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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

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Original poster

To think when you get to a certain age, you have to choose between your figure or your face as you can't have both

127 replies

Shutupanddrive · 07/06/2012 22:08

Someone told me this the other day, it had never occurred to me before. So basically if you keep your figure, your face looks a bit haggard. Or if you have a bit more weight on your body, your face looks better. Is this true? So which one will you be/are? Or Aibu?

OP posts:

marriedinwhite · 07/06/2012 22:09

Smiles graciously and pats tummy.

OliverCromwellLivesOn · 07/06/2012 22:09

No, it's an excuse used by the overweight of middling years

timetosmile · 07/06/2012 22:11

I still have both a face and a figure though neither are what they were when I was 21

supernannyisace · 07/06/2012 22:11

ha ha ha!!

Will let you know when I shift a stone or so!

There may be some truth in it though - as a few years ago I was v thin, and my face looked much older.

DoesItComeInBlack · 07/06/2012 22:12

I've worried about this, currently need to loose a bit of weight, but have no wrinkles and have become concerned that if I lose the stone will I gain crows feet. I hope not!!!!

motherinferior · 07/06/2012 22:12

It's the saying 'your face or your arse' and really it's not so much 'keeping your figure' as 'starving yourself'. If you're really thin, you may end up looking a bit gaunt.

I do not look gaunt .

(I am a size 10, btw, if you were wondering.)

TalHotBlond · 07/06/2012 22:12

I've heard this too and have decided to save my figure so I can at least buy nice clothes. Have abandoned all hope for my face aged 26 and knackered.

Original poster

Shutupanddrive · 07/06/2012 22:13

But then I have seen people in magazines etc that have lost a lot of weight (trying to get some inspiration) and they always look much younger when they have lost weight. Maybe there is a fine line

OP posts:

GitAwfMayLend · 07/06/2012 22:13

I think it's a load of old bollocks.

If you are good looking, you will look good whatever your weight.

If you are plain, your face is going to look more like a bag of spanners as you age.

I am never going to be a beauty, so I may as well be slim.

GitAwfMayLend · 07/06/2012 22:14

It's a cynical way of saying to women 'whatever you do, you're fucked'

everlong · 07/06/2012 22:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

carabos · 07/06/2012 22:25

I've been having a similar debate with DH this very evening.

I have been on a fitness campaign since Xmas (fitness rather than weight loss as I am not overweight). In the gym tonight I looked in the mirror and thought that I have gone from slim but flabby IYSWIM, to scrawny, without a pause at slim but toned in between .

Face looks as gorgeous as normal though. .

ivykaty44 · 07/06/2012 22:25

no, it is a myth made up by men

marriedinwhite · 07/06/2012 22:28

Going up now. Will ask DH if he's still awake.

exoticfruits · 07/06/2012 22:28

It is just an excuse not to lose weight.

NurseBernard · 07/06/2012 22:29

Yeah, it's just a way of saying you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

My face is one of the first areas to bloat if I gain weight, so I need to keep the weight off for my face as much as for my whole figure.

The more weight I carry on my face, the older I look, so it's no competition for me - be slim for my face and and my arse.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 07/06/2012 22:29

I think there's some truth in that.

All the 50+ year old ladies I know are either slim with droopy face skin or have fabulous skin and a bit of flab.

Oh shit! This is a horrible realisation!

ifancyashandy · 07/06/2012 22:30

Meh. I'm 42 & have the best face and figure of my life after losing 4 stone.

McHappyPants2012 · 07/06/2012 22:30

tummy tuck and a facelift, i'm 26 so in the next 20 years or so i fully expect a BOGOF deals :)

Moln · 07/06/2012 22:34

don't think so

If someone is a healthy weight they will look good. if they areI overwieght they won't have 'the figure', if they are underweight chances are they will look haggered

CointreauVersial · 07/06/2012 22:35

It's true. I lost a stone and a half and all sorts of people were saying I looked "haggard" and "gaunt".

Stufff 'em. I like being a size 10 at the moment.

I've always had a bony face, but at least for now I haven't got bingo wings and a pot belly to go with it.

LesserOfTwoWeevils · 07/06/2012 22:36

Nigella Lawson used to say that to explain why she wasn't stick-thin.
But that was before she lost loads of weight

DeathByChocolate01 · 07/06/2012 22:36

I don't think it would make any difference if someone had always been slim, but I can see why someone who's lost a lot of weight would look older. Saggy leftover skin doesn't bounce back into shape as well when you're past a certain age... my mum has just lost about 5 stone and has a lovely turkey-neck going on.

MarianForrester · 07/06/2012 22:37

I have a big fat face no matter how thin I am, so doesn't work for me. Friends with cheekbones agree with it tho. So maybe bone structure, my holy grail until now, is actually the enemy of the middle aged....

ShowOfHands · 07/06/2012 22:38

What a pessimistic and cruel load of reductive crap.

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