diff --git a/lib/http.c b/lib/http.c
index e0a280e28..ff6e432aa 100644
--- a/lib/http.c
+++ b/lib/http.c
@@ -1568,11 +1568,15 @@ CURLcode Curl_http(struct connectdata *conn)
           Curl_pgrsSetUploadSize(data, http->postsize);
         }
       }
-      else
+      else {
         /* set the upload size to the progress meter */
         Curl_pgrsSetUploadSize(data, data->set.infilesize);
 
-      /* issue the request, headers-only */
+        /* set the pointer to mark that we will send the post body using
+           the read callback */
+        http->postdata = (char *)&http->postdata;
+      }
+      /* issue the request */
       result = add_buffer_send(req_buffer, conn->firstsocket, conn,
                                &data->info.request_size);