How to Lose Face Fat
Lose face fat the only way that works, by lowering your overall body fat, and cut back on the salt and short sleep that make a face look puffier in the meantime.
You will end up with a plan for both causes of a fuller face, a steady calorie deficit for the fat and fewer of the habits that add puffiness on top of it.
You take a photo and think, "When did my face get so round?" You cannot just do a few jaw exercises and watch the fat melt away. Face fat does not work like that.
Spot reduction is a myth. In a 2011 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, one group did seven abdominal exercises 5 days a week for 6 weeks while everyone kept eating the same calories. Their abdominal endurance improved significantly. Their abdominal fat, body fat percentage, and waist measurements showed no significant change. Your body decides where it stores and burns fat based on genetics, hormones, and overall energy balance, not which muscle you happen to be working.
The same habits that reduce overall body fat will show in your face too. Some of what makes a face look fuller is not fat at all. Sodium makes your body hold extra water, and short sleep shows up as swollen eyes.
Create a calorie deficit
There is no way to burn fat from just your face. Fat loss happens across your entire body when you consistently eat fewer calories than you burn. Where that loss shows up first is set by genetics and hormones, not by the area you want to slim. Start by tracking what you eat for a few days using a free app. Tracking makes the small additions visible, like drinks, sauces, and snacks eaten standing up. You do not need to go hungry. Swap high-calorie snacks for fruits or vegetables, eat smaller portions at meals, and cut back on sugary drinks.
Good to know: For a daily calorie target sized to your body, your goal weight, and the date you want to reach it, use the NIH Body Weight Planner.
Cut back on sodium
Sodium attracts water, and the FDA notes that a high-sodium diet draws water into your bloodstream. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day, with an optimal goal of 1,500 mg, and notes that Americans average over 3,100 mg. The AHA also points out that more than 70% of the sodium people eat comes from packaged and restaurant food rather than the salt shaker, which is why reading labels cuts more sodium than cooking with less salt. Canned soups, deli meats, sauces, and restaurant meals all belong to that 70%. Start reading labels. Choose low-sodium versions when they exist, and season with herbs, spices, lemon, or vinegar instead of salt.
Heads up: On a Nutrition Facts label, the FDA counts 5% Daily Value or less of sodium per serving as low and 20% or more as high. Check the serving size against how much you actually eat.
Drink water instead of sugary drinks
Water will not flush fat or salt out of your face, and we could not find a study showing that drinking extra water reduces facial puffiness. What water does reliably is replace calories. A 12-ounce can of regular cola has about 150 calories by USDA figures, so swapping 1 can a day for water takes about 1,050 calories out of every week. For how much to drink, the Institute of Medicine found that most healthy people meet their needs by letting thirst guide them, and set about 3.7 liters a day for men and 2.7 liters a day for women of total water, counting the water in food, as enough for healthy, sedentary people in temperate climates. Keep a water bottle with you through the day. If plain water feels boring, add slices of cucumber, lemon, or berries. Unsweetened herbal teas count too.
Exercise regularly
Both cardio and strength training help you burn calories and maintain the deficit your body needs to lose fat. The CDC recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity per week, plus strength training on 2 or more days. That breaks down to about 30 minutes of brisk walking 5 days a week, plus a couple of weight sessions. Cardio burns calories in the moment, and strength training builds muscle, which raises the calories you burn at rest. A 2012 review in Current Sports Medicine Reports puts the effect of 10 weeks of resistance training at about 1.4 kg (3 pounds) more lean weight, a 7% higher resting metabolic rate, and 1.8 kg (4 pounds) less fat. You do not need a gym membership. Walking, cycling, bodyweight exercises, or following along with a free video at home all count.
Fix your sleep
In a Mayo Clinic study, 12 healthy adults ages 19 to 39 ate an average of 308 more calories a day when their sleep was cut to 4 hours a night for 2 weeks than when they slept 9 hours. Over those 2 weeks of short sleep, their total abdominal fat rose 9% and their visceral fat rose 11%. In the 3 recovery days that followed, their eating and weight went back to normal, but their visceral fat kept increasing. The authors say plainly that weekend catch-up sleep may not offset the risk built up during the week. Aim for 7 to 9 hours per night, the National Sleep Foundation's range for adults 18 to 64. Set a consistent bedtime, keep your room cool and dark, and stop using screens at least 30 minutes before you plan to fall asleep. Our guide on how to sleep better covers the rest of the routine.
Good to know: Short sleep also shows in your face. In a Karolinska Institutet study, people photographed after a 5-hour night followed by 31 hours awake were rated as having more swollen eyes, more hanging eyelids, and darker circles under the eyes than after normal sleep. The Mayo Clinic study above also measured cortisol and found no difference between short and normal sleep.
Reduce alcohol
Alcohol works against you in two ways. First, it is calorie-dense. A 5-ounce glass of red wine has about 125 calories and a 16-ounce pint of regular beer about 200, by USDA figures, and they come on top of whatever you eat that day. Second, alcohol suppresses vasopressin, the hormone that tells your kidneys to hold on to water, so you urinate more and lose fluid, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. We could not find a study that measured facial puffiness after drinking. Cut back, and to see what alcohol does to your own face, stop for 4 weeks and compare photos taken in the same light at the start and the end.
Start today with sodium and sleep, which act on puffiness, then set your calorie target with the planner in step 1 and add the exercise in step 4 for the fat itself. Take a photo now in steady light so you have something to compare against in 4 weeks. If your face suddenly swells without explanation, or stays puffy after you have cut sodium and are sleeping 7 hours or more, talk to a doctor. The NIH lists a round face among the signs of Cushing syndrome and a puffy face among the symptoms of hypothyroidism, and allergic reactions can swell the face too. Lifestyle changes alone will not fix any of them.
Questions we get asked about this
Answers from experience, not a textbook.
You can reduce puffiness without losing weight by cutting sodium and getting enough sleep, because sodium changes how much water your body holds and short sleep makes your eyes look swollen. Actual fat in your face only decreases when your overall body fat goes down, and that typically involves some weight loss.
We could not find a study that timed how quickly a face slims during weight loss. Your face changes as part of your overall loss, so track your weight and waist, and compare photos taken every 4 weeks in the same light. Sleep shows fastest. In the Karolinska study in step 5, a single night without sleep was enough to make eyes look more swollen.
A 2018 pilot study from Northwestern University in JAMA Dermatology put middle-aged women through a 20-week facial exercise program and reported a younger-looking appearance afterward. The women did 30 minutes of exercises daily for 8 weeks, then every other day until week 20, and 16 of the 27 who started finished. Blinded dermatologists found fuller upper and lower cheeks in particular, because the exercises built up the cheek muscles. That is the opposite of a slimmer face. The founder of the exercise program was one of the authors. Face exercises will not reduce the layer of fat underneath. Overall body fat reduction is the only proven way to lose face fat.
No. Chewing gum works the masseter muscles in your jaw, but exercising a muscle does not burn fat from the area around it. Heavy gum chewing is one of the habits linked to masseter hypertrophy, an uncommon enlargement of the jaw muscles that makes the lower face look wider. If your jaw aches or clicks, the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research lists gum chewing among the habits to cut back.
Genes decide much of where your body stores fat. A genome-wide study of 362,499 UK Biobank participants identified 98 independent genetic associations with how body fat is distributed, and found the effects of 37 of them were stronger in women than in men. That study measured fat in the arms, legs, and trunk rather than the face, but it shows that where fat goes is partly inherited and differs between women and men. Temporary causes like high sodium intake, sleep deprivation, and hormonal fluctuations can also make the face appear fuller than the rest of your body.