With the increased popularity of waist training all over social media, and news outlets lately, you probably know someone who has heard of it, or at least tried it out for themselves. “Training” your waist to be smaller is not a new phenomenon, but after the Kardashians put up some pictures on Instagram, the fire was rekindled and the trend took back off.
I have been asked multiple times, “Do waist trainers work”? Instead of responding to them all, I thought I would put up this article (rant).
What Is Waist Training?
Waist training is a slow process of reducing your waist size using a special type of corset. These are very tight, uncomfortable clothing pieces that are placed around your mid section to squeeze your fat, organs, and stomach together in a specific shape. They make it hard to breath but have been used since the Victorian ages in order to create a sexy, curvy, alluring body shape.
“Wait a minute”, I hear people say. “Waist training is not the same as wearing a corset, they are completely different!”. To these people I say, not really. A corset typically is laced together from the back and has steel “ribs” which can be damaging to your ribs and organs.
Waist trainers must be a lot more safe right! Of course not. While trainers typically do not have any steel cages inside them they are still essentially the same things. Instead of being laced up on the back, they typically have clips on the front so you can get into it yourself. They are made out of latex or other stiff materials and are tight, uncomfortable, and pretty expensive for what you are getting.
So What Is The Big Problem?
Well, let’s first examine the claims that are being used to sell waist cinchers. From what I can gather, these are the main arguments being made about how they can help you achieve your goals:
- Shed Fat
- Compress Your Core
- Increase Perspiration
- Release Toxins
Lose Fat Around Your Stomach
When will this insane trend just die already? There is no way you can spot reduce any amount of fat on your body. It is NOT POSSIBLE!
People store fat in different ways, but to reduce the fat on your body, you are going to have to burn it off with the old fashion diet and exercise. If everyone could spot reduce problem areas, do you think obesity would be such a widespread problem?
This is not to say that waist trainers do not work to make your waist and stomach APPEAR smaller. They do in fact work.
They way they work though, is most likely dangerous and will not make you lose any amount of weight.
Take the picture on the right for example. Foot binding has been a tradition for thousands of years to alter the appearance of ones feet by wrapping them tightly for many years. Not only is this extremely uncomfortable and very painful, but this only changes the appearance of someones feet, but not the actual mass.
Instead of shedding weight, waist trainers simply redistribute the fat that is already on your body to give the appearance of a smaller waist. Sound familiar to the example above? It should, because they are essentially the same “Fix” for different problems.
Compress Your Core
Look, I know everyone wants to have a smaller waist, a flatter stomach, and a physique they can be proud of. The way you can accomplish this is through exercise and healthy eating!
Do waist trainers work to compress your core? Sure, if you wear them for hours and hours each day they will compress your core.
But take a minute to look at this picture. Notice how the abdominal muscles and stomach are pushed upwards and the intestines have really no where else to go? Does that look healthy to you? Of course not!
Not only can waist cinchers restrict breathing while wearing it, but to those who wear theirs for the majority of the day, they could be doing damage to their internal organs.
Now take a look at the picture below. Look at how much better she looks. Her hips look wider, her stomach looks flatter, and overall the waist training must have really worked for her right?
Most women are going to have wider hips naturally. Making the appearance that your waist is thin is very easy to do: eat less calories than you take in.
People will look at this picture and say that waist training works. It is pretty obvious that she dropped about 20 pounds, which most certainly did not happen by wearing a piece of clothing. There is no simple solution, there is hard work and dedication.
Increase Perspiration
What better way to lose weight than to sweat it out. Just wear this really tight uncomfortable piece of clothing, and pounds will shed off just from your sweat.
Does this type of marketing really work? Yes, it does unfortunately.
Do waist trainers work to increase perspiration? Yes they do. It does work. You have to ask yourself though, is this a long term solution. If it was, everyone would sit in the sauna for a few hours a day and be at their goal weight.
The fact of the matter is that while you can lose weight by sweating, this is just a very temporary solution. Try this, next time you go to bed in the middle of summer, put 3 giant blankets on your bed and wrap yourself up. You will be soaking through them when you wake up the next morning but I guarantee that you will have lost weight. As soon as you rise from bed and drink a class of water, that weight will magically return!
If you really want to get the sweat pouring out in a healthy way, while feeling great, try getting in more cardio or lifting some weights. Not only will this make you sweat, but it will increase your cardiovascular endurance, which a waist trainer simply will not do.
Release Toxins
Toxins this, Toxins that. What better way to try and convince someone that they need to buy an overly expensive article of clothing than to tell them that it will get rid of these mysterious toxins that are in your body.
Have you ever wondered what these toxins are? Has anyone ever told you what toxins can be released from waist training?
We all know why we sweat. It is a system of air conditioning for the body. You sweat, the sweat evaporates, and it cools your body down.
This sweat does not have toxins at all. I am not even sure where this argument even originated. Sweat is made up of mostly water, 99% in fact. The other percent comes from a small bit of proteins, salt, carbs and urea.
While sweating can be incredibly relaxing and beneficial (one of the reasons so many people use a sauna), you will not be ridding your body of these big bad toxins anytime soon. Do yourself a favor and work out hard to better your life.
So Do Waist Trainers Really Work? – Final Verdict
If you are a woman who wants to continue living an unhealthy lifestyle, unwilling to make the sacrifice to eat better and get more exercise, follow daily trends, being uncomfortable in daily activities, and do something to your body that could potentially be dangerous to your internal organs then waist training/cinching might be for you!
Waist training can give the appearance of a smaller waist if used daily and or sometimes overnight. This is not a permanent solution at all and is in no way a replacement for the gym and healthy eating.
However, if you are a woman who wants to improve their daily health, get a smaller waist, tone up their stomach, and overall just feel better about themselves, then waist training is NOT for you.
Training your waist to be smaller is free. There is no need to spend money on these products that produce no results. All you need is hard work and determination. Eat better, get more exercise, and slowly but surely you will start seeing results. There is no quick fix. All the information you need to start living a healthier life can be found here at Fit Clarity.
Best of luck to all of you and do not fall for these absurd trends.
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