Looking Gaunt

Hi there,

I've been losing weight lately, which makes me happy.  (15 pounds to go till my target weight!)  Sadly, I lost weight in my face before anywhere else and my darned stomach and sides are still pudgy.  I worry that I look gaunt, but I'm eating decently and taking vitamins.  Does anyone know if that's just a temporary thing?  Will my face fill out again in time?

Typical daily diet:
Breakfast: Fruit shake, 1 fried egg, English muffin, 2 oz cheddar cheese
Lunch: 6" Turkey sub from Subway
Dinner: Boca Burger

I also allow myself some flexibility with little things like "no sugar added" pudding cups, oranges, V8 juice, and any other small thing throughout the day.  (My mom just sent me cold doughs, which are cookies made of jam, butter, and cream cheese, so I'm clearly not too restrictive!)  I also let myself eat what I want if it's within reason when I go out on the weekends, recognizing that a few hundred extra calories in one or two nights won't undo everything.

So there, I'm not starving myself and everything else is going well. 
What to do about the face??

Are you sure you are looking gaunt?  What does your mom/coach/personal fitness trainer/counselor @ school/doctor say?

or are you tired and looking pooped instead?

are you sure your goal is not too low and keeps you in a healthy bmi range? here's a standard bmi table (for height/weight)

http://www.healthmonitor.com/BMI.htm

there's a point when you start nearing your goal that more weight loss won't really help because it will be too low and put you into the *underweight* range which is not healthy.

instead, you should be looking at converting body fat into lean muscle... and start to include strength and resistance exercise to do that (keep doing cardio for heart health and cardio-vascular system health and stamina, and keep doing flexibility training for range of motion and ease of movement).

at some point, the scales won't be the whole story and instead, the tape measure and calipers to measure body fat will be more important. 

Maybe check with a physical trainer or coach to help you set good goals :)

Hope this helps!  You're really doing gr8!  Congrats on losing so much :)

Cheers,

How many calories is that? I'm 105 pounds and 5'3 and I am sure I eat more than that daily.

You don't look like you need to lose any more weight, based on your pictures. How tall are you, what is your BMI, do you work out?

Maybe you need to work on building more muscle rather than focusing on just losing weight.

You can't control where you lose weight, and a lot of times the weight loss does occur in the facial features. From experience, though, my face gets gaunt looking when I'm not eating enough.... even when my butt still looks flabby to me.

you can fill out your face some by being sure your body is hydrated -- that means drinking lots of water.

You should add some fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to your diet.  the fruits and vegetables are water-dense, so that will also help with the hydration.

An easy way to test if you are hydrated enough, just run a fingernail across the back of your hand.  If it leaves a mark, you are not hydrated enough.

If the Feb picture is any indication, I don't think you look gaunt. I think you look quite healthy. It's interesting but you look younger than you did in high school!

My DH is 42 and is very lean from biking every day. He also looks a lot younger for his age - if you saw him in low light (where you couldn't scrutinize the laugh wrinkles) he could still pass for high school. He has three younger brothers and all three look older than him because they weigh more than he does, since none of them have a daily exercise habit (just play sports on the weekends).

Do you exercise at all? Exercise is more important than dieting at the point you are at, and also for purposes of health as you get older. You needn't become a gym rat if that's not your thing. Just find something vigorous and aerobic that you can do and enjoy every day, for your heart health, for toning, and to maintain your weight.

Thanks for all of the feedback, everyone!  My mom is actually the one who started me worrying about this.  She said I looked terrible, but she's also the one who loves giving me food until I get "those adorable chubby cheeks" I had when I was younger.

It could very well be tiredness, now that you mention it...

I am 6' tall and about 173 pounds, so my BMI is about 23/24.  I set a goal for 165 that was approved by a nutritionist at my school, but I changed it recently to 160 based on my body type and a crude body fat measurement.  (I have a light frame, which I never would have guessed before.)  That would put me around the median normal weight for my height.  (It would also allow me to say that I've lost 100 lbs since high school, which just sounds better than 95!)

As for my activity level, I run three miles at least every other day and am building up to six miles.  Once Minneapolis thaws out a bit more, I plan to run every morning and play raquetball or do some other activity now and then with my friends.  I was weightlifting for a while, but it was hard to balance eating to maintain muscle and burning fat.  I think this is working best for me now, I just need to work in ab exercises, pushups, and lunges to get toned.

I stopped counting calories a month ago at the advice of my nutritionist because I was becoming obsessed with it.  It works really well for many people (probably most of you), but for some it can become too much of a fixation.  I'm more into portion control now, so I don't really know how many calories I eat per day.

Thanks again for all of your support!  I'm glad to know I look younger than I did in high school!  :-D

I'm going through the same thing. People who knew me when I was obese now say I look like a skeleton, while other people who haven't known me as long are joking around that I should eat some ramen to bulk up.

The funny thing is I don't perceive myself as being "skinny" and my BMI is like 22.8 Also the people who say I look like a skeleton are really skinny girls who look terribly underweight.

It's frustrating because the same people made jokes about me being heavy when I was heavy. I feel like I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't, but I prefer not having a double chin. I'm done losing weight anyway and MUCH happier the way I look now.

Funny thing I was JUST thinking about this very thing less than 5 minutes ago while looking at myself in the mirror.  I always lose weight in my face first and then I begin to look too skinny or skeletal although the rest of my body is still needing to lose and I have realized it's because I am just not used to it being that way and to actually see bone structure is normal. 

So I am just excepting it and I think that it will begin to look normal after getting used to it.

Just remember that people have to get used to the "new" you.

I think there isn't much you can about your face weight (mine all dropped off in the last ten pounds.  Odd Gaunt is what I've been thinking of myself lately.  I am going to level off from Easter and go in to a holding pattern for a while.  It seems my arms, legs and face are so skinny that I will need to do something else to move the belly elsewhere...lifting maybe? (ick!)  Really I'd rather just walk.

dm84, I think part of the problem is that we as a society have all developed a really warped view of what "normal" and healthy" looks like!  Because of the obesity epidemic, slightly overweight is "normal" to us. And then throw in the trend towards aneroxic models and celebrities... we've forgotten what "healthy" looks like!!

Hang around with runners for awhile, and you find that it is very common for runners to hear constantly from friends and family that they're too skinny and gaunt... but runners are not too skinny ... they are healthy and lean.

My DH is the perfect example... he is at a healthy BMI of 22 and people tell him all the time he's too skinny. His brothers are around a BMI of 28 (just edging into the overweight zone), and that's what we're used to as "normal."

While I'm at it... it drives DH crazy that male clothing has also been subject to vanity sizing! He used to fit a Large shirt perfectly... and now he has to take a medium because the Large is way too big. He didn't change: he still has Large shirts from college that fit him like a Medium does today. Psychologically, he HATES to have to wear a Medium. He says men aren't supposed to wear mediums!!

I actually read somewhere (sorry, can't find the link) that it may have something to do with age. According to the article, people in their 20s can loose weight w/o looking gaunt, but at around 30, when you loose weight, unfortunately, you begin looking a little hallow.

oops..just read your profile... this is probably not what your issue is.

I do have a gaunt face when i lose weight.  I have to modify my deit so as not to loose muscle.  I like running everyday but its time to do weight training.  I do agree age does affect the face when we loose weight.  Im still looking for the balance to achieve a not so gaunt face.