What one thing has made the biggest difference to how you look?

[ToQueendomCome]

I'm in my late 40s and I'm looking and feeling better than I have in years (possibly ever!)

I'm now wondering what else I can do to keep going in this direction - to keep improving with age.

What's the one thing you've done or do that you think makes the biggest positive difference to the way you look?

I'm struggling to answer this myself tbh! I'd suspect it's a combo of being happy and fulfilled (quite a change from being the stressed out workaholic control freak that I was!), 18:6 fasting and a plant-based diet... but who knows really?!

Lots of sex

At 52, am very happy with my looks. I am on the go a lot and do yoga weekly, walk on the beach every day. I do have late nights but never worry. I like food and eat when hungry.
Love wine and drink it daily. Use Retinol almost every night of the week and vitamin C serum every day. Don't bother with any other beauty rituals other than a soak and my beloved Dyptyque soap. Hair cut as and when I can be bothered ( I keep it below shoulder length and with a few highlights which I may just grow out as not much grey). I am pretty content with my looks to be honest, I don't feel I look old for my age. Even if I did, the alternative to aging is worse

Truthfully, Botox. Not for everyone but it’s made me feel a million times better.

Maintaining my weight. Despite hypothyroidsim and PCOS I found I can lose weight by eating 1800-1900 calories net. This has done a world of difference to my hair / skin / nails

@YummyBelicious

Why Savlon? Not something I'd put on my face!

Sleep

@Whineup would also love your wig techs details if u wouldn't mind

Also taking notes. Thanks ladies

Learning to accept who I am and what I look like has been a game changer for me. Also understanding that not everyone likes the same thing so being yourself can be wonderful.

Wow! I'm loving this!

I agree with lots of the answers... eg movement (I dance every day, even if just around the kitchen), maintaining a healthy weight, good posture, general grooming/skincare routine, weight training (I love kettlebells), having your style and colours done, and orgasms

The areas I'm feeling I could up my game are:

Brows - I've always had naturally strong, dark brows but have had permanent make-up in the past to fill them in which has long since faded. Have been wondering whether to try threading (I've always just plucked) and maybe microblading.

Lashes - my lashes are fairly good (and I find the super cheap Essence Falsh Lash mascara from Wilko is amazing) but I've been pondering trying extensions for more length/wow. I wasn't that impressed the one time I tried them years ago tho - they looked long but not thick enough for my liking. And iirc it was a faff with washing my face. Have they changed or do they vary?

Teeth - I had them whitened years ago and it made a positive difference but I found it made them unbearably sensitive for a while. Have techniques changed? What kind of whitening would you recommend? Also intrigued by Invisalign!

Some other things I already do that I think make a difference:

OCM

Oil as moisturiser (and Vaseline over that)

Contrary to others who said 'good bra', I've got rid of mine and now almost go braless or wear bralettes... ooooh the comfort! I'm a 32E (yes properly measured and all!) so not small. I feel like my boobs have got perkier since doing so but it could be my imagination just because I feel so much more warmly towards that whole area of my body!

Eating fresh herbs with almost every meal (they're packed full of nutritious magic!)

Hot/cold exposure, eg cold showers and hot saunas. I don't do this to Wim Hof level, just try to have a brief cold spell in the shower daily after my warm one and a weekly sauna.

Oh and agree with drinking lots of water... I've always done this so forgot it's even a thing

I feel better about my looks than I ever have. I'm working on losing 1.5st which will help too. I did a few bits that helped - most of which were actually just for speed/convenience but just lift me generally:

Invisalign on my teeth. I will have them whitened again at some point but they're lovely and straight.

Microbladed eyebrows - they're always "done" and bar just plucking underneath and keeping them groomed they frame my face really well.

Semi-perm eyeliner - for me, this means I don't look washed out and that combined with eyelash serum every night so my lashes are very long and LVL to lift them, I never need to wear makeup now unless I choose to. I dab on some CC cream to even out skin tone that's it.

Hair scrunchie - I wear my hair up all day every day for low maintenance. I have a few hairpieces that are simply designed to work as a scrunchie round my natural messy bun which gives me volume and nice curly finish even if my hair might look a state underneath. It takes seconds.

I have some wrinkles - esp forehead but have never slept with makeup on and cleanse and moisturise every night consistently. Nobody ever guesses my age correctly (in a good way!)

Babyliss big hair - makes my hair look great every day
Good bra
Moisturise with spf
I did a styling session and that really helped too

Losing all the weight I gained while at university and getting my eyes lasered.

So, I woke up this morning with no memory of what the "your package will be delivered today" from Amazon was, then remembered I'd been on this thread around midnight One eyelash primer en route to me

Invisalign. I absolutely love my smile now - I used to feel so self conscious. I like wearing bright lipstick now.

