Best face exercises for chubby cheeks
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Thu Jan 12, 2012 4:24 pm

Hello! I'm hoping to find some recommendations for the best facial exercises for chubby cheeks. After browsing the site, I saw ageless by loulou and flexeffect are very popular for overall face exercises. I don't care about wrinkles or other parts of the face for now, just want to get rid of fat in the cheeks and maybe define the jawline. I'm also male, if that makes a difference. Thanks so much for your help!

free skin care · Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:53 pm

rainriver I don't know how old you are but when people are young, they hate their chubby faces and then when they get old and gaunt they miss the fullness of their faces. It seems we keep thinking it's greener on the other side of the fence.

That said, Eva Fraser's program does have a workout for slimming chubby cheeks. I really think it doesn't hurt to invest in a program and just have it handy. The thing is, with most programs, spot training will not get you as good results as if you did the whole program--at least as a foundation and then move on to focus on areas of concern AFTER you've gained tone in your entire face. (It's kinda like you can't take a flabby body and work hard to define a waist when everything is slack. But get your whole body in nice tone and your waist will just seem to cinch without much trouble because it's like your skin becomes this natural corset that holds everything in thanks to toned muscles all over.) The bonus exercises in Eva's program come later in the book because they aren't supposed to be done as the first step.

Your face muscles are interconnected...and I don't think there's a way to target one area without the effect affecting other areas--and not always in a good way if those other muscles don't have tone. So my suggestion is to look at before/after photos and find a program that gives the results you like and commit to that. Then after you've achieved tone in all your face, you can then zone in one the areas you want to address.

But if you're young, be glad for that fullness because it may mean you will look young for a long time.

free skin care · Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:12 pm

Sorry to be a bearer of bad news, but I don't think you can really slim the cheeks with facial exercises...at least, not by much.

free skin care · Sun Jan 15, 2012 1:18 am

cm5597 wrote:

Sorry to be a bearer of bad news, but I don't think you can really slim the cheeks with facial exercises...at least, not by much.

cm5597 On the contrary, if you have tone first and still have a round face, you can make it appear less round. with an exercise Eva Fraser has in her program. My brother used it and it worked.

I too used to have a roundish face and even after gaining tone in my 20's it was still roundish and I didn't like it. So I used the exercise in Eva's program and it gave my face what appeared to be definition that gave me cheekbones by making the lower part of the face less bulky and creating the same effect people hope to achieve with contouring.

And lest you think this only happens to my family I shared the exercise with someone and she later posted on a different forum where we happened to be subscribers that it worked. While she just committed to it and wasn't sure it was working, when she met her mom and sister, they both commented on how slimmer/longer her face looked. So she was writing to thank me. This was on the forum Diaspora Hair Care Forum but it seems it doesn't exist anymore. I was looking at the archived threads but I seem unable to search for that discussion.

free skin care · Sun Jan 15, 2012 10:42 am

Nonie aka AD wrote:

cm5597 wrote:

Sorry to be a bearer of bad news, but I don't think you can really slim the cheeks with facial exercises...at least, not by much.

cm5597 On the contrary, if you have tone first and still have a round face, you can make it appear less round. with an exercise Eva Fraser has in her program. My brother used it and it worked.

I too used to have a roundish face and even after gaining tone in my 20's it was still roundish and I didn't like it. So I used the exercise in Eva's program and it gave my face what appeared to be definition that gave me cheekbones by making the lower part of the face less bulky and creating the same effect people hope to achieve with contouring.

And lest you think this only happens to my family I shared the exercise with someone and she later posted on a different forum where we happened to be subscribers that it worked. While she just committed to it and wasn't sure it was working, when she met her mom and sister, they both commented on how slimmer/longer her face looked. So she was writing to thank me. This was on the forum Diaspora Hair Care Forum but it seems it doesn't exist anymore. I was looking at the archived threads but I seem unable to search for that discussion.

Nonie, I don't think you can change or make the face a lot slimmer or thinner with facial exercises....maybe a little bit, which would be enough for some, in your family member's/friend's case.

However, I do think there is more you can do to create the illusion of either a slimmer or wider face. For example, like you indicated, building the upper cheeks can often create the illusion of smaller lower cheeks.

But if you already have a face in good shape, it is hard to dramatically (where the key word is dramatically) slim the face without weightloss or PS.

Of course, if you have a build-up of fluid in the face or sagging, then facial exercise and massage will "slim" the face, but what they are really doing is reducing fluid retention or lifting sagging tissues of the face upwards, which reduce the puffiness of the face---but you are not slimming or making any muscles smaller or anything like that.

