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"Diet Face" - should we choose face over body or vice versa?
Replies
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No contest; I would choose to have diet face over diet body.
Face makeup, including contouring, is a thing and easy (comparatively speaking) if I ever reach the point where I feel I had to do something nonsurgical about it. Full body makeup and where the excess skin hangs out...eh, not so much. And I haaaaaate compression "shapewear" with the energy of a thousand suns. Tried it once and I will never voluntarily pay for that kind of torture again. Ever.
When it comes to surgery, face and neck are going to be way cheaper than body from clavicles to patellas. As a result, the much more likely of the two to be financially feasible in my life. Unfortunately for me, it is beginning to look a lot like I am going to end up with diet body > diet face in terms of the skin ravages secondary to chronic obesity even though I started with less than 100 lbs. to lose.![:\](https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/resources/emoji/confused.png ":\")
Granted, not much less than 100 lbs., but I admittedly blithely hoped it was the magic number. Kinda like the body modification rule of thumb lore that anything smaller than aught (0) gauge - 8mm - stretch of the ear lobes will shrink back to relatively normal if the plugs/tunnels/etc. are removed. I stopped stretching at 2 gauge (6mm) and can attest no daylight is seen through my lobes if the tunnels are out for more than 3-4 days or so. So the logic went if the ear lobe one is true, ergo...
Finally, I would prefer a SO to have diet face over diet body as well. For the exact same reasons.
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goldthistime wrote: »For those suspicious that diet face isn’t a thing, here’s a pic I snapped where my face looks like a deflated balloon.
Did you lose a very substantial amount?
I lost over 100 pounds, and while I have loose skin, I don't think I really have any in the face - the neck is the closest to it.0 -
My weight gain added years to me. I look way younger now than I did 6 or 7 years ago at my heaviest. I have a natural dark hollowness under my eyes, always have, but when I was heavier it just stood out. No amount of make-up could fix it. I was just plain unattractive. Recently I've had a few people comment that they thought I was younger than I am. It felt good. And men look at me again where they had completely stopped even glancing my way. So I don't have diet face, but I do have diet body. Saggy loose skin. Empty sacks which once held breasts. But I will take a healthy heart, and a fit body over the way it actually looks any day.14
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I've yet to reach a point where my face did not look better when thinner. I've never been super lean, but that's true for around BMI 22 (vs BMI 26, say), so I guess I'd pick face over body in that if BMI 20 affected my face I'd be fine being less lean.
Other goals, like running, might change the equation, but not just being leaner on its own.1 -
magnusthenerd wrote: »goldthistime wrote: »For those suspicious that diet face isn’t a thing, here’s a pic I snapped where my face looks like a deflated balloon.
Did you lose a very substantial amount?
I lost over 100 pounds, and while I have loose skin, I don't think I really have any in the face - the neck is the closest to it.
I’ve lost 39 lbs to date. I’m 58, so that’s probably a factor.
But my version of “diet face” isn’t the same as what I’ve seen in others. Although I’ve seen it mostly at the gym, it could be “steroid face” for all I know. Kind of a flatness in the upper part of the face, and deep lines when they smile. I’d happily trade my version for that version.
I don’t really have “diet body” as @grinning_chick phrased it. No stretch marks or hanging skin (besides my face), at least not more than most 58 year olds.0 -
goldthistime wrote: »magnusthenerd wrote: »goldthistime wrote: »For those suspicious that diet face isn’t a thing, here’s a pic I snapped where my face looks like a deflated balloon.
Did you lose a very substantial amount?
I lost over 100 pounds, and while I have loose skin, I don't think I really have any in the face - the neck is the closest to it.
I’ve lost 39 lbs to date. I’m 58, so that’s probably a factor.
But my version of “diet face” isn’t the same as what I’ve seen in others. Although I’ve seen it mostly at the gym, it could be “steroid face” for all I know. Kind of a flatness in the upper part of the face, and deep lines when they smile. I’d happily trade my version for that version.
I don’t really have “diet body” as @grinning_chick phrased it. No stretch marks or hanging skin (besides my face), at least not more than most 58 year olds.
Or smoking face or tanning face or smoking in the sun face or bad genetics face or just plain old face...5 -
A woman at my gym who is in her mid-30s competed in a bikini bodybuilding competition last year. I saw pics of her at the event and while her body looked incredible her face was shocking. She looked like she was in her 60s with terminal cancer. She had lost all the fat in her face and looked old, haggard and wrinkled. So yeah, “diet face” is a thing.4
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Body building competitors are in a whole different category than the rest of us mortals. I mean I don’t typically shave every hair on my body and paint myself in tan on top of a crazy restrictive diet + gaming my hydration levels. I watched a coworker train for a competition and she was mentally and physically exhausted by the end, that’s not going to be a good look on anyone.5
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Like what I call the Tom Platz smile?goldthistime wrote: »magnusthenerd wrote: »goldthistime wrote: »For those suspicious that diet face isn’t a thing, here’s a pic I snapped where my face looks like a deflated balloon.
