Thanks. Maybe it is more of getting used to the change. Even if my wrinkles do show more I know I will feel so much better.

snowflake954

You know, when losing weight some people lose a lot in their face first. With time it tends to even out and your face will fill out a little. This is genetic too. You might want to do a slow weight loss which will give your skin time to compensate. I'm 65 and feel your concern, although I'm happier to be able to increase my flexibility, and overall fitness. I'm not worrying about the rest as much as before. Priorities change.

cmriverside

I lost 80 pounds. The first 65 I lost in about eight months. I was mid fifties. I definitely looked different and the sagging skin was a real thing. Not wrinkles, though

But.

I felt so much better, and the skin does continue to tighten up. I mean, face wrinkles are face wrinkles and really sun exposure is the big culprit there.

It took about two years for my looser skin on my body to tighten up. I'm very happy with the results.

Another thing to consider is that it took my brain a long time to catch up to how I really looked. It seems to be a common thing that people can't quite "see" themselves as they are after significant weight loss.

I wouldn't change a thing. Every day I'm grateful to have learned how to be a healthy weight. I have so much energy and feel so much better.

springlering62

Exactly my experience @cmriverside

I’m 58, have lost 90 pounds in past two years. During weight loss, fat shifts around like some kind of alien morph. When it “leaves” and moves on to the next spot, it leaves wrinkles, marks where the rolls (TMI, ya?) used to be, one side may even be a bit lopsided for a while.

Remember that stupid Stretch Armstrong toy? Sometimes I felt like that. Squeeze here. Bulge there. But it diminishes with time and weight loss.

Even two years in, if I get very dehydrated like I was yesterday, I’ll suddenly get a network of very fine wrinkles on arms, legs, probably elsewhere I can’t see. Drinking a lot of water helps plump those suckers reasonably smooth again. It’s like giving water to a drooping plant!

Things will smooth out with time.

Even the turkey neck wattle is dissipating.

And, hey, I’d much rather trade a few lines for ten more years with my grandkids. If and when. *sigh*. Lucky you!

zebasschick

not wrinkly in my case, but my face sags more. when i lost weight the first time, cashiers at restaurants started offering me senior discounts, which never happened before and didn't happen after i put part of the weight back on.

AnnPT77

I'm 64, lost 50+ pounds at age 59-60. I didn't have materially more fine facial wrinkles even right after weight loss, but did have a bit more droopiness. Much of that has improved with time. For the rest, I don't know that I look much different facially than I would've if I'd never been fat: I resemble some older family members (dad, his mother) at similar age, in my facial configuration, and they weren't obese as I was.

As others have said, don't worry if things look worse along the way, or even at goal weight. When we reach goal, we've had our bodies under the stress of weight loss for a prolonged period. It may show. I believe my face looked better (based on feedback from people who know me, whom I trust) after just a few months at my goal weight, from glycogen replenishment and skin shrinkage, I presume: Less droopy. less gaunt, less haggard. (I'm making it sound like I looked terribly zombie=esque at goal, which is not the case IMO!)

Beyond that, skin is an organ. The things that keep other organs healthy will also tend to keep skin healthy, which means more willing to look good. These include:

* avoiding fast loss (because it's a physical stress to lose fast),
* getting good well-rounded nutrition (macros and micros, especially but not exclusively protein),
* getting regular exercise (both cardiovascular and strength),
* managing all-source life stress,
* hydrating adequately (not crazy much, but enough),
* avoiding smoking and excessive alcohol,
* specific to skin, also avoiding tanning.

People will say all kinds of things about creams, dry-brushing, facial exercises, etc., but personally I'm inclined to think those are mainly ways to pass the time while skin does pretty much what it was going to do anyway. Help a little? Maybe. Big help? I doubt it. But it can feel good to feel like we're doing *something*.

It's not age specific, but there's a thread over in Success Stories with before and after face pictures. A common comment over there is that people look *younger* at a lighter weight. You might want to browse through it if/as you have time: There are some people in there our age (including me 😉), even though most are younger.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10207059/before-and-after-face-edition