Just wondering...

I'm sure I'll get alot of diverse responses to this...it should be interesting.
I've looked at before and after pics of about a thousand people over the last couple years...post weight loss surgery, etc...
what I've noticed, at least a significant amount of the time, is that sometimes I find people start to look "too thin"....which then can make them look "too old" or at least noticeably older than their before pic....do people have difficulty stopping losing weight?  I know it's not simply a matter of being able to "see more wrinkles", because in the pics I've seen, they haven't been clear/close enough for me to see wrinkles....I feel like there might be a fine line between losing enough weight to be healthy/look healthy (even if it isn't 25BMI), and getting thin for the sake of getting thin, and end up looking older.....not as healthy, etc....
any thoughts?

Hi, I am currentl at 4 months and 95 lbs lost.  I'm also 59 yrs old.  The wrinkles I never had are here, woo hoo.  Also the sagging skin which I probably won't do anything about but hide.  I think that some people obsess about gaining the weight back and therefore go too far.  Unfortunately we read about weight gain and it can be scary to those of us who have never bee able to lose without gaining it and more back.  Also, I know that I look older although my skin has better color.  To get where the doctor wants me to be is another 100 lbs, but I know that I would look awful at that weight.  I'm hoping for 75 more max.  But will I look older, most definitely and more wrinkled.  Maybe it is better on younger people

I look at those photos every day when I log into OH.

I haven't really noticed that people look older. I've noticed how outdated the photos are (I don't think I've ever seen any that are more recent than the mid-2000s). I've noticed how many women wear black (black pants with black shoes, black skirts with black boots, black jeans with black sneakers). So weird & looks so outdated to me.

I had my photo taken about a month ago & I was stunned at how much older I thought I looked. I have what everyone calls a baby face. I think now that you can see my facial bone structure that I look older. I'm 51 (almost 52) & I've had people tell me they just don't believe I'm not 30. Of course I love(d) that, but I don't care a whit if I get some wrinkles, sagging skin, etc.

Feeling so much lighter on my feet is such a fabulous, head-spinning experience for me. I've always been heavy (since I was about 5) so this is really getting into new territory for me. The lowest I've been in my adult life is about 179 when I was about 21. I'm approaching that weight now (descending to it). I can walk for miles (up to about 4) & still have energy to walk a little more. That is completely, 100% new to my life.

I hope to have the money someday to be able to go to a cosmetic surgeon & have my neck, arms, & face done. I'd like to have the parentheses around my mouth erased. I'd like to have my brown spots at the sides of my jaw lasered off. I'd like to have that neck lift (I have some turkey wattle skin I've never had before).

If by chance I'm not able to do these things, I will be so thrilled to have a LIFE as a not-obese person, I won't mind that much.

I know exactly what you are saying.  I noticed there is a certain "look" in the neck area particularly that seems to scream that person had weight loss surgery - mine is exactly the same as I see in most of the after pictures of WLS patients. 

I am 61 years old, so I was going to have the sagging and wrinkles whether I lost the weight or not.  It may be an age thing - my daughter has surgery at age 26, and I don't think people would know she had the surgery by looking.

Thru some of the posts I've read on here, I've learned that, at first, when the person initially reaches or approaches goal, the face and neck can look drawn.  I think it's b/c we lose the weight so fast.  This is what prompts family and friends to claim we're too thin, look older, etc etc.  Of course WE'RE so tickled to have the weight off, all we see is that, and of course we can't wait to take lots of pix and post them everywhere, LOL!

As we transition into maintenance, the body redistributes things.  I don't know if it's fat or water or both, but people do tend to round out a little.  Exercise helps with that too, but non-exercisers (me!) experience the same thing.  It may also have to do with taking in more calories in maintenance than we do during the WL phase.  I've had people tell me I look healthier than I did a few months before, when I actually was down 5-6 lbs from the previous weight, but I was sliding into maintenance, not losing as fast, eating more calories, and probably pinked up a bit.

I hear you...lol, and I notice that you are 17? pounds lower than your goal weight....why is that?  (I'm not being sarcastic - I'm curious as to why you went even lower than originally intended)
Thanks!
Kerry

I essentially pulled a goal weight out of the air.  I never really set a goal, but about halfway thru my WL, I decided I wanted a weight tracker here in my OH signature.  And it required a 'goal weight' so I picked 150.  That seemed reasonable, do-able, and was 9 lbs lower than I had ever achieved. 

But my body had other ideas.  I just pretty much kept on the low-carb, moderate-protein, moderate-fat food plan I had been following, and the restriction on volume was doing the rest, and I just kept going till I stabilized in the low 130s.  These days my weight fluctuates between 132-136 without too much food drama, unless I get into carbs.  I recently floated up to 139, but returned to my low-carb ways and am right now 135.8. 

As I mentioned before, I did get the "you're too thin" comments here and there early in my weight-stabilizing period, but the most recent comment I've received is that I look healthy and robust. 

You could be talking about me.  I don't feel like I look very good.  Of course I didn't look very good before, either.  In fact, I think I look better then I did two years ago but I still look old and my face is drawn.  I am 54 and I am sure I don't look healthy although I have been hearing things like "hey, you are looking better" so maybe I am starting to fill out some.
I did not set out intentionally to lose so much weight.  My goal was a normal BMI, which for me is about 140 lbs.  I wanted to get to about 120 lbs to give myself bounce back room but the weight loss kept going.  I wasn't trying to lose weight, I wasn't exercising much, I eat 5 or 6 times a day, get in at least 100 grams of protein a day, eat mostly full fat foods.  The only things I avoid are sugar and gluten.  I don't snack or graze and I try to plan out my eating so I don't just eat willy nilly but I don't by any means diet.  I have a lot of restriction still so I eat frequently.  I am confident that I will gradually be able to eat more and will continue to gain to a healthier weight over time.  I don't intentionally try to regain weight because as a formerly morbidly obese person that just feels wrong and unnatural to me.  I have seen that come back to bite too many people in the ass too many times to go down that road.  I don't want to try to put that genie back in the bottle, thank you.
Anyway, I may look old but the truth is, I am old.   I am a grandmother.  I'm not going to look 25 anymore.  I know we live in a society that fights aging but someone has to do it so I guess I will.

No..I didn't mean you...lol
I appreciate your honesty - if you don't mind me asking -what procedure did you have?

I know exactly what you mean, and I can assure you that over time, the body catches up with the weight loss and start to look not so drained anymore.