“Keep your face and stay sitting down.”

[Worriedobsessive]

Said Dame Barbra Cartland, when asked whether a woman should keep her face or her figure, assuming that you can’t have both.

I think she had a point. Is she right?

My advise to Dame Barbara would be to go a bit more gentle on the make up.

no. nothing more ageing than excess weight imo.

I'm not sure it's worth worrying about. By the time it might even be an issue (60? 70?) there is going to be so much more to concern yourself with, frankly, it's the least of your worries.

My mil still has good face and figure - and more importantly, full mobility - into her late 70s.

Her face is lined, yes, but ... that's age. She's a vibrant woman, with a force of attraction about her. That really matters. She's lucky in that - and it is luck, really. Good genes.

My mother had a bad accident in her 60s that she has never really recovered from. It's had a huge impact on her overall health and her life.

Really, the face/butt thing is not worth giving a thought to. Try and maintain your health. That matters.

You will look older as you get older. Being fat reduces your chance of getting older.

Thick slap makes everyone look older. She was the proof.

Basically you're going to get older.

Deal with it.

Perhaps not with snuffly snappy dogs, copious amounts of hot pink and makeup applied with a JCB

Nowt more aging than trying to mask or halt the ageing process.

The women I know with very low body fat look the oldest. So yes I think she has a point! The face looses fat content and looks gaunt. I’m 5’5 and I try not to fall below 9 stone as it ages me.

I thought you erte going to say it was Dame BCs advice for a pub brawl situation

were

It's a variant on the French "after 40 a woman has to choose her arse or her face. I have paraphrased obviously. The fat keeping your face looking younger I think.

I agree as you get older it’s a choic between arse and face
Good body. Or gaunt more ages face

I’d choose face

Bc would look a lot better with a make up refresher , more natural and dropping hot pink

Youth alone does not equal beauty or fitness.
Age does not equal having to make a fabricated choice between fat or face.
Keep reasonably fit and enjoy life.

With the greatest respect to Barbara Cartland, I've yet to take her advice on any issue and I don't think I'm about to start now.

But to answer the question, no I don't believe weight gain does help you look younger, tempting as it might be to think so. The way my face has filled out has aged me far more than any wrinkles have done.

In fact I'll go further. You lose definition in your face as you get older and in a funny kind of way, wrinkles can help compensate for this in a way that wight gain never will.

Well I might think otherwise when I'm in my 80s. But for now, I don't agree - I definitely look older when I gain weight.

I think there's a short window (late 40s?) when being very thin is aging, although I agree with PP that being overweight is aging at any age.

Once you get beyond 50, people's perception of your age is mostly based on the way you move imo.

I just think it's really sad that it seems that even old women buy into this crap that a woman's only value is how she looks.

I'm mid 50s, disabled and with increasingly limited mobility. I have a rather nice face, and look easily 10 years younger. I'd swap it in an instant for a body that worked better.

Keep fit and healthy, take steps to avoid osteoporosis. Don't be skinny, don't be fat. Fit in some laughs.

Dame Barbra Cartland (it took a good search not to find her in pink.) there are better role models in how to age.

Should men stay seated too?

Dh seems to think so.

I second Floisme in not holding Barbara Cartland as any kind if role model.

However, I think if you want to age well you need to keep mobile as much as possible, all sorts of health issues can arise from being too sedentary. There are much better ways to help your face/skin than sitting on your arse!

I would think looking "too thin" in the face, might depend on your bone structure. I know you can lose the fat padding on your face as you get older, I assume longer, more angular faces can look gaunt when this happens. Those of us with round faces just get some cheekbones there must be some benefits to getting on a bit.

Measurements of biological age are often linked to fat, so being a healthy weight must mean you are biologically younger.