That is what I am getting at.

free skin care · Sun Jan 15, 2012 11:01 am

cm5597 wrote:

Nonie aka AD wrote:

cm5597 wrote:

Sorry to be a bearer of bad news, but I don't think you can really slim the cheeks with facial exercises...at least, not by much.

cm5597 On the contrary, if you have tone first and still have a round face, you can make it appear less round. with an exercise Eva Fraser has in her program. My brother used it and it worked.

I too used to have a roundish face and even after gaining tone in my 20's it was still roundish and I didn't like it. So I used the exercise in Eva's program and it gave my face what appeared to be definition that gave me cheekbones by making the lower part of the face less bulky and creating the same effect people hope to achieve with contouring.

And lest you think this only happens to my family I shared the exercise with someone and she later posted on a different forum where we happened to be subscribers that it worked. While she just committed to it and wasn't sure it was working, when she met her mom and sister, they both commented on how slimmer/longer her face looked. So she was writing to thank me. This was on the forum Diaspora Hair Care Forum but it seems it doesn't exist anymore. I was looking at the archived threads but I seem unable to search for that discussion.

Nonie, I don't think you can change or make the face a lot slimmer or thinner with facial exercises....maybe a little bit, which would be enough for some, in your family member's/friend's case.

However, I do think there is more you can do to create the illusion of either a slimmer or wider face. For example, like you indicated, building the upper cheeks can often create the illusion of smaller lower cheeks.

But if you already have a face in good shape, it is hard to dramatically (where the key word is dramatically) slim the face without weightloss or PS.

Of course, if you have a build-up of fluid in the face or sagging, then facial exercise and massage will "slim" the face, but what they are really doing is reducing fluid retention or lifting sagging tissues of the face upwards, which reduce the puffiness of the face---but you are not slimming or making any muscles smaller or anything like that.

That is what I am getting at.

cm5597 you remind me of the people who would tell me that you can't change the shape you are born with. I suppose they were told that and believed it and now pass it on as gospel.

The ONLY think IMO that can stop you changing your body are the bones being in the way. Have you done Eva's program at all or do you own her 1991 book? Because if you had done the program like I have, you might not be so quick to dismiss what I say.

It's a shame I don't have photos of me when I had a roundish face when I was doing Eva and how I later added her bonus exercises to focus on shape of my face and got the nice chiseled look you've seen in my July 2005 photos. I remember in my twenties looking at my face and not having a clue how I'd ever know how to wear makeup when I don't have cheekbones. I was just round in the face. And if my friend's mom and sis noticed it in her too, hello?

Also Eva calls the exercise face slimmer...and I doubt she'd have it in her program if she hadn't given it a test run to confirm it does what she says it does.

LOL and no, I didn't have buildup of fluid. And if you do have good tone, that is precisely when that exercise will work. I don't think it'd work so well if you had a flabby face. It may still slim your face but I think you'd have other lines and some sag elsewhere. This is why Eva adds this later so you first master the program and then focus on areas of special need later.

free skin care · Sun Jan 15, 2012 11:13 am

Nonie aka AD wrote:

cm5597 you remind me of the people who would tell me that you can't change the shape you are born with.

Nonie, I would not agree with that statement--you know that very well--and you're being totally unfair here. There is plenty a person can do to reduce sagging, lift the tissues on the face, and create fullness by building muscle. Or even plenty to create the illusion of fullness or slimness by building some muscles more than others.

The statement I made was that I don't think it's possible to slim the face by much (*small* changes are possible) unless you lose fat, lift up sagging tissues, or reduce fluid retention. I do, however, think there is more you can do to create the illusion of a smaller face.

Said another way, you can't really shrink muscles (unless you let them atrophy), but you can lose fat in your face through weightloss or PS, through lifting up sagging tissue, or reducing fluid retention. It's the exact same principle as for the body, so no mystery here.

free skin care · Sun Jan 15, 2012 11:35 am

cm5597 wrote:

Nonie aka AD wrote:

cm5597 you remind me of the people who would tell me that you can't change the shape you are born with.

Nonie, I would not agree with that statement--you know that very well--and you're being totally unfair here. There is plenty a person can do to reduce sagging, lift the tissues on the face, and create fullness by building muscle. Or even plenty to create the illusion of fullness or slimness by building some muscles more than others.

The statement I made was that I don't think it's possible to slim the face by much (*small* changes are possible) unless you lose fat, lift up sagging tissues, or reduce fluid retention. I do, however, think there is more you can do to create the illusion of a smaller face.

