Photos of celebs wearing body-shaping corsets to slim and shape waists first began to crop up last year and we thought the trend was gonna fizzle out as quickly as it started.
But the waist-training obsession has not died down. If anything, it’s picked up even more lately, with its popularity extending beyond a few Instagram snaps from the girls of Keeping Up With the Kardashians and Jersey Shore. Even Jessica Alba has come out as a fan, telling Net-A-Porter that post-pregnancy, she “wore a double corset day and night for three months. It was sweaty, but worth it.” (The interview has since been removed from Net-A-Porter.)
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TBH, we can see why waist-training has taken off as well as it did. All you need to do is strap the thing on and try not to pass out. It’s a super low-effort trick that promises slim waists and “trained” curves.
Sounds too good to be true, right? Here’s the thing, though: “Wearing a corset won’t make you lose fat around your waist,” Holly Phillips, MD, a New York City-based internist, tells Yahoo Health.
Plus, the results don’t mimic those of surgery or laser treatments, as some fans claim, notes Andrew Miller, MD, a New York City-based plastic surgeon. “The corset itself doesn’t have any direct effect on your fat or anatomy,” said Miller. “If you stopped wearing a corset, eventually you’re just going to return to the way you were.”
Even though wearing a waist trainer can feel uncomfortable and won’t make any lasting difference on your body, “they’re usually not harmful” when worn for a short amount of time, Phillips notes. However, if you’re wearing one for days, weeks, or even months at a time like Khloe Kardashian or Jessica Alba, you’re putting yourself at risk for a whole host of health problems.
“Some people think of it as external gastric bypass surgery because your stomach is so compressed that you can’t take more than a few bites of food at a time,” explained Phillips. Anyone who doesn’t