How to lose weight in your face, according to the experts
Lucy Locket Loves (opens in new tab) , Personal Trainer, Fitness & Nutrition Coach, explains that one of the many benefits of drinking water (opens in new tab) is that it can aid weight loss.
4 Ways to Make Your Face Look Slimmer
Get ready for the great no-surgery cheekbone and jawline reveal.
By Nina Bahadur and Paul Kita Published: Apr 29, 2022
PeopleImages // Getty Images
If you’ve been thinking that all that pandemic snacking has left you with more—as the internet puts it—”face fat” than you used to have, we encourage you to look farther than the camera on your phone or computer.
Those devices may not be reflecting your reality.
A group of researchers surveyed dermatologists and, in a paper published in the International Journal of Women’s Dermatology, described the phenomenon of device-adjusted self-image as “Zoom dysmorphia.”
Americans see their primary care doctors less often than they did a decade ago. Adults under 65 made nearly 25% fewer visits to primary care providers in 2016 than they did in 2018, according to National Public Radio. In the same time period, the number of adults who went at least a year without visiting a primary care provider increased from 38% to 46%.
In other words, Zoom—and other tech that you use with front-facing cameras—can make you look different than you actually do. What’s kind of wild about all this, the paper goes on to say, is that Zoom dysmorphia might be driving people to get cosmetic procedures to change how they look.
There’s no need to go that drastic. Even if weight gain really is showing up in your face, there are certain things that you can do help that don’t require a going under the knife or the needle.
Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as targeted facial weight loss. In other words, there’s no workout or device (and there are a few out there) that’ll help you lose weight in your face specifically.
But there are ways to better expose your jawline or cheekbones and have your face look slimmer without getting surgery. So while you can’t really lose weight in your face, there are a few things you can do to expose your facial structure if you feel your face is puffier than usual. Here are those strategies.
Lose weight all over.
Okay, maybe not surprising.
But still: When you lose weight everywhere, you usually lose it in your face, too. So don’t fall for any hype that promises face-specific results. “As much as it would be great to be able to pick and choose where we lose weight, it isn’t possible,” explains Nicole Avena, Ph.D., a nutrition and dieting expert and neuroscience professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. “We really don’t have control over where our body loses fat from first when we start to lose weight.”
It’s a good place to start, at least.
Cut back on salt to reduce facial puffiness.
“Water is attracted to sodium like a magnet,” says Melissa Majumdar, R.D., a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “Any time we eat foods that are high in sodium, we’ll retain more water, which can cause bloating and the feeling of puffiness.”
To lower your sodium intake, Majumdar recommends cutting down on processed foods (yes, that does include bacon), and boosting your potassium intake to balance out your electrolytes.
“Adding in more fresh foods like produce can accomplish both the short-term goal of less puffiness and the long-term goal of weight loss,” Majumdar says. She notes that “most fruits and vegetables are good sources of potassium.” So are legumes, so fill up on foods such as lentils, pinto beans, and kidney beans.
Befriend the non-alcoholic drink, at least some of the night.
If you notice your face looks swollen the morning after a few drinks, that’s because alcohol dehydrates the body—so your skin tries to retain as much water as possible.
Cutting down on booze can help, as can making sure you drink enough water. Keep in mind that cutting down on alcohol these days doesn’t mean giving up on taste.
Check with a doctor.
If changing your diet and cutting out alcohol don’t make a difference, you might want to get a check-up. Allergies, a bacterial skin infection called cellulitis, or a sinus problem won’t cause weight gain in your face, but can all cause facial swelling, and they’re all treatable.
How to lose weight in your face, according to the experts
Talk to any health or medical expert about weight loss and they’ll confirm that there’s no real way to target weight loss to one specific part of your body. In fact, the golden rule reamins that the easiest way to lose weight (opens in new tab) in one area is to aim to lose weight overall. And the best way to achieve this is (you guessed it!) through exercise and a balanced, healthy diet.
The plus side is that if you’re targeting your face in particular when adopting a weight loss regime, it’s an area that sees the most change initially. “You’ll usually lose fat from your face first,” Personal trainer Carly Yue tells us. So stick to your exercise regime and choose a diet that works (opens in new tab) and you should see the results you want sooner rather than later.
How to lose weight in your face
1. Stay hydrated
Lucy Locket Loves (opens in new tab) , Personal Trainer, Fitness & Nutrition Coach, explains that one of the many benefits of drinking water (opens in new tab) is that it can aid weight loss.
“Make sure you’re super hydrated and drinking enough water,” she says. “Water plays such a vital role in weight loss and tracking your water intake will not only help your shift the pounds but also do wonders for you skin at the same time, helping you glow!”
2. Get fit from the inside out first
Wellbeing coach and fitness ambassador Stuart Pilkington (opens in new tab) says that diet should be your number one priority when it comes to weight loss.
“Your skin condition can transform the appearance of your skin. Creams don’t cut it – you need to eat foods that will help your complexion (opens in new tab) . Your body repairs from the inside out and only a diet rich in nutrients and minerals can reduce blemishes, swelling and excess water, all of which give the appearance of a bigger face. Focus on green vegetables and healthy fats such as avocado, almonds and walnuts.”
3. Don’t be afraid of the weights at the gym
Kay Justice, personal trainer at KJ Nutrition (opens in new tab) & Fitness points out, “Losing weight in your face is something you can’t do without seeing a change in the rest of your body. Cardio exercise is great to burn fat so doing this you’ll definitely see a change.
“However, once you end your cardio session the fat burning ends too. To continue burning fat after you’ve exercised you need to put in some sessions with weights. By building your muscle mass you naturally increase your metabolic rate so your body ticks over at a greater rate, burning calories faster (opens in new tab) .”
4. Say goodbye to alcohol
Personal trainer, nutritionist and fitness author Carly Yue suggests that scaling back on those glasses of red and cheeky G&Ts will help with weight loss and reduce bloating – and you’ll start to see results in your face.
“Cut down on alcohol which makes your cheeks and face puffy and swollen,” Carly advises. “Even if you don’t want to stop drinking alcohol altogether, you will still see the benefits of cutting back alcohol (opens in new tab) pretty quickly. Try only drinking at the weekends, or limiting yourself to one glass of wine when you have a meal.”
5. Try a facial work out
John O Neill, personal trainer at Club Vitae gym, Clayton Hotel Limerick (opens in new tab) , points out that with so many muscles in your face (the human face typically has 43 muscles), certain exercises can actually help you tone up.
Here are John’s top tips for toning those facial muscles:
- To tone the muscles around your mouth, say X and O in a row. This exercise makes your facial muscles contract and move. Do this exercise daily, repeating it as many times as you can.
- Help get rid of chubby cheeks by toning your cheek muscles. All you have to do is make a fish face by sucking in your cheeks. Repeat 20 times every day for positive results.
- Get all your facial muscles working by opening your mouth widely and roundly. Hold the position for 5 seconds and relax. Repeat up to 30 times over a day.
- Fill your mouth with air so that your face looks fat and round. Keeping your lips closed, move the air in your mouth from side to side. Do this for 5 minutes over a day.
- With facial massage you can lose considerable amount of fat from your face by regular facial massage. It enhances oxygen and blood circulation which, in turn, helps tighten your skin.”
How to lose the double chin
Keen to get rid of a double chin (opens in new tab) ? You could also perform a lymphatic drainage massage if you’re keen to reduce puffiness.
You can do it yourself, by simply massaging your face in circular motions, which will help to drain toxins and reduce fluid retention in the area.
Celebrity facialist and Time Bomb Skincare Emma Brown explains: ‘We have lots of lymph nodes along our jaw line, so by massaging from your chin upwards towards your ear, you’re assisting the lymphatic draining process.
‘When we massage our face we are increasing the blood flow to the area we are working on, which in turn increases the amount of oxygen and nutrients which reach the skin as well as boosting collagen production.
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