Anyone 40+ Who have lost a significant amount of weight. Did UR Face age10 years overnight?

I'm 49, been overweight my whole life. I am determined to lose the weight this time but I must admit I am worried about this. My face is plump and wrinkle free. I think its already started. The bags under my eyes have mostly deflated and now I have about a half inch patch of several wrinkles under each eye. Great.

I lost a bunch of weight at 44-45, and found I looked younger afterwards. My work cleaning person who says everything that comes into her head remarked on it too. (I didn't get super lean, but BMI 21-22.)

Some others have said they initially had "diet fact" but it went away after a while.

My face looked worse at goal - somewhat haggard and droopy. (Dunno about looking older, I'm not a youth-seeker appearance-wise, so didn't much think about that). Facial appearance improved over several months, in maintenance.

If you go over to the Success Stories area and look at before/after photo threads, most common comment is that people look younger, including even 40+.

Give it some time at goal, before fretting . . . and if there's slow improvement, it may not be entirely due to beauty products.

As an aside, I'm quite certain I move more like a younger person, now that I'm slim instead of obese - more nimble, less lumbering. That's something that can contribute to others' overall impression of our age.

ETA: I didn't look ten years older at goal, for sure.

P.S. Personally, I think that Daily Mail article is significantly over-dramatizing. They're doing that thing where they compare well-photoshopped photos with friendly lighting to photos under much worse conditions.

I did a recent free "head shots" session with a friend who's working toward being a professional photographer, and who wanted friendly, honest practice people. I saw variations in my photos on the very same day (just the photos, no edits) - major differences depending on angles and lighting . . . in a studio, where he was trying for good results in all of them and he's already not terrible at this. Then we played with some rough Photoshop edits: Also big changes.

I also saw examples from some of his other volunteer subjects, some of whom actually had wider variation in their photos than I saw in mine. (He wasn't being critical of people or otherwise inappropriate, BTW: He and I share interest in photo editing and technical tools, though we use them in very different ways, so it was that kind of technical discussion, where he was explaining how his usage works.)

So, the celebrity photos in particular, but also some of the "regular people" ones are showing some of that same kind of variation: Harsh lighting from certain angles makes people look worse, facial expression matters, etc. The Daily Mail is fanning the flames for clickbait.

OP, I'm not referring to you in this next bit, not at all (I don't know you), but rather to people whom I know in real life:

I've known some women who are critical of others who, in their opinion, "don't take care of themselves, so look older" (mostly referring to makeup, dyeing hair, clothing choices) . . . but don't themselves do the things that actually work to make a person effectively physically younger in health markers, i.e., sensible exercise, well-rounded nutrition, healthy weight, adequate hydration. Some even still smoke, pursue tanning, and don't moderate alcohol. I don't know what makes them think that those things make no difference, especially when I compare them to slim, active, healthy-eating women of our mutual age who do do the hair/make-up dress stuff besides, who tend to look 10-20+ years younger. Some is genetics, of course, but not all. Our culture is weird, sometimes, IMO.

At one time I knew how to resize pictures but I have forgotten because I do not post them enough.

Yer I looked older. I am older. I’m fitter though and my body feels better than when I was overweight. Plus I’m bloody stronger than most women half my age

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I've known some women who are critical of others who, in their opinion, "don't take care of themselves, so look older" (mostly referring to makeup, dyeing hair, clothing choices) . . . but don't themselves do the things that actually work to make a person effectively physically younger in health markers, i.e., sensible exercise, well-rounded nutrition, healthy weight, adequate hydration. Some even still smoke, pursue tanning, and don't moderate alcohol. I don't know what makes them think that those things make no difference, especially when I compare them to slim, active, healthy-eating women of our mutual age who do do the hair/make-up dress stuff besides, who tend to look 10-20+ years younger. Some is genetics, of course, but not all. Our culture is weird, sometimes, IMO.

@AnnPT77 can I hit ALL the buttons (except disagree?)!!!!

I haven’t worn makeup in years. Half the time I forget to brush my hair. (It’s super short so I just run my fingers through it. ) For several years the only appearance thing I did do was color my hair pink and purple. It just pleased me to do so. I’ve been a pariah in my affluent neighborhood, with one neighbor condescendingly referring to me as “tacky”. For heavens sake. Some of these heavy drinking, often overweight, over tanned, perfectly made up and coiffed women are pushing 60, and still act like “Mean Girls” in high school.

With the weight loss, I still don’t do makeup or worry about my hair but I dress a darn sight better and life is very different. And you know what? The Mean Girls are still the Mean Girls, but at this point I just laugh at them behind a my hand.

Back to OT, my face has become gaunt and my neck stringy. I call it “cadaver face”. Yet, when I look at (very) old photos of myself, it’s just the same face, but aged. I think this is how I would have ended up anyway, even without the thirty year intermission of obesity.

I think we are unnecessarily hard on ourselves, and beat ourselves up over the size of our belly roll, the angle of our butts and shape of boobs, all the way up to the turkey neck lines and wrinkles on our face. We are never satisfied. Society pushes us to be bigger better stronger smaller thinner blonder prettier leggier smoother lifted-er you name it versions of ourself. And why? So people can make money off of us. It’s as simple as that when it comes down to it.

When you can look at your face in the mirror, smile at it and be satisfied with it, you’ve really accomplished a grand goal you didn’t even realize you had.

I love me. There. I said it out loud for the first time. You try it. It feels GREAT.

I love me and I don’t give a *kitten* what you you and you think about me. It’s not your right, and it’s not your business.

Yep. Looked like a grandma over night. Boobs were the first to go.