Said another way, you can't really shrink muscles (unless you let them atrophy), but you can lose fat in your face through weightloss or PS, through lifting up sagging tissue, or reducing fluid retention. It's the exact same principle as for the body, so no mystery here.

You can't shrink muscles but you can tighten them. cm5597, the problem here is you're talking from theory. I'm talking from practical experience not just in me but in at least 2 more people I know. And Eva must know it works too.

Also "not by much" means what? Who wants a huge change in the face by much? People want subtle changes that still make them look like themselves but with some improvement. Exactly how are you determining that someone with a chubby cheeks will not be able to slim them by much" when 3 people were able to slim theirs to their satisfaction? Obviously if they were all so happy with the results that they no longer do the exercise because they didn't want it slimmer than that, it wasn't an insignificant change. It was enough for them or others to notice and talk about.

The thing that gets me about a lot of posters is they argue on stuff they don't have firsthand information on. What I said of you being like those people who told me what is "not possible" is not unfair. I even came across the statement that "yeah, you can change your shape but not by much" which exactly the tune you're singing now. Well, I changed my shape by much. If I didn't have photos to show that I once looked like I was headed for a shape like that of Mr Jay from America's Next Top Model, no one would believe that I wasn't always curvy.

So again, when I said you are like those people, it's coz I was telling a fact: naysayers with no proof of why they are so anti-something remind me of those people.

I'm all for theory and suggestions from logical thinking--which is what you did with your first post. But if someone who has experience actually chimes in with info and results that you yourself have no firsthand info on, why argue the point when you haven't even tried what has been suggested? What makes you more of an authority than one who may have once been where you are except they actually signed up and now have more than you have in experience on the thing we're discussing?

free skin care · Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:08 pm

Correction: In my last post meant to say I was headed for a body like that of Ms Jay, not Mr Jay.

BTW, I love Ms Jay and think he's fierce! I just don't like his body on me. I prefer curves which is why I worked on creating some where none existed.

free skin care · Sun Jan 15, 2012 5:29 pm

Nonie aka AD wrote:

cm5597 wrote:

The statement I made was that I don't think it's possible to slim the face by much (*small* changes are possible) unless you lose fat, lift up sagging tissues, or reduce fluid retention. I do, however, think there is more you can do to create the illusion of a smaller face.

Said another way, you can't really shrink muscles (unless you let them atrophy), but you can lose fat in your face through weightloss or PS, through lifting up sagging tissue, or reducing fluid retention. It's the exact same principle as for the body, so no mystery here.

You can't shrink muscles but you can tighten them. cm5597, the problem here is you're talking from theory. I'm talking from practical experience not just in me but in at least 2 more people I know. And Eva must know it works too.

First, I'm not talking from the viewpoint of theory, I'm talking from the viewpoint of applying scientific studies on the physiology of muscle and fat, which is more objective.

Actually, the problem is that you are talking from anecdotal unverified perceptions of experiences of only 3 people....and now you are changing the story to "oh well, people want subtle changes"...which is what I said is indeed possible in terms of slimming the face: small and subtle, but that's it.

Nonie aka AD wrote:

Well, I changed my shape by much. If I didn't have photos to show that I once looked like I was headed for a shape like that of Mr Jay from America's Next Top Model, no one would believe that I wasn't always curvy.

Of course, you can change your body dramatically by building lots of muscle or losing lots of weight. And this is exactly what it sounds like you are saying you did to your body--and good for you, that's great!

However, while you can exercise in a way that dramatically grows your muscles, you cannot exercise in a way that dramatically shrinks your muscles....nor can you spot reduce fat via exercise...that's a fact, end of story, no unverified anecdotal experiences or "he said, she said" stories will change that.

Nonie aka AD wrote:

Also "not by much" means what? Who wants a huge change in the face by much? People want subtle changes that still make them look like themselves but with some improvement.

Well, then, now that you are admitting all along that it's subtle changes that are possible, then I think we are now in complete agreement. Not sure why we are arguing then...

free skin care · Sun Jan 15, 2012 5:36 pm

So here's my challenge to you, Nonie:

Find me at least one study in the scientific literature where in response to exercise and a fully adequate diet, the muscles "tightened" or "shrunk" enough to result in a greater than a 10% reduction (so more than just a subtle change) in the size or circumference of some body part. In the study, they MUST control for both changes in muscle mass AND changes in fat mass (hint: imaging technologies like MRI and DEXA are the gold standard measuring instruments here). And you can pick any body part you want (since there are only a few studies on the face).

If you find one, I would be happy to eat my words Smile

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