While everyone loses weight differently, dropping as little as 3 to 5 pounds can show up on your face first, Eboli says.
Often, the face is the last to shape up, and the first to puff up.It doesn't help that your double chin is the first thing anyone notices about you, and by then your toned arms don't matter anymore. Everyone's body, say experts, follows a fat-storing order. The order is not the same for each individual.
Waking up to a puffy, swollen face due to lack of sleep, stress, too much salt intake or just a poor lifestyle is very common for many people. Puffy face gradually goes down to its normal shape and size after some time. Face fat, on the other hand, is somewhat permanent and results of a body type.
Coming to the point, you will first lose “hard fat” (visceral fat) that surrounds your organs like liver, kidneys and later, you will burn soft fat (belly fat, thigh fat, back fat, etc.). Women accumulate fat cells around their belly area, hips, thighs and these areas are usually the last from.
The reason behind excess face fat is poor diet, lack of exercise, aging, or genetic conditions. Fat is usually more visible in the cheeks, jowls, under the chin, and neck. Facial fat tends to be more noticeable in people with rounded, less-pronounced facial features.
Mostly, losing weight is an internal process. You will first lose hard fat that surrounds your organs like liver, kidneys and then you will start to lose soft fat like waistline and thigh fat. The fat loss from around the organs makes you leaner and stronger.
Body-weight loss is usually noticed around the belly, waistline, and thighs first. This is because your body stores fat in different locations. For instance, men hold more fat around their belly, while women store it on their thighs and hips. Weight loss gradually starts with a reduction in belly size.
As against areas such as legs, face and arms, our stomach and abdominal regions possess beta cells that makes it difficult to reduce the fats easily and lose weight in these areas. However, as per research, belly fat is the most difficult to lose as the fat there is so much harder to break down.
Generally, facial fat goes away at 20% body fat and a proper weight loss program can help individuals lose approximately 0.5-1% of their body fat per week. Therefore, it may take a few weeks to lose face fat completely.
Just like some people carry extra weight in their hips, some people carry it in their face. In general, facial fat tends to be more noticeable in people with rounded, less-pronounced facial features. Additionally, your diet can also contribute to weight gain in the face.
If you have a double chin despite being skinny, your body just happens to genetically store extra fat around the jawline. There's really nothing unusual about it, but it does present a challenge in that your chin fat is much harder to target through diet and exercise alone.
It's important to understand that there is no data showing that facial exercises reduce facial fat. You can only reduce fat through diet and full-body exercises like cardio and strength training.
"There's a broad spectrum of metabolisms and hormonal balances among people, but generally, men store fat in the abdominal area, and women store fat in their hips and legs," Gonzalez-Lomas told Menshealth.com. It all comes down to two things you can't really control: genetics and hormones.
How quickly you lose face fat is determined by your genetics and how fast you lose fat on the whole, but as I mentioned earlier, most men that don't naturally have strong facial features need to be around 10% body fat to have a sharp look, and most women need to be around 20%.
Often, extra fat in your face is the result of excess body fat. Losing weight can contribute to fat loss and help slim down your body and face.
Most people lose their chubby cheeks when they go below 20% body fat. At 15% (or less) even stubborn face fat is gone. Your starting point will determine how long it will take. Note: you can expect to lose about 0.5-1% of body fat a week.
For a weight change to show up on your face, you'd need to change your BMI by 1.33 points, the study found. That means a woman and man of average height would need to gain or lose eight pounds and nine pounds, respectively.
The rule of thumb, Fernstrom says, is that losing 8 to 10 pounds translates to going down one size.
On average, a 15 to 20-pound loss (approximately 2 to 5 percent of your starting body weight) is enough to notice "significant changes in your body," he said. You can start seeing differences in yourself as early as two weeks with rapid weight loss.
The first place men typically lose weight is the belly, while women tend to lose weight all over, but hold onto weight in their thighs and hips, Dr. Block explains.
Excess visceral fat can pose serious health risks, but when you embark on a healthy diet and exercise plan, this fat is often the first to disappear. This means you're likely to notice weight loss in your abdominal area first. Too much visceral fat can make your belly protrude.
"By the time you hit 10 pounds, your jeans will feel differently, absolutely," Blum says. "Just a little looser. Theoretically, 10 pounds is considered one size." Once you get past that first couple pounds where you might not be able to tell, Blum says, you really do start to lose body fat.