Did you lose a very substantial amount?
I lost over 100 pounds, and while I have loose skin, I don't think I really have any in the face - the neck is the closest to it.
I’ve lost 39 lbs to date. I’m 58, so that’s probably a factor.
But my version of “diet face” isn’t the same as what I’ve seen in others. Although I’ve seen it mostly at the gym, it could be “steroid face” for all I know. Kind of a flatness in the upper part of the face, and deep lines when they smile. I’d happily trade my version for that version.
I don’t really have “diet body” as @grinning_chick phrased it. No stretch marks or hanging skin (besides my face), at least not more than most 58 year olds.
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I have big puffy cheeks no matter what. At my highest weight, my face was very round and it has decreased as I've lost weight. But, my dang cheeks, especially when I smile and my dimples come out. They're so pronounced that a friend once said she could stick a cheerio in one, haha. I didn't know "diet face" was a thing. I would like my face to be much less round when I smile, since your face is typically the most prominent part of you in photos. But I don't think I'm ever going to have a not-puffy face no matter how much more I lose
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Black & white photo... definite diet face
Pink shirt... not so much 😂1 -
I couldn't find a better example on this computer but yeah...I think my face and definitely my neck looked more "diet facey" at 180-ish (pink sweater) than 4 years later in the 160s (black cardigan)...
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Body, of course!!
And I prefer my face when it is more gaunt than plump.6 -
One of my husband's friends claimed that a gain of half a pound a year after age 40 would fill in all the wrinkles and keep you looking young. I figure at my current age and weight I could get well into my 90s before actually becoming overweight.
But seriously, I know it has been said that after a certain age, people (specifically women) have to choose between their tush or their face looking good. At 50 I know that when I am at the weight and body fat where I feel most confident in a bikini, my face does tend to look a little gaunt. I haven't given into Botox or fillers yet (and I may be the only woman in my neighborhood over 35 who hasn't) but I think I would rather use cosmetic procedures to plump up my skin, than gain enough weight to bring back the chubby cheeks of my youth.1 -
If I were so unhappy with my face due to weight lose I'd save up for a face lift. The cost in the long run is much greater when you're fat over being skinny with a face skin issues that could be improved with a face lift.2
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So I guess that what I'm embarrassed about most when I gain weight is actually a blessing. If I gain 10 lbs, it all goes to my face first. And I'm not kidding. It's insidious. I don't even need to get on a scale, though I do. My wife is the opposite. She can gain 20 and her face looks the same. No weight gain.0
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MikePfirrman wrote: »So I guess that what I'm embarrassed about most when I gain weight is actually a blessing. If I gain 10 lbs, it all goes to my face first. And I'm not kidding. It's insidious. I don't even need to get on a scale, though I do. My wife is the opposite. She can gain 20 and her face looks the same. No weight gain.
I get the face gains pretty early too. I still pretty much get recognized 60lbs lighter because so little has come off my face (I got rid of a lot of chin fat, fortunately, but I still definitely carry more than many women with my stats).1 -
I always show weight gain in my face too. The curse of chubby cheeks! I've been forever envious of people who could carry some extra weight yet still look exactly the same in the face. That is so not me.MikePfirrman wrote: »So I guess that what I'm embarrassed about most when I gain weight is actually a blessing. If I gain 10 lbs, it all goes to my face first. And I'm not kidding. It's insidious. I don't even need to get on a scale, though I do. My wife is the opposite. She can gain 20 and her face looks the same. No weight gain.1 -
RelCanonical wrote: »MikePfirrman wrote: »So I guess that what I'm embarrassed about most when I gain weight is actually a blessing. If I gain 10 lbs, it all goes to my face first. And I'm not kidding. It's insidious. I don't even need to get on a scale, though I do. My wife is the opposite. She can gain 20 and her face looks the same. No weight gain.
I get the face gains pretty early too. I still pretty much get recognized 60lbs lighter because so little has come off my face (I got rid of a lot of chin fat, fortunately, but I still definitely carry more than many women with my stats).
Still twinning, I see.0 -
Hmmm... I went from super skinny to super fluffy to relatively buff. My face went from gaunt (which was the "normal" for me) to puffy and round to thinner but fuller than my skinny face.
I wouldn't call my initial facial appearance "diet face" because it's the facial shape I had most of my life as I was pretty skinny most of my life. Perhaps that "gaunt" look is just something you aren't used to seeing and is normal for a person at a lower body weight/body fat percentage?1 -
My whole life spent overweight, I received many complements about my youthful skin/face (and wasn't that nice of people to find something about my appearance to compliment me on?
) About halfway to goal, I suddenly looked my age. I suspect at goal this would bother me less, but in that in-between stage, I still had a flabby body and I lost my youthful look.
