Does anyone else think they look older?
 

Since dropping a bunch of weight?

I swear, I'm never happy. It used to be I'd look in the mirror and see a big fat blob. Now when I look in the mirror, I see an old woman.

I was just wondering if anyone else thought the same?

I had a lot of hanging skin on my neck where my triple chin used to be (the turkey wattle) and jowl-y type lines running from my nose to my chin. Very aging! I was getting comments about looking 'gaunt' and 'sickly' when in fact, it was a lot of leftover skin. You can kinda see it in this photo.

So I got it fixed. ;) My face today

Wow, you look fantastic :)

Did you have surgery of some sort to have that fixed?

Ha :) I used to look at pictures and see nothing but fat. Now I look at pictures and think "wow, my nose is huge!!" It's always something :)

.

I've seen that effect in people. It is one of my fears of losing. I had a friend who was a Big guy, jolly and happy looking. One day I saw him and I was shocked! It scared me. I said "what happened to you?" He then proceded to tell me how much weight he had lost (intentionally). When I realized that he had done it on purpose I had to try and be nice, but to be honest he looked horrible to me. I thought he looked better fat. In fact his face had the look of someone who had cancer or something. I thought he had some terrible disease that had forced the weight off him when I first saw him. I was horified!

Knowing he thought he looked good, I had to keep my opinions to myself.

But I think "low fat" diets do that you to more than say low carb diets. Your flesh doesn't retain the youthfulness it does when you eat more oils... At least that is my idea. I'm not really sure. My sister lost weight low carb and it did make her look older.

Try this: don't look in the mirror, look at pictures. When I last lost weight I thought I looked older in the mirror, but in pictures I looked MUCH younger. Pictures are a more accurate representation of how others see us. We are examining ourselves closely in the mirror--which others don't do. We are staring at the wrinkles which used to be puffed out with fat and we think, "OLD". But in the overall picture fat often looks older than wrinkles. People see thin as young and vibrant and they aren't staring at our wrinkles from 6 inches away! :-)

Karma

I know, I'm the same way. Most people tell me I look younger, but I don't see it.

I thoroughly agree :)

You look wonderful!

Yes, the fat is good for smoothing out those wrinkles, lol.

I know what you mean, though. I too have seen people who have lost a lot of weight and thought they looked better with the meat on their bones.

I certainly hope so. Unfortunately, me being camera-shy, I only one have picture of me since I've lost weight and in that pic I was about 150-155.

Ha. I'm usually camera shy too, but in my line of work it's hard to escape pictures. That's why I got a camera and learned photoshop. I can take 20 lbs off myself through posing and lighting alone. Ha ha!

Karma

I'm not as camera-shy as I used to be. When I was heavy and someone would drag out a regular camera or a video camera, I was outta there. Now I don't really mind my picture being taken all that much, but the problem is *I'm* usually the one behind the camera. I've got albums full of pictures and you can surf page after page and even go through a whole book and you won't see one picture of me.

I think that extra weight actually ages your face, takes away from good features like eyes, cheeckbones, and a double-chin especially looks older.

I had a friend I hadn't seen in a couple years pop up back in my life and she looked absolutely horrible...the really thin, with droopy skin-I was immediately worried and asked "what happened?" I was thinking cancer, chemo, radiation therapy. She proceeded to tell me how great she felt and she had went on a Dr. sponsored liquid diet and had lost all this weight. She used to look balanced, now her face and upper body are thin and guant looking, her hips and thighs are still huge and her legs are thin. What can you say? I know she's healthier without all the extra weight, she feels better. I just said, "I'm glad your so happy. I can really tell you've worked hard to lose the weight."

Yes, I do think that losing the weight makes us look older. The fat eases the lines of the wrinkles, gives a more soft appearance to the face.

Sarah