How to lose face fat: what works and what does not

"I want to lose fat mainly in my face." I hear that from clients regularly, and I get it. The face is the first thing in the mirror, and photos remind you of it even when the rest of you is inside a hoodie. This article covers what changes the cheeks and chin, what is wasted money, and why there is still reason to be optimistic.

Short answer: You cannot lose fat only in the face. Cheek fat comes off in a calorie deficit, when the whole body is losing fat. Retained water can drop faster: less alcohol, less salt, and enough sleep. Rollers and gua sha stones do not burn fat.

You do not get to choose the spot

Fat is not burned in the place you are exercising or massaging. When you lose weight the body draws on stores across the whole body, and it sets the order itself.

In one study, 104 people trained only their non-dominant arm for 12 weeks. Skinfold calipers showed a loss on the trained arm in the men, but MRI, which measures along the whole upper arm, found no difference between the trained and untrained arm. On MRI, subcutaneous fat fell in both arms, the trained and the untrained one, by a similar amount (Kostek, 2007, PMID 17596787).

Where your body tends to store fat is partly inherited. A genome meta-analysis of up to 224,459 people found 49 gene regions linked to waist-to-hip ratio. About 20 of them worked differently in men and women, and in 19 of those the effect was stronger in women (Shungin, 2015, Nature, PMID 25673412). That study looked at waist and hips, not the face, but the principle is the same: you cannot train your way around where your body stores fat. If round cheeks run in your family, face exercises have not been shown to change that.

The full spot-reduction myth is in the article on crunches and belly fat. The face follows the same rule as the belly.

The good news: the face is often noticed first

You cannot pick the place, and the face is still one of the first places other people notice a change. It is always on show. Clothes do not hide it. Even a small loss in the cheeks and under the chin often shows in photos sooner than a change on the thighs.

And before the first fat leaves the face, retained water can leave. That is why someone "sharpens up in the face" after a few days of a sane routine. That first change is water. Fat comes off later. Puffiness can change how a face looks by a surprising amount.

What works

1. A calorie deficit. Without a deficit, body fat does not go down, and the face is no exception. Eat less energy than you spend, for long enough, at a sane pace. How to set the numbers is in calorie deficit: how much to eat. Estimate a starting point with the calculator.
2. Less alcohol. Alcohol is extra calories plus puffiness. An evening with wine is often still on the face the next day. More in alcohol and fat loss.
3. Watch the salt. After a very salty day the body holds water, and some of it sits in the cheeks. You do not have to salt at zero. Cut back on processed meats, chips and instant meals.
4. Sleep. Short, irregular sleep can add to puffiness, and it drives the cravings that break a deficit. Detail in sleep and fat loss.

Salt, alcohol and sleep change mostly water, and water shifts within days. Fat takes weeks. Do not judge your progress by one morning in the mirror.

Face exercises, rollers and gua sha

Face yoga, jade rollers, gua sha stones. They are sold for exactly this. What does the research say?

While writing this I did not find a study showing fat loss from the cheeks by exercise or massage. One published paper on facial exercise is a small pilot study: a 20-week program in middle-aged women. It looked at signs of aging, not fat loss, and one co-author founded the face yoga program that was tested (Alam, 2018, JAMA Dermatology, PMID 29299598). Massage may move some retained water for a while, so the face can look fresher. Neither the roller nor the stone burns fat.

If a face massage is something you enjoy, keep it as a ritual. Do not spend money on it as a fat loss tool.

When a full face is not fat

Before you set a deficit, separate two things. A face that is puffy in the morning after salty food, after alcohol, or after four hours of sleep is not the same as a face that has rounded over the last year along with the rest of the body. The first is water, and it settles within a day or two. The second is fat, and it is handled by a deficit.

If facial swelling stays regardless of food, drink and sleep, appeared suddenly, or started after a new medication, have a doctor check it. Sudden swelling of the face, lips or tongue with trouble breathing needs emergency care right away. That is outside nutrition advice, and an article on the internet should not answer it.

What to do this week

• Set a mild calorie deficit. Without it, fat in the face does not move.
• Cut alcohol to half of a normal week and watch the morning face. The difference is often quick.
• Drop the two saltiest items in your diet, typically processed meats and salty snacks.
• Go to bed so you get seven hours. Five days in a row.
• Photograph yourself from the front in daylight, and again in four weeks. Photos four weeks apart tell you more than the mirror each morning.

Frequently asked questions

Do exercises for a double chin help?

Fat under the chin does not leave because you exercise the face. The deficit and genetics decide. If you care about how the head sits in a photo, standing taller and bringing the chin slightly forward changes the pose. The fat stays the same.

Why is my face puffy in the morning?

Most often salt, alcohol, short sleep, or a mix of those from the day before. Retained water shifts through the day, and by evening the face often looks leaner than in the morning. That is also why a morning mirror is a bad way to judge progress.

How long until fat loss shows in the face?

Changes from retained water show within a few days. Fat loss is usually visible in the face after several weeks of an honest deficit. Nobody can honestly promise an exact pace. It depends on the size of your deficit, how consistently you keep it, and where your body tends to store fat.

Sources, so you can check:

1) Kostek MA, et al. Subcutaneous fat alterations resulting from an upper-body resistance training program. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2007;39(7):1177-1185. DOI: 10.1249/mss.0b0138058a5cb | PMID: 17596787

2) Shungin D, et al. New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution. Nature. 2015;518(7538):187-196. DOI: 10.1038/nature14132 | PMID: 25673412

3) Alam M, et al. Association of Facial Exercise With the Appearance of Aging. JAMA Dermatol. 2018;154(3):365-367. DOI: 10.1001/jamadermatol.2017.5142 | PMID: 29299598

Martin Barna

Online nutrition and fitness coach since 2013, with 600+ clients coached. I work with calories, protein and habits you can keep.

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This article is for information only. It is not medical advice. If you have a health condition, talk to your doctor.