I lost weight, got a good haircut, got my snaggletooth fixed, I wear a decent bra and I get my brows waxed.

After that, it's just the usual makeup and clothes malarkey but the foundations listed above make a big difference to the finished product.

Definitely weight loss for me. Just over 1stone gone and it’s made a huge difference.

I think losing a stone would make a massive difference to how i feel. Would love to hear people's weight loss tips.

Sally I managed it through intermittent fasting but also completely changing my expectations of how much I consume portion wise. I now have a BMI of 23 and to maintain that I eat like a bird. My plan is to start weight training to boost my metabolism but I honestly think we have unrealistic expectations about how much food we need to eat.

I had Invisalign and teeth whitening and the difference is subtle but really effective. People comment that you are looking really good but they can tell why. Lots of good sex, how many other exercise routines give you an orgasm eh? I look after my hands and feet, there's no excuse for having hard and dry skin or grubby nails. Taking HRT, it's not for everyone but I felt like I was drying out into a husk with no energy anymore. Now my hair is thick and glossy again, no dryness, my breasts have perked back up and no more aches and pains in the morning. Among my friends you can tell which of us take HRT and those who don't.

The biggest change for me, like others, is losing weight. Feel and look better than I have done in years. Kick myself for not doing it before. I had lapsed into living in mono, but losing weight brought me back to life in full colour. Sounds dramatic but no shop bought potion has had this revitalising effect.

have been doing 16:8 fasting for 3 years. Lost 2 stone with no other adjustments to diet. Slow weightloss but no fuss. For me anyway. I did it because I was peri menopause and weight was rushing on. I read a book on meno that said you have to reduce your calories when you get older. I have never liked breakfast but bought into that whole breakfast like a king malarky and the book said that unless you are doing lots of exercise almost to professional athlete level it was not necessary. And that research into breakfast being a necessity is funded by cereal companies who have a vested interest in keeping you chomping.

I thought I would give it a go because I found it easy to not eat breakfast. Breakfast always made me feel hungrier so that by lunchtime I would be starving. Now I eat at lunchtime, and eat my last meal at 7.30 and that's it. This has been a big change for my looks. My double chin has gone, I have cheekbones. Because it was slow weightloss my face has not collapsed in on itself. It's a nice shape now, before it was a pudding.

I move more now, take the steps, try to do 10,000 steps throughout the day. Highly recommend the millions (slight exaggeration but there are lots) free Lucy Wyndham-Read fitness workouts on You Tube. They range from 7 minutes to 30 mins, you can mix and match depending on need. They really do tone you up. And she's nice - soft spoken, not shouty and in your face, and knowledgeable, so I stick at them.

Changing from brown mascara to black. Makes my eyes pop, in a natural way as I don't like the false lash effect. Before I looked a bit insipid.

Stopping using fake tan on my face. I am so over it.

Using a fixing spray. If flush, Urban Decay All Nighter. If on a tighter budget, ELF one in black bottle. Game changer. Don't even touch up during the day now. Even during summer my face looked fresh.

I've turned 40 this year and look better than I did in my 20s thanks to weight training. It really is phenomenal. I work out three times a week for about 30 mins, using a variety of kettlebells, TRX and freeweights (so deadlifts, squats etc). I have a personal trainer come once a week to keep an eye on my form, but there are some very good YouTube channels with a variety of exercises (I love BodyFit by Amy).

It can be expensive to set up, so if you only do one I think the TRX is great - you can do it anywhere around the house (you need a doorframe) and it gives you a really good bodyweight strength workout. Plus you're less likely to hurt yourself than with weights if you're a beginner. No need to buy the expensive TRX-branded set, I got the rip-off from Decathlon that costs a tenner!

@IfNot I second fresh air, laughing and sex too!!

I was pondering this same question this morning when I saw this thread.

I'm in my early 40s, and was thinking about what else I could do to push the boat out. I already don't drink alcohol or caffeine; I run everyday, drink lots of water, had my teeth whitened, take my vitamins, try to eat a lot of veg, use a lumea, have decent bras, get my eyebrows threaded regularly ... but I just wondered what else there was to do. I just feel that this is the time to be the best I can be, iyswim.

I don't have a lot of money to spend, but I wondered if there could be something in having a regular massage.

But to answer the question ... the one thing that has made the biggest difference to how I look is refusing to engage with subjects or people that cause me anxiety or make me feel low. Anyone that incessantly moans or complains, or creates dramas out of nothing, I stay well away from or limit my exposure.

I reckon you look good when you feel happy and content, and you can't feel happy and content if you've people pouring poison into your ears or behaving in an unnecessarily negative or pessimistic way. And I stopped caring about appearing rude, I just remove myself from the situation now.

Packingsoapandwater O yes. Toxic people are so harmful to our wellbeing.