I've run into friends from high school who are slim and fit (always were), and was shocked by how old they looked (my husband has commented on this as well). I am a low-maintenance woman and have never been vain. I will always prioritize health and comfort over looks (when I was a teenager, I came to school in the winter in a heavy storm coat & hat while other girls seemed bent on looking cool and not messing up their hair), but I will admit, it bothers me more than I would like. 1 -
I always show weight gain in my face too. The curse of chubby cheeks! I've been forever envious of people who could carry some extra weight yet still look exactly the same in the face. That is so not me.MikePfirrman wrote: »So I guess that what I'm embarrassed about most when I gain weight is actually a blessing. If I gain 10 lbs, it all goes to my face first. And I'm not kidding. It's insidious. I don't even need to get on a scale, though I do. My wife is the opposite. She can gain 20 and her face looks the same. No weight gain.
Either the chubby cheeks or no change might be an improvement: At my age, with my face, I get a bit bulldog-jowly for a while after big loss.
Yes, I did comment earlier that my face filled back out, and it did, very materially, and some of the droop improved. Judging from photos of close relatives who were always thin, I look about how I'd expect to look at 64.jseams1234 wrote: »Hmmm... I went from super skinny to super fluffy to relatively buff. My face went from gaunt (which was the "normal" for me) to puffy and round to thinner but fuller than my skinny face.
I wouldn't call my initial facial appearance "diet face" because it's the facial shape I had most of my life as I was pretty skinny most of my life. Perhaps that "gaunt" look is just something you aren't used to seeing and is normal for a person at a lower body weight/body fat percentage?
I think that's part of it, but as others observed (and I believe even offered illustrative photos earlier in the thread), I think for some of us there is some temporary (we hope) post-diet effect when glycogen is still low, skin shrinkage hasn't yet had a chance to catch up with fat loss, and that sort of thing. That, if it happens, can improve.1 -
I'm hoping as I get older, these chubby cheeks will finally work to my advantage
I always show weight gain in my face too. The curse of chubby cheeks! I've been forever envious of people who could carry some extra weight yet still look exactly the same in the face. That is so not me.MikePfirrman wrote: »So I guess that what I'm embarrassed about most when I gain weight is actually a blessing. If I gain 10 lbs, it all goes to my face first. And I'm not kidding. It's insidious. I don't even need to get on a scale, though I do. My wife is the opposite. She can gain 20 and her face looks the same. No weight gain.
Either the chubby cheeks or no change might be an improvement: At my age, with my face, I get a bit bulldog-jowly for a while after big loss.
Yes, I did comment earlier that my face filled back out, and it did, very materially, and some of the droop improved. Judging from photos of close relatives who were always thin, I look about how I'd expect to look at 64.jseams1234 wrote: »Hmmm... I went from super skinny to super fluffy to relatively buff. My face went from gaunt (which was the "normal" for me) to puffy and round to thinner but fuller than my skinny face.
I wouldn't call my initial facial appearance "diet face" because it's the facial shape I had most of my life as I was pretty skinny most of my life. Perhaps that "gaunt" look is just something you aren't used to seeing and is normal for a person at a lower body weight/body fat percentage?
I think that's part of it, but as others observed (and I believe even offered illustrative photos earlier in the thread), I think for some of us there is some temporary (we hope) post-diet effect when glycogen is still low, skin shrinkage hasn't yet had a chance to catch up with fat loss, and that sort of thing. That, if it happens, can improve. I'm 40 and feel like I look my age. I'm settling into middle age and don't expect to look 18 any more. I do have a bit of neck flab that I'm still hoping will improve post-weight-loss, but overall not too bad. 0 -
Back in HS when I was in my best shape (I was on the high side of normal weight for my height, but well within the range and a healthy BMI) my face was very long and narrow. I did still think it looked nice, got many compliments too, but I did not feel quite as...feminine, perhaps. A decade out I'm in the overweight BMI range, but I do like the shape of my face better. As I work to get back into shape, if I lose the look of it now, so be it. I'd rather be in shape overall and be less happy with how my face looks.0
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Diet face is better than puffy eyes/hidden cheekbones! (At my heaviest, I always looked like I'd been crying, my eyes were so puffy.) The skin may tighten up a bit over time. If not, I'll go see my daughter's plastics/reconstructive guy. They can do amazing things these days.3
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Hmm I look younger when I lose weight. An extra 20 lbs ages me because it pulls down my face and makes it look droopy.1
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Heart/mind over body/face any day.2
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As someone who’s always been told I have an attractive face, let me tell you it does you no good when you feel like crap about your body.1
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I guess I would choose to have a pretty face and an "okay" body. There were huge changes to my face when I lost weight (see profile pic). At my lowest weight I was happy with my body, but happier with my face. I guess I'll work on them both. 0
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