How To Reduce Your Double Chin

The steps required to make it possible to reduce a double chin largely depend on the reasons why you have it in the first place. There are basically three reasons or a combination of these reasons for a double chin — excess weight, age related muscle slackness and genetics. It is best to understand why you have it before you can formulate a plan for reducing it. Read some of the ways in which you can improve the appearance of your chin.

Exercise: A double chin is essentially excess fat around your neck so any exercise, either general or specific that works on these muscles should help in reducing it. Some exercises that you can try include —

  1. Chewing sugar free gum: Chewing gum not only helps in removing plaque and overall dental hygiene, it also serves to work the jaw muscles specifically responsible for your chin. If you don’t like gum just pretend to chew. It has the same effect.
  2. Shovel exercise: To do this, you need to open your mouth real wide and then jut out the lower jaw, making a motion of scooping out stuff approximating the motion of a shovel.
  3. General exercise: Apart from jaw/chin specific exercises, you should also make sure that you do enough cardio (walking, swimming, running…) as also weight lifting exercises that help you lose weight and build overall muscle tone. When body loses weight, it will also lose from specific problem areas like the chin.

Reduce Calorie Intake: Excess weight is the most common reason for an unsightly chin and watching what you eat is important if you want to get your chin back. Eating more high fiber and low calorie foods is the best way to reduce overall calorie intake. Make sure you do not drop to below 60% – 75% of your daily calorific requirements. For most adults 1200 calories is the basic minimum required to stay healthy. Spread it out over 6-8 meals to make sure it gets metabolized well.

Good Posture: Holding your head up high with the jaw line slightly jutting out helps not only in reducing the chin fat but also gives the appearance of a leaner chin. Drooping your head or walking with a downwards tilt on the other hand will bring the fat layers into focus even more. Try investing in an ergonomic chair if you don’t have one to help you maintain an upright posture.

Cosmetic Surgery: Called a Lipectomy or Mentoplasty, this should normally be the last option when nothing else works. A relatively simple surgery, it involves the removal of the fat pad and shortening of muscles under the chin through a small cut. There is a small bruise where the edges are stitched together which disappears in about a week’s time.

Camouflaging A Double Chin

Whatever methods you try and adopt, it is important to be realistic about your expectations depending on your age, weight and of course your chin fat. Results vary from individual to individual and barring surgery, no method can completely reverse the effects of gravity. For the time that you are waiting for your chin to go away, there is some cover up techniques to reduce its prominence and make you feel less conscious.

Make Up: Use a darker shade of make up to highlight the jaw line as against the neck area which should have a lighter shade. Else draw attention away from the neck with bold eye make up.

Hairstyle: Cropped hair that does not sit at the level of your chin also helps to make it less noticeable.

12 exercises that erase your double chin

Avoid chokers: Tight ornaments or beads around the neck can serve to accentuate the fat deposits making you look worse. Make sure that you wear jewelry that hangs and does not fit too tightly.

High Necked Clothes: Either a very high Chinese collar or completely open necked styles are the best. The first will hide totally while the second will make sure the folds are less visible.

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HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our blood alcohol, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years. Our team of health professionals, and researchers use peer reviewed studies as source elements in our articles. Our high quality content has been featured in a number of leading websites, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, Live Strong, GQ, and many more.

J. Wood
6. March 2009
J. Wood
6. March 2009
I found that because my posture is better my double chin has vanished. I started sitting up straight after using my pre-owned aeron chair from officedesignsoutlet.com. I love the chair and it is beyond comfortable. Great service too.

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Written by HealthStatus Team
Medical Writer & Editor

HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our blood alcohol, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years. Our team of health professionals, and researchers use peer reviewed studies as source elements in our articles. Our high quality content has been featured in a number of leading websites, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, Live Strong, GQ, and many more.

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