Does Weight Make You Look Older? or Younger?

Filed Under: Curvy Conversations

The other day Robert made a comment about me looking older than I actually am. Needless to say, I flipped out. Most women are sensitive about looking old and even though I’m still in my twenties, I’m always whining about “getting old”.

Now, before you all jump down Roberts throat… let me say that when he saw how upset I was he took the time to explain what he meant. He said that I dress well, I live on my own and most of my close friends are in their late 30′s so, if he just met me he would assume that I was a little older than I actually am. I wasn’t ready to let him off the hook completely, but then he went on to say that he probably chose the wrong words; he didn’t mean that I “look old” but that I “seem mature”.

I forgave him, so you should too.

When I got home I started thinking about why his comment upset me so much. I slowly realized that in my head when someone comments on me looking older, I take it as a comment on my weight. I’ve been a Plus Size Princess since I was young and it’s always caused people to think I was older than I was.

-When I was 11 people thought my infant sister was my daughter  (awkward.)

-When I was 16 a “guess your age” lady at Six Flags thought I was 24 (kinda cool?)

-When I was 17 someone asked my Dad if I was his wife (mortifying!)

When I was a teen PSP, looking older had its advantages. If I walked into a liquor store with enough confidence, I could buy bottles of Vodka for my friends and not get carded. Now that I’m over 21, looking older is obnoxious. If one more 40-year-old store clerk calls me “Ma’am” I think I’m going to cry.

For years, I’ve assumed that my weight aged me and I’ve looked forward to knocking a few years off myself when I dropped some poundage. But I’m starting to wonder if it’s that simple….

I was tweeting with some Plus Size Princesses on Monday and the subject of Celebrity Weight Loss came up. Everyone has something to say when our plus size celebs lose drastic amounts of weight. When large women become waifs, I usually hear everyone say that they prefer them just a *little* curvier. Remember when Star Jones had gastric bypass? Then there’s Kirstie Alley in all her various sizes and of course, the ex-PSP of the moment, Jennifer Hudson.

I started to look up images of ex-PSP’s and began to realize that everyone is concerned with how they look from the neck down, but no one talks about what your face looks like when you lose weight. As I mentioned on Twitter, I’m pretty sure if I was a size 6 like J.Hud, I’d look like a bobble head. That’s not the look I’m going for.

As some celebs lose weight their facial lines become more prominent making them look… older than they did when they were big. Perhaps the fat fills out the wrinkles… if so, there goes my whole theory about looking older because I’m bigger!

What do you think… Does weight age you?

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Published on Wednesday, February 1, 2012
31 Comments
  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=527872335 Candice Jarrett

    I think it definitely can. But it also depends on the way you carry yourself and the way you dress. Like you, people have always thought I was older than I was. When I was younger(and smaller), it was cool. But at the ripe ol’ age of 28 I don’t particularly care for it. LOL. Also like you I have started working on a healthier me(which is what I am saying as opposed to dieting). I don’t want to be a ‘bobblehead’. I just want to be healthier.

    • Phosphorica

      Well, I think being overweight can make you look younger. I think it all depends on your shape, attitude and overall well being.
      I have just had my 58th birthday but frequently get mistaken for 10 years younger and people are shocked at my age, they just don’t believe it. Yet my brother who is also overweight looks older than his years but might be partly because he acts it.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/EU3MDRSF33K7ROKWMIHKS7T5EI Heather

    So many

  • Dena Upton

    I don’t really know. I am 24, and I always get WOW I thought you were 17! haha… I use to get offended, but I’ve pretty well decided that I’m just gonna look awesome when I am old. maybe height adds to thoughts on age a little too. It makes no sense to me, but I’m 5’4 and people think I look 17, but my tall girlfriends always have people thinking they are much older than they are. I actually substitute teach and had several junior high kids tell me I looked like a student haha. That would make me no older than 14. I thought it was pretty funny.

    • Anonymous

      Yeah, I’m really tall so there’s no WAY I’d be taken for 14. Good for you though! lol

      • Dena Upton

        Haha well there is no way I could be 14 either. My boobs alone make me look older than that haha! But the kids were confident about it.

  • Anonymous

    Funny, people always think I’m younger than I really am. Like 10 years younger… and I always thought it was cause I’m bigger. And my theory is the fat “botox”, like you said fat definitely fills out wrinkles! :)

    • Anonymous

      “Fat Botox” hahaha I almost choked on my coffee when I read that!

