Exercise can help reduce your double chin -- or it might do nothing for it. It all depends on the reason you have a double chin in the first place. If excess weight is your culprit, exercise can help. If your double chin has another cause, another remedy is in order.
Cause
If excess weight is causing your double chin, get moving. Although there are no exercises that allow you to reduce weight in just one area, exercise can help reduce the fat content around your neck -- which can help reduce the double chin. If your double chin comes from saggy skin and muscles due to aging, or if the double chin is part of your genetic makeup, no amount of exercise will reduce it. Your options for getting rid of the chin in those cases are plastic surgery or camouflage.
General Exercise and Weight Loss
Exercise that works the weight off your entire body can help reduce a fat-related double chin. Losing weight involves burning off more calories than you consume. Aerobic workouts such as walking, swimming, jogging or cardio machines -- coupled with a reduced calorie intake -- speed your weight loss.
Targeted Exercises
Exercises that work your chin and face can help tone those areas. Work the jaw muscles related to your chin by chewing gum -- preferably sugar-free. The shovel exercise, in which you make you lower jaw mimic a shovel, is another option. Open your mouth as wide as possible, jut out your lower jaw and scoop your jaw forward as if it were a shovel.
Posture and Massage
Maintaining correct posture and a targeted facial massage can help reduce a double chin. Always sit or stand with your spine straight, your head high and your jawline slightly jutted forward. This can reduce localized fat as well as make your chin appear slimmer. A facial massage that targets a double chin consists of gently pressing your thumbs into the muscles beneath your jawbone. Start with your thumbs in the center front of your chin and move them under and out along the bottom of your jaw bone.
Surgery and Camouflage
Your plastic surgery option for reducing a double chin is a face-lift that includes a procedure called lipectomy. Camouflage options are cheaper and less intrusive. Clothing camouflage includes turtlenecks or other high-neck collars or collars that are widely open that don't draw undue attention the neck area. Avoid haircuts and hairstyles in which hair sits near or sweeps toward your neck. Try a darker shade of makeup beneath the jawbone to give it the illusion of depth.
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