Nearly everyone has wanted to lose a bit of body fat, whether from their arms, thighs, or stomach.
But many people want to lose fat from their face, cheeks, neck, and chin for a slimmer, more toned appearance. There are countless tools, devices, and supplements claiming the best method on how to lose face fat—but we have the inside scoop.
A healthy diet, regular exercise, and reducing stress can yield dramatic results. In this article, we cover the nine best strategies on how to lose face fat that anybody can use. Here’s everything you need to know.
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What Causes Face Fat?
Before we dive into strategies for slimming and toning the face, let’s start with the basics—what causes face fat?
Excess facial fat is caused by an overall increase in body weight. Weight gain is typically the result of a poor diet, lack of exercise, aging, or genetic factors. The fat is typically more prominent in the cheeks, neck, and chin, but this varies from person to person.
The places you store fat in your body are primarily based on genetics. This means you can be relatively skinny and have chubby cheeks or a slim face with a bigger trunk.
Facial fat can also be caused by bloating, swelling, and puffiness. These issues are typically caused by alcohol consumption, too much salt, or stress. Fortunately, there are several ways you can reduce facial fat, regardless of how it’s caused.
How To Lose Face Fat Properly
1. Incorporate Cardio
One of the most effective methods for reducing excess body fat across the entire body is regular cardio exercise. Cardio, or aerobic exercise, is a physical activity that gets your blood pumping, heart racing, and sweat dripping.
Cardiovascular exercise can help you burn more calories and lose extra weight. One 2015 study found women who engaged in more cardio activity experienced more fat reduction than those who didn’t.
A few examples of cardio exercise include the following:
- Brisk walking
- Jogging
- Stair climbing
- Jump rope
- Dancing
- Swimming
- Cycling
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends 150 minutes of cardio exercise per week. This can be moderate-intensity exercise and translates to roughly 20 minutes per day.
2. Try Facial Exercises
Facial exercises, like the cheekbone lift and jaw flex, may help tighten and improve the appearance of the facial muscles.
One study assessed the association of a 20-week facial exercise program with the facial appearance of middle-aged women. Although the study wasn’t perfect, it did find slight increases in the toning of the upper and lower cheek muscles.
Your results will vary, but it might be worthwhile incorporating facial exercises alongside regular cardio, strength training, and a healthy diet. Here are a few to consider:
The Cheekbone Lift
- Position two fingers on top of each cheekbone.
- Carefully raise the skin until it is taut.
- Open your mouth to create an “O” shape. You should notice a bit of resistance in the cheek muscles.
- Hold the position for 5 seconds before closing your mouth.
- Repeat the exercise for 10–15 reps.
The Chipmunk Cheek Squeeze
- Tilt your head back so you’re looking at the ceiling. Raise your chin toward the sky.
- Now, suck in your cheeks like you’re making a ‘fish’ face.
- Hold the position for 5 seconds before returning to the starting position.
- Repeat the movement for 10–15 reps.
The Jaw Flex
- Tilt your head back so you’re staring at the ceiling.
- Raise your lower lip over your upper lip as far as possible. You should notice a stretch in the jaw muscles.
- Hold the position for 10 seconds.
- Return to the starting position and repeat for 10–15 reps.
3. Do Some Strength Training
Besides facial muscle exercises, regular strength training will also provide you with benefits toward a slimmer, toned face.
Regular exercise routines can help you burn more calories, helping you maintain a healthy weight. Resistance training has several more benefits, like improved strength, more flexibility, better mood, and overall better health.
Lack of exercise can lead to adverse health outcomes, like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and increase the risk of obesity.
Don’t panic if it sounds intimidating to join a gym or lift weights for the first time. There are countless weight loss exercises you can do from the comfort of your home, with or without equipment.
If you’re just getting started, you can perform strength training routines twice per week, alongside 2–3 days of cardio.
4. Cut Back on Carbs
A balanced diet of whole, minimally processed, nutrient-dense foods is essential for a healthy lifestyle and weight management.
Unfortunately, many individuals eat a diet rich in refined carbs. Pasta, white bread, cookies, and sugary drinks are common culprits of weight gain.
Refined carbs are heavily processed, leaving them without many nutrients and fiber. Without much fiber, there’s only sugar and extra calories. Your body breaks down these options quickly, leading to blood sugar spikes and unbalanced blood sugar levels, increasing the chance you overeat.
Instead, manage your carb intake. Replace refined options with whole grains and look for complex carbohydrates, like fruit, vegetables, nuts, and legumes.
5. Minimize Salt
Who doesn’t love something salty, like french fries, chips, or deli meats?
Unfortunately, excess sodium intake can have adverse effects on your fat accumulation. Many people’s salt intake comes from processed foods, like sauces, microwave meals, and other quick snacks.
Too much salt can lead to facial bloating, swelling, and puffiness. This happens because salt causes the body to store extra water, known as fluid retention.
If you’re particularly sensitive to salt, you may notice excessive water retention and more drastic effects. The best way to reduce your salt intake is to adjust your food consumption habits. Avoid junk foods, processed snacks, deli meats, and fast foods high in salt.
6. Don’t Drink Alcohol
A glass of wine or a beer here and there is typically fine, but excessive alcohol intake can lead to fat storage and extra body fat. Alcohol is high in calories but doesn’t have many nutrients like vitamins and minerals.
It also causes you to use the restroom more, leading to more water retention and dehydration.
Not to mention, it can increase your hunger and appetite, causing you to eat more than you usually would. Regulating your alcohol consumption can help address these issues and decrease the chance of alcohol-induced bloating.
But what’s considered excessive alcohol consumption?
According to the United States Dietary Guidelines, women should have one drink or less in a day, and men should have no more than two drinks per day. Less is always more when it comes to alcohol.
7. Stay Hydrated
Drinking water is critical for your physical performance, brain function, mood, energy levels, and survival.
But did you know a glass of water can also enhance weight loss efforts?
Some research has shown that individuals who drank water before a meal consumed fewer calories during that meal compared to those who didn’t.
Another eight-week study following 50 young women with excess weight found that drinking an additional 500 mL of water three times per day before meals led to significant reductions in body weight.
Plenty of water is a must, whether you’re trying to lose weight or bulk up.
8. Get a Good Night’s Sleep
Who doesn’t love plenty of sleep? Lack of sleep doesn’t just make you grouchy; it can increase stress hormones, increase appetite, and negatively impact your metabolism.
Sleep deprivation may increase levels of the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin. It may also decrease the levels of leptin, which lets you know when you’re full.
This may make it easier to turn to poor food sources that are higher in low-quality carbs, fats, and calories.
Adequate sleep is critical, so aim for 7–9 hours of sleep per night. Sleeping less than seven hours per night may increase the risk of health complications or weight gain.
9. Reduce Stress
One of the most important factors for weight management is reducing stress levels. When you get stressed, your body releases the hormone cortisol.
The hormone has many functions, but you may experience adverse symptoms when your cortisol levels are too high. High cortisol levels can cause weight gain in the face, poor metabolic processes, high blood pressure, and other issues.
If you’re consistently stressed out, it will be harder to lose weight and maintain healthy lifestyle habits.
Fortunately, many of the habits that help with weight loss also reduce stress. Regular cardio and resistance training, eating a healthy diet, and getting enough sleep can help you maintain stable cortisol levels.
Spending time with friends, getting outside, meditation and creative pursuits may also help if you’re particularly stressed. Reducing your stress and anxiety will make every other goal easier to obtain.
How to Avoid Future Facial Fat
Now that you understand some of the methods for getting rid of facial fat, how can you prevent it from coming back? Many of the techniques that can help you minimize facial fat and excess body weight will also prevent it from coming back.
Watch Your Calorie Intake
One of the main things you can do to prevent chubby cheeks and excess body weight is to watch your caloric intake. Everyone has a Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), or the total energy they burn in a day.
This number will vary depending on several factors, including genetics, sex, body composition, and activity levels.
However, you will gain weight if you have a higher daily calorie intake than your TDEE. If you’re trying to lose weight, you’ll need to eat less than your TDEE. For maintenance, you will want to eat right around your daily calories.
You can calculate your daily calorie needs with online tools. This way, you can have an estimate of how many calories you need to consume in a day to meet your fitness goals.
Get Regular Exercise
Besides watching how much you eat, it is critical to get regular exercise. Regular exercise doesn’t just benefit your weight; it helps your heart, lungs, flexibility, and mind.
Many sources will have you believe that the treadmill or weight room is the only way to get fit.
But there are countless options to get your body moving and burn calories. Basketball, sports, martial arts, hiking, rock climbing, and other physical hobbies can help you stay active. The easiest way to stay active is to make it part of your lifestyle.
Try joining a hiking or sports group. Take the stairs instead of the elevator when you can. Go for walks with your dog or loved ones. The specifics don’t really matter—just make a consistent effort to stay active.
Eat a Balanced Diet
Just like watching how much you eat, eating healthy foods is another critical component of weight loss and weight management. A balanced diet contains whole, minimally processed foods rich in nutrients.
You’ll want a balance of proteins, carbohydrates, and healthy fats.
Avoid junk food, fast food, microwave meals, and sweets. You can start small if you’re new to eating healthy. Try starting with a healthy breakfast at first. Once you get used to eating healthy meals each morning, you can begin changing your lunch or dinner options.
Or you can make simple swaps, like changing sugary drinks for sparkling water. These simple substitutes will start to add up, helping you lose weight and keep it off.
Is It Possible to Lose Only Face Fat?
You might wonder if it’s possible to lose weight on your face, abs, or arms—but is this possible?
Unfortunately, there isn’t much evidence to support spot reduction or targeted fat loss.
Some studies have found that spot reduction is not an adequate means for increasing fat loss in specific areas of the body. Fat cells are stored throughout the entire body, which can all be broken down and used as fuel.
Essentially, you can’t decide where you will lose fat from first.
Your body will break down fat across the entire body. For these reasons, it’s best to focus on overall weight loss instead of targeting specific areas. The techniques for weight loss will help you lose facial weight, but it might take some time.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How Can I Slim My Face in a Week?
Limiting your alcohol consumption, drinking plenty of water, minimizing salt intake, and getting high-quality sleep. This will help reduce facial bloating, fluid retention, swelling, puffiness, and inflammation.
Why Is My Face So Fat but I’m Skinny?
Unfortunately, you can’t choose where your body puts on fat. If you’re noticing more facial fat, it may be due to weight gain, water retention, or bloating. Try cutting back on alcohol and salt, and stay hydrated. This can reduce bloating and swelling.
How Long Does It Take To Lose Face Fat?
The time it takes to lose facial fat will depend on various factors, like starting weight, physical activity, diet, and more. Weight loss can take time, so it might take you multiple weeks or months to notice significant changes. The key is a solid weight loss strategy and consistency.