    • Lusty Sagittarian

      Absolutely I’ve lived this. When facial fat diminishes wrinkles appear where they didn’t exist before. I was always “babyfaced” and told I looked as much as 10 yrs younger, until I lost weight and family started commenting on my wrinkles. Not a welcome side effect. Wish I could have fat sucked out of unwanted places and placed in others. Oh wait, they have a procedure for that don’t they? Haha!

  • http://bexxxtacy.blogspot.com/ Bexxx

    I definitely agree with the people who say that fat makes you look younger. My mom recently lost a lot of weight and she looks so much older now! She also needs to get her hair done but I think it’s the weight loss haha.

    Additionally, people always think that I am younger than I am because of my fuller “baby face”. I even get carded for Rated R movies and I am 25! If I ever forget my ID, there is no way I am getting a drink :( My super tiny friend had an infant sister at age 14 and people always thought she was the mom of her AND her younger brother who was like 5 so I think people just expect teen (and preteen) moms these days.

    And with the celebs, you are right, Star Jones lost weight but gained like 10 years.

  • http://becca-christensen.blogspot.com/ Becca

    I started losing weight because I watched a 20/20 special about how being over weight ages you by 10 years…I was of course 24 at the time and terrified of looking mid 30s! I think since losing over 50 lbs I don’t necessarily look younger though.

    • Anonymous

      Becca! 50 pounds… I’m so proud of you! and no, you don’t look older haha xoxo

  • Casie

    I think my overweight body makes me look younger! My sister is three years younger than I am, and of the 50 pounds she lost over a year she gave me about 25 of them… and people are convinced that I’m the younger one!

    As a side note, I have so much respect for you for understanding and loving your body. That’s something that I absolutely envy because I am so embarrassed and discouraged by the way that I look that I honestly hate who I am.

    I follow you on Twitter and on facebook of course and I really think you’re inspiring. Thank you so much for all that you do.

  • Brittany

    People say I look young but once they get to know me… I’m told I act really mature. Only recently I’ve began to look around my age (21) and maybe thats’s because I just had a birthday. I do think Robert is right about the age group one associates with determines how people view that individual’s age. Also, genetics is a big factor — My mom has been mistaken for my sister and best friend [not that she isn't :) ] and she’s more than 20 years older than me! I think for some people extreme/ fast weight loss does age them but each person is different. Don’t worry about it.

  • http://twitter.com/mrh1921 Jackie Gillespie

    I have been heavy most of my life. Everyone has always assumed that I was in my mid to late twenties no matter how old I actually am. (I too have been confused for my father’s wife and I’m never carded). However as I get older I have noticed that people’s assumption of my age has never changed. It’s as if I’m perpetually 25. I am a PSP with a very thin face though so when I lose weight (I yo-yo) I’m not a bobble head. I don’t know if that affects anything. :-)

    • Anonymous

      Hey Jackie! You just made me realize that I may be in the forever 25 category! Hopefully things will just level off and I’ll be the 25 looking 80 year old… I can handle that lol

  • Singlemuch

    First of all, I think you look youthful! I remember thinking you were pretty much the age you actually are when we first met. However, if anything sometimes I think the weight can make people look younger. Something about the chub filling in the wrinkles perhaps. lol. Maybe they’re not related at all…who knows. But I do notice that those bobble headed women do look older. Although, Sarah Rue looks younger…..hmmmm. I’M AT A LOSS!

    • Anonymous

      Awww thanks babe! <3 Now that I think about it, I've always been thought to be mid-twenties… so hopefully I'm like the other poster who's perpetually 25 haha. Sarah Rue does look younger, but she has pointy features. I guess there's no method to the madness lol

  • Nicole D.

    I am almost 39 and people always tell me how young I look. No one who meets me ever thinks I am any older than 30ish. I would like to shed some pounds but I am a little scared to lose too much and look a lot older.

  • Anonymous

    I’ll be 42 tomorrow but when people hear that they always think I’m in my late 20′s. My hubby is a big guy and he gets the same thing. A little extra weight fills in the wrinkles. I also think it’s your attitude. As I said I’ll be 42 but I have fuschia and purple hair. Folks never think someone in their 40′s (other than Sharon Osbourne) would do that. I’ve learned late in life to love who I am at whatever size that may be. Never really had a problem dating, but then again I live in the South and people tend to be a bit chubbier around here.

  • Nelliemade

    I tweeted at you a coupe of weeks ago when I was watching an ad on tv for an actress my age, might have been Jessica Biel. She’s pimping some wrinkle cream, and looking at her in the commercials, she needs it. I think if she gained even 15 lbs, her face would fill in a little bit.

    I’m 31, and don’t look a day over 21, and with good skin care, I plan to keep it that way. Genetics, plus religious skin care, sunscreen, hats and being a PSP definitely helps all that.

  • Kay

    I’m not sure whether a little extra weight makes a person look older or younger, but I think the focus should be on overall health. Do what you have to (in a healthy way) to be at a good weight for your body type/frame. If doing that makes you look older because the skin is sagging, I say get the wrinkles taken care of cosmetically. I think it’s better to battle the wrinkles than an unhealthy amount of extra weight.

  • http://www.herbaldiet.com/herbalife/herbalife-herbal-tea-concentrate/81.aspx herbalife tea

    Yes of course. This factor does effect personality. People look like 5 years elder than their age. Same happened to me. But I put off just because of herbalife weight loss program.

  • http://www.alisonleeds.com/ Alison

    It works backwards for me–my extra weight gives me a baby face. I’m 27 and constantly (and I mean CONSTANTLY) mistaken for as young as 16.

    But fat does, technically, fill out wrinkles. Look at Courteney Cox’s face on the cover of Scream 4. She’s had fat injected into her face to make herself look younger–and in the long run it’s just left her with a puffy face.

  • Anonymous

    Im 20 & been an PSP forever. I do believe some people are IGNORANT & believe your Size dictate your age. I have a BABY FACE. When ever I ask my friends/family/ & sometimes strangers “How Old Do I Look?” I get the 15 to 18. But then their is the few who assume I am 25 or even older (SCAREY) & my mom has said something to me that always play in my head “People look at your body & not your face, & your body says I’m older but when they look at your face they will see you look like a child”. So do not let the weight dictate your age CeCe sometimes being “plump” has its benefits (& sometimes it doesn’t) lol.

  • Elpinguo2007

    (older…)

  • http://girlslashwoman.wordpress.com/ G/W

    There is no way you look older. When I was 200 lbs, everyone thought I looked younger. At 125 lbs, people are surprised that I’m 23- but I guess it might be the saggy skin? I don’t know.
    My two aunts are a year apart in age. One is significantly heavier. She’s always been seen as younger.

  • Pipermaria

    I think the weight makes me look younger. I’ve had people give me shocked looks when I say that I’m in my early thirties. How many fat women do you know who need plastic surgery as they get older in order to look more youthful. Some women have so much plastic surgery that they don’t age at all. Madonna got cheek implants and that’s why she looks “refreshed.” So did Kim Kardashian. These women are celebrated for their beauty, but I wish plus-size women were celebrated too.

  • Jsmith

    I think weight does age people. It depends on who you are, but I know when I’m skinnier I look younger.

  • http://emmaleighgray.blogspot.com/ Emma Leigh

    I don’t think weight alone necessarily you. However, it can contribute to behaviors that make you seem older.

    I am 42 and just this morning someone thought that I am 20. I am always carded for alcohol. Occasionally I am carded for R rated movies.

    But, weight alone does not make me look younger either. I still dress in jeans and a polo.. I live an active lifestyle. I do not wear makeup and have excellent young looking skin.

    However, sometimes I think it is my accessories that make me look younger. My husband and I do not drive our car to anywhere within 2 miles of our house. Therefore, I frequently have my bright purple backpack with me. Backpacks are associated with students, so it lowers my age.

    Since my 30′s I have passed as younger than I am. Funny, because at 14 I frequently passed for college aged if not older. My friends were all in college and that may have a lot to do with it. Now, I live in the third oldest (age of population) county in the country. I guess when you are the only 40 yr old eating with a group of 70+ year olds, you are going to look young.

    But, I figure everyone looks younger if they are living life and meeting challenges with a smile.

  • Kaytee

    Weight does not age me , I don’t think. I think I look my age and then depending upon how I dress that ages me down or up. I’ve have people flat out argue with me that I can’t possibly be in my 30′s because I look like I’m 20. I’ve also had people think I am my sister (only younger than me by two years) is my daughter. So…. yeah. :) I’m pretty sure I look my age and how I dress and act affects the situations.

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