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Lose weight = looking older??
LivingtheLeanDream
Posts: 13,342 Member
Hi all,
I have to say I think I look older now than when I was heavier, less fat to puff out the wrinkles I suppose! (I'm 49). I choose being slim and healthy so if a side effect is looking a bit older that's just how it has to be.
I have noticed from the majority of the before/after photos hardly anyone looks younger with weight off (unless they are young of course!).
Anyway, just putting this out there for opinions/thoughts.
Ruth
I have to say I think I look older now than when I was heavier, less fat to puff out the wrinkles I suppose! (I'm 49). I choose being slim and healthy so if a side effect is looking a bit older that's just how it has to be.
I have noticed from the majority of the before/after photos hardly anyone looks younger with weight off (unless they are young of course!).
Anyway, just putting this out there for opinions/thoughts.
Ruth
34
Replies
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When I went to my last HS reunion (I'm 62) the leaner class members looked younger than the heavier ones. Didn't notice if the leaner ones had more wrinkles, but did notice (and felt sad for) the heavier ones with canes, oxygen tanks, couldn't make it up a short flight of stairs without wheezing, etc. That stuff really makes one look older IMO.61
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Good point! @Packerjohn3
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IDk if I look older now. I can say I look thinner in the face (that's what most people see of me) since I have no frog throat and an actual jaw line. I do have wrinkles from the loose skin. I was obese for about 38 years, overweight for maybe 5, and a "normal" weight for 3. I think losing weight when you're younger really affects how you look after the weight loss due to collagen and other sciencey stuff.9
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Many people look older in the face after losing a lot of weight. Yes, fat hides wrinkles. I have the worst turkey neck since losing, and it's both aging and disappointing. I worked very, very hard to eliminate my hated double chin, and it turned to turkey neck! I am very self- conscious about it, and try to hide it when a camera is around. Having said that, my body looks younger. I guess we take the bad with the good, as always.35
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i think i do look older, but that's kind of a good thing. When my face was a bit rounder people would often mistake me for being like 15 or 16 (i'm 25!) and I hated it. Example: one morning I was out walking and a cop pulled up to me in his squad car, rolled down the window and asked me why I wasn't in school. I told him I'd actually just graduated with my bachelor's degree and wasn't planning to return to HS anytime soon
. He apologized and drove off lol
I think I look closer to my actual age now. I mean, I do still get carded every single time i go to buy alcohol, but I'm used to it.
Embrace looking younger than your years, it wont always be the case (I know that from experience) so enjoy it
10 -
queenoscots wrote: »Many people look older in the face after losing a lot of weight. Yes, fat hides wrinkles. I have the worst turkey neck since losing, and it's both aging and disappointing. I worked very, very hard to eliminate my hated double chin, and it turned to turkey neck! I am very self- conscious about it, and try to hide it when a camera is around. Having said that, my body looks younger. I guess we take the bad with the good, as always.
Don't get me started on turkey neck, that's the worst part for me
but the upside is, no double chin eh 
7 -
Yep.1
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I lost age as I lost weight. On average about 10 years for every 10kg lost. At 33, I looked about as old as my then 53 year old (and very bitter) cousin. Now, people keep on trying to tell me I'm 25-28 at most (makes for some interesting conversations since I'm 37 now). I don't see it in my mirror (I happen to think that I look my age).
I wonder how my age-weight ratio will change as I lose more.8 -
LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »i think i do look older, but that's kind of a good thing. When my face was a bit rounder people would often mistake me for being like 15 or 16 (i'm 25!) and I hated it. Example: one morning I was out walking and a cop pulled up to me in his squad car, rolled down the window and asked me why I wasn't in school. I told him I'd actually just graduated with my bachelor's degree and wasn't planning to return to HS anytime soon . He apologized and drove off lol
I think I look closer to my actual age now. I mean, I do still get carded every single time i go to buy alcohol, but I'm used to it.
Embrace looking younger than your years, it wont always be the case (I know that from experience) so enjoy it
Turtlenecks.
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LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »i think i do look older, but that's kind of a good thing. When my face was a bit rounder people would often mistake me for being like 15 or 16 (i'm 25!) and I hated it. Example: one morning I was out walking and a cop pulled up to me in his squad car, rolled down the window and asked me why I wasn't in school. I told him I'd actually just graduated with my bachelor's degree and wasn't planning to return to HS anytime soon . He apologized and drove off lol
I think I look closer to my actual age now. I mean, I do still get carded every single time i go to buy alcohol, but I'm used to it.
Embrace looking younger than your years, it wont always be the case (I know that from experience) so enjoy it
While it can be annoying at times (I've had people not believe my ID is real). It's a great sense of amusement for me. I've always looked young. I just turned 44 and got asked for a hall pass at my daughter's high school twice this year. I just say thanks. 10 -
Some people do look older because of more pronounced wrinkles but I think that getting fit/losing weight causes a lot of people to carry themselves in a much younger way and that stands out more. Just like confidence makes many people that much more attractive.15
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LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »i think i do look older, but that's kind of a good thing. When my face was a bit rounder people would often mistake me for being like 15 or 16 (i'm 25!) and I hated it. Example: one morning I was out walking and a cop pulled up to me in his squad car, rolled down the window and asked me why I wasn't in school. I told him I'd actually just graduated with my bachelor's degree and wasn't planning to return to HS anytime soon . He apologized and drove off lol
I think I look closer to my actual age now. I mean, I do still get carded every single time i go to buy alcohol, but I'm used to it.
Embrace looking younger than your years, it wont always be the case (I know that from experience) so enjoy it
While it can be annoying at times (I've had people not believe my ID is real). It's a great sense of amusement for me. I've always looked young. I just turned 44 and got asked for a hall pass at my daughter's high school twice this year. I just say thanks.
Heck that is just fantastic! love it
When I was in my mid 40's and had not long reached maintenance I remember being on a cruise with my family and the waiters being gobsmacked that my husband and I had a grown up son - it was a good feeling in fact when we were 25 years married and on another cruise the maitre d exclaimed that I must have been a child bride...well I sort of was at 19! 6 -
LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »i think i do look older, but that's kind of a good thing. When my face was a bit rounder people would often mistake me for being like 15 or 16 (i'm 25!) and I hated it. Example: one morning I was out walking and a cop pulled up to me in his squad car, rolled down the window and asked me why I wasn't in school. I told him I'd actually just graduated with my bachelor's degree and wasn't planning to return to HS anytime soon . He apologized and drove off lol
I think I look closer to my actual age now. I mean, I do still get carded every single time i go to buy alcohol, but I'm used to it.
Embrace looking younger than your years, it wont always be the case (I know that from experience) so enjoy it
Turtlenecks.
LOL only thing is I am petite, have a short neck so turtlenecks make my neck look even shorter and my boobs too big 7 -
LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »i think i do look older, but that's kind of a good thing. When my face was a bit rounder people would often mistake me for being like 15 or 16 (i'm 25!) and I hated it. Example: one morning I was out walking and a cop pulled up to me in his squad car, rolled down the window and asked me why I wasn't in school. I told him I'd actually just graduated with my bachelor's degree and wasn't planning to return to HS anytime soon . He apologized and drove off lol
I think I look closer to my actual age now. I mean, I do still get carded every single time i go to buy alcohol, but I'm used to it.
Embrace looking younger than your years, it wont always be the case (I know that from experience) so enjoy it
While it can be annoying at times (I've had people not believe my ID is real). It's a great sense of amusement for me. I've always looked young. I just turned 44 and got asked for a hall pass at my daughter's high school twice this year. I just say thanks.
Heck that is just fantastic! love it
When I was in my mid 40's and had not long reached maintenance I remember being on a cruise with my family and the waiters being gobsmacked that my husband and I had a grown up son - it was a good feeling in fact when we were 25 years married and on another cruise the maitre d exclaimed that I must have been a child bride...well I sort of was at 19!
Awesome! I could fill up a thread with stories like these. When I was 26 I looked 14, was married and had a newborn...oh the comments!
But I won't derail the thread.4 -
LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »i think i do look older, but that's kind of a good thing. When my face was a bit rounder people would often mistake me for being like 15 or 16 (i'm 25!) and I hated it. Example: one morning I was out walking and a cop pulled up to me in his squad car, rolled down the window and asked me why I wasn't in school. I told him I'd actually just graduated with my bachelor's degree and wasn't planning to return to HS anytime soon . He apologized and drove off lol
I think I look closer to my actual age now. I mean, I do still get carded every single time i go to buy alcohol, but I'm used to it.
Embrace looking younger than your years, it wont always be the case (I know that from experience) so enjoy it
While it can be annoying at times (I've had people not believe my ID is real). It's a great sense of amusement for me. I've always looked young. I just turned 44 and got asked for a hall pass at my daughter's high school twice this year. I just say thanks.
Heck that is just fantastic! love it
When I was in my mid 40's and had not long reached maintenance I remember being on a cruise with my family and the waiters being gobsmacked that my husband and I had a grown up son - it was a good feeling in fact when we were 25 years married and on another cruise the maitre d exclaimed that I must have been a child bride...well I sort of was at 19!
Awesome! I could fill up a thread with stories like these. When I was 26 I looked 14, was married and had a newborn...oh the comments!
But I won't derail the thread.
It is an idea for a new thread as the OP I don't mind this thread being derailed. 4 -
Just like everything else, I think it's case-by-case because there are SO many pics on the "Success" thread where the "after" picture looks vastly younger than the "before".12
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I think I maybe look older, but more as a result of a bit of sagging residual loose skin (or loose skin with some subcutaneous fat) on my face. My neck looks a little stringier, but I don't know whether it counts as turkey neck or not . . . in any case, I don't think it looks worse than the double chins did, just different.
What matters more to me is that I feel much younger, feel more like myself somehow, joints hurt less (and less frequently), I can do more, and I think I move in a younger way than when I was obese. I had been starting to walk with that side-to-side rocking motion you see in heavy older women, and now I have a regular walk with more hip mobility, more scamper-y, even.
I'm 62, if that matters - was 59-60 when I lost 50ish pounds, now maintaining.
In the "Photo Only Success Stories" thread, I think most people look younger in their after photos.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1167854/photo-only-success-stories11 -
LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »Hi all,
I have to say I think I look older now than when I was heavier, less fat to puff out the wrinkles I suppose! (I'm 49). I choose being slim and healthy so if a side effect is looking a bit older that's just how it has to be.
I have noticed from the majority of the before/after photos hardly anyone looks younger with weight off (unless they are young of course!).
Anyway, just putting this out there for opinions/thoughts.
Ruth
I know I looked older so I grew a beard to keep down the remarks about my hollow looking face. Over the last few months I have let it grow at the request of my daughter due to Christmas season coming. Now the wife states I look 10 years older than ever. Pleasing all the women all of the time is not my forte it seems.
Health comes first over looks in my book. I never want my fat jaws back.21 -
I always thought it was the opposite! Also, realize that we all see 'flaws' in ourselves that are literally invisible to other (not that age is a flaw at all!). I'd bet anything that other people think you look younger now and not older!6
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I look dramatically older but feel dramatically younger after losing over 70 lb. At 71, I'm happy to choose function over form.21
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spinnerdell wrote: »I look dramatically older but feel dramatically younger after losing over 70 lb. At 71, I'm happy to choose function over form.
Feeling younger is definately an added bonus and you're right, function over form wins for me too. 7 -
even with a 20 lbs weight loss i KNOW i look older. and it doesn't matter to me anyway because i AM old!
my friends who smoke *ugh* look way older than me tho...9 -
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This is the main thing that worries me about losing weight. I really, really don't want to look older. I don't have lines, I don't have wrinkles, and I like it that way.
You know what I've noticed, though? The people I know who have lost a huge amount of weight, the vast majority of them don't look older for it. They look younger. If I were to get out a magnifying glass and search for lines and wrinkles, maybe they do have more - but I don't notice them, because the *overall* person looks younger.
I only know one exception, and she lost weight VERY quickly by basically not eating, which is all sorts of bad and not just for your face. So I'd say overall, most people probably look younger at the end of things. 11 -
I think when we see a slim person, we see them as a whole, not just the face and the overall image is youthful because we equate being young with being healthy, fit and trim.
@Floatingpencil noone wants wrinkles, they have a way of sneaking up on us. I think genetics also play a part in how our faces age, you might be one of the lucky ones . 5 -
I've always thought most people look a bit younger after losing weight because they look more energetic and happy. People often update their clothes or hairstyle after weight loss which probably helps them look a bit younger too.12
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It really depends on the person. If you have a naturally full/chubby face then losing weight will probably make you look younger... I think because most people gain weight as they age so if you see someone thin their body looks more like a younger person's. People with naturally thin face can get craggy/wrinkly/too pointy when they lose weight.
Sometimes a few pounds makes a big difference. My younger sister has always been at a pretty good/healthy weight. A few years ago she lost about 10 pounds and looked much older. She gained the weight back and looked younger again.7 -
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