Body By Design

If you want to skip reading and go straight to the action, here’s a good program:  Get Rid Of Your Double Chin

I’ve never really worried about getting fat, I’m a healthy eater and I do a lot of sports, but I’m not getting any younger and while watching the pictures of our latest holiday trip (to India, which was amazing btw) I noticed I’m developing a double chin. It’s not a floppy double chin yet, but let me tell you that I’m not very pleased with that observation, so time to do something about it…

How to get rid of a double chin? I’m not going to give those that are in the same boat as me false hope: although double chins can be reduced by loosing weight and doing facial exercises, complete removal of your double chin requires surgery. Although this cosmetic surgery procedure is moderately priced and not very painful, I don’t think it’s the way to go, I’m not a fan of cosmetic surgery (maybe I’ll be talking different when I get older). Liposuction is not sexy. 

That being said, there are other ways to reduce your double chin.

Let’s first have a look at the reasons your double chin exists:

• Genetic tendency.  There’s not much we can do about that unfortunately…
• Fat and fluid build-up.  There’s something we can do about that…
• Lack of exercise.  Idem.
• Another thing that promotes double chins: excessive tanning: tanning is bad for the elasticity of your skin.

The first thing you should ask yourself: are there other places on your body with excess fat (the belly is the first thing that comes to mind).  If you have to answer yes to this question, the solution is relatively simple: you need to loose weight.  You will tighten your double chin if you loose fat, weight loss helps tremendously. 

You more or less know loosing fat  involves:

• Healthy food
• Regular meals
• Go easy on alcohol, sugar and fats
• Lots of exercise
• Enough sleep (7-8 hours a night)
• If you need more help in this area, I can recommend Fat Loss 4 Idiots

Besides that, there are a couple of hacks you can try:

• Don’t have long hair that finished at the level of your chin, it will draw attention to it.  Have a look at some hairstyles that don’t emphasize your chin (short hair mostly).
• Don’t wear tight dog collars, it also draws attention to your chin area.  The same goes for earrings and necklaces.
• Wear an open neckline.  Ladies have the advantage that they have something not far below the double chin they can emphasize to distract the attention.
• The ladies can also use makeup to cover up the double chin.  Ask a makeup artist for tips.

That being said, these are all just cover ups and not solutions, the diet and exercise will be a lot more help, also for other areas of your body.

Besides getting the usual aerobic exercise (running, biking etc.) and anaerobic exercise (weight lifting), there are also some double chin exercises you can do.  They don’t do wonders, but they sure help.

• Keep your jaws busy: chew some sugar-free chewing gum will keep your jaw muscles working.
• Exercise the platysma muscle (the muscle that’s responsible for the downward movement of your jaw): pull your bottom lip over your bottom teeth and move your jaw up and down.
• Another double chin exercise: slap your chin with the back of your hand in a steady rhythm for a couple of minutes.
• Press your palm on your forehead while resisiting with your head for 10 counts.  Repeat with your hand on the back of your head and on the sides.
• This is also a good exercise for a double chin: lie down on your back and tilt your head of the floor.  Move your head up and down as if you were saying YES, without touching the floor.  Repeat this a couple of times.  Then move your head to the sides as if you were saying NO, also without touching the ground.
• Hold your head in a natural position.  Open your mouth as far as you can and stick out your tongue as far as you can.  Repeat.
• Stretch your jaw muscles by tilting back your head (gently) while keeping your mouth shut. Press your tongue against the roof of your mouth.
• Tilt back your head and turn it to the left.  Then move your lower jaw forward.  Repeat on the right side

The last two double chin exercises are explained in this video (the women are slightly annoying, but it’s a good explanation):

Besides weight loss, surgery and exercises there are of course a lot of commercial products that claim to eliminate your double chin.  Most of them come in the form of gel or cream.  Velform chin wrap is an example of such a product.  I never tried any of those and I’m not planning to either, I don’t believe in short-term remedies.

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