Help me lose my double chin.

October 10, 2006 8:59 AM

Are there any excercises you can do to lose fat on your face?

While increasing my calorie intake each day and working out pretty intensely, I managed to gain about ten pounds while keeping my body fat percentage relatively the same. However, though I was able to work out most of my body and put on a significant ammount of muscle, my face was one place that I was unable to avoid gaining alot of fat. I'd like to see my jawline again, does anyone know anyways to cut fat from your face?

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (13 answers total)

You can't really target fat loss (anywhere). You're just going to have to get leaner across the board, though many people have pockets of "baby fat" they can never really get rid of (outside of dehydrating themselves)
posted by bitdamaged at 9:01 AM on October 10, 2006

... which is why liposuction was invented.
posted by o2b at 9:25 AM on October 10, 2006

Facercise!
posted by randomination at 9:44 AM on October 10, 2006

Weirdly, there was something about this in the Post for Dummies Washington Post Express this morning. I can't seem to find a direct link, but you can download a PDF of today's edition on the website.
posted by timetoevolve at 10:11 AM on October 10, 2006

I'll echo what bitdamaged says: you can't target to lose fat in any particular part with exercise, it's called the spot reduction myth. Fat gets stored on your body in a way determined by genetics: some people collect fat around their belly, some on their hips/thighs, etc. And people lose weight based on their genetics too, and quite possibly not in the same way that they gained it.

So basically, just keep doing the exercise + good diet thing and hopefully you'll get the results you want.
posted by escher at 10:15 AM on October 10, 2006

I dropped 27kg and 7% body fat, and my face looks a lot slimmer than it used to. Perhaps you need to focus more on fat loss rather than muscle gain at this time? I'm not an exercise expert by any means though.
posted by glip at 10:28 AM on October 10, 2006

There is no such thing as spot reduction. This is the most important thing for you to understand, because without understanding that you will end up doing some crazy set of facial exercises that will do absolutely nothing specific for your facial fat. If you have trouble with the concept of no spot reduction, read the exrx link above, and then think very carefully about why the dominant arm of a tennis player doesn't have less fat (not more muscle, less fat) than her other arm.
posted by OmieWise at 10:43 AM on October 10, 2006

If spot reduction was possible, people who chewed gum would have skinnier faces. Not going to happen.
posted by filmgeek at 10:59 AM on October 10, 2006

Yeah, sit ups. The more you do, the thinner your face will be.
posted by klangklangston at 11:31 AM on October 10, 2006 [1 favorite]

Your face is one part of your body that typically loses fat the quickest..

Are you doing aerobic exercise that raises your heart rate to at least 60% of maximum for a minimum of 30 mins daily?

You said that you've increased your daily caloric intake.. To what extent? If you're not doing aerobic exercise and have increased the calories you consume (especially carbs), then that explains why your body fat percentage hasn't changed.

That being said, there may be parts of your body that may never meet your demands.. Trying to be something you're not is a rabbit hole. I find that being in great shape is fulfilling in itself, regardless of the fact that the 'brad pitt' chiseled jaw look may never be a reality.
posted by jazzkat11 at 11:35 AM on October 10, 2006

Stay away from alchohol...
posted by xammerboy at 3:09 PM on October 10, 2006

Yep, the only way to loose your double chin is to loose fat from all over your body. By doing cardio-vascular excercise and controling calorific intake. I could write more but jazzkat11 nailed it.
posted by ob at 3:22 PM on October 10, 2006

1) retain less water via less salt intake. No more sodas, etc. The more salt you input, the more water your body has to keep around to maintain the same salt concentration.

2) Sweat. Hit the track. You will lose salt via sweating during cardio, and also lose fat mass. two for one!
posted by wuzandfuzz at 10:59 PM on October 11, 2006