Face v Body

[ineedsun]

I think I've arrived at that time in life where I need to choose between maintaining the weight that I've always been but having a haggard face and having a decent(ish) face but putting on some weight.

Not sure why I'm posting this, just wanted to put it out there.

Anyone else have this dilemma?

(This is probably triggered by seeing myself on a lot of conference calls this week)

Just me then 🤣

You can’t judge from conference calls !
The angle is wrong , the lighting is awful , and the screen magnified any flaws .
You are most probably fine
Use the lockdown time to pamper yourself
If all else fails Tell them ur monitor camera is broken 🤫

I’m in my 50s and last September I decided to lose some weight, I’ve bern doing intermittent fasting and lost a stone. All good, but my face looks saggier and more lined. I’m not happy about it but I’m definitely more comfortable now I’ve lost the weight and feel healthier. So I think it’s better to be your ideal weight and just invest in more expensive face creams!

Face, always. It's what everyone except you is actually looking at. They don't give a stuff about your bod. But make sure your body is healthy.

The idea that extra weight makes you look younger might be popular on S&B but I think it's delusional.

I haven't (touches wood) put on loads of weight since the menopause - a few pounds max - but a lot of it went straight to my face and won't shift. It's massively ageing.

Also if I could choose, it would be body so I could keep wearing my favourite clothes for longer. But then I always notice clothes before face.

The idea that extra weight makes you look younger might be popular on S&B but I think it's delusional.

I don’t think it’s that extra weight makes you look younger, it’s more that the amount of work you need to put in to maintain a weight much lower than your natural weight makes you looked tired and stressed. So most women are not naturally a size eight past their twenties, and the amount of diet and exercise needed to stay an 8 when your body wants to be a 12 will show on your face. It doesn’t remain the case if you go up to a 16 when a healthy lifestyle would mean you were a 12.

I never gain weight on my face. I wish I could cream cake my way to a facelift

I always wondered what people meant by this whole face vs body thing.

Is it because if you maintain a slim weight, as you age your face is less full? So lines are more prominent eg as cheeks aren’t as full, nasolabial folds/tear troughs don’t have a supporting scaffold anymore, so look appear more prominent?

But regardless you can’t pinpoint weight gain in specific areas, so your face may not necessarily change with extra weight.

Yes browz, fat faces pad out the wrinkles. Quite often when people lose a lot of weight, they may look gaunt and wrinkled and their face looks older, even if being slim may make them look younger. I think Huw Edwards's face is an example.

From my book:
"..these shrinking fat pads lead to less volume in the face, which makes the skin appear looser and more likely to sag and crease into folds. If your younger face was on the solid side, the reduction in volume is not always a bad thing. If nature has given you a fatter face, it may well have the last laugh, as all that padding will last longer."

When women talk about choosing face or body, they may not mean being overweight just choosing between the low and the high end of a healthy weight.

I'm probably mid OK range on the BMI scale. But I feel like this week my face and neck look gaunt. Maybe it's also being inside a lot and I've also just been ill with unconfirmed (the virus that may not be named).

But when I look at a full length photo of myself it's like belly button up I'm skeletal and belly button to knees I look like I have middle age spread.

Perhaps I should just see it as an opportunity to buy more clothes.

Can anyone recommend a neck cream?

I identify with this - I had always been 7 stone 12 - it was just my weight that my body naturally gravitated too. I never dieted or exercised but then got to 45 and realised my face was so guant and I looked much much older. So I purposefully gained weight - I sit around 8 3 to 8 5 now but only 5 foot 3 so it really showed on my tummy and bum. My face looked much better though so I decided to stay at this weight but now work out 3-4 x week doing Pilates which toned me up. I'm prob a size 8 rather than a 6 now and I think I look much more healthy and toned.

Gaunt!

I'm 34 and have this dilemma...how old are you guys?

I've always had this dilemma, and was once told by a friend that its either your figure or your face, you can't have both. I 'blessed' with good bone structure. But as soon as I drop any weight, I resemble Skeletor. Annoying, but I go with figure, and try and get my skin as hydrated as possible.

I'm 46 - I've found my people!

Thank you for the solidarity ✊

About to turn 48

@Shmithecat2
How do you keep skin hydrated?

People with more weight look younger in the face. It's just a fact of life. Lines appear deeper when your face is thin and the work you need to do in order to maintain a lower body weight ages people.

I've never seen a weight loss comparison and thought oh gosh that person looks younger! They usually look older once they lose weight but they look healthier obviously.

There's a balance though. Extremely thin people look a lot older than they are usually, well the one's that try hard to be super slim. Take Jennifer Lopez and Madonna as an example. Jennifer looks no where near 50, Madonna looks about 80...

I do a lot of yoga and cycling my body is toned. My face is ageing reasonably well but I wouldn't choose to put on weight.

I disagree people with more weight look younger in the face if you have a double chin that is not a youthful .

"if you have a double chin that is not a youthful ."

I know someone with a double chin who look about 15 years younger than she is. She's about 60 but looks more like 45, so not youthful, but middle aged and younger than her real age.

I really prefer my face with a stone on but would rather have a Size 8 body and sort the face with some fillers

I really prefer my face with a stone on but would rather have a Size 8 body and sort the face with some fillers

Preach 🙌🏼

IMO being overweight is incredibly ageing. I’ve never understood why people say it makes you look younger.

Being underweight is aging as one looks gaunt. Being overweight is equally aging as one looks dumpy and matronly. One has more wrinkles but the other has more puffiness and loses neck definition. Neither makes anyone look younger. OP sometimes if a person is very underweight then gaining a couple of kg can help the face but only in so much as you would go from one end of a healthy weight category to higher up witching the healthy category. Don't get fat. You will be unhealthy and won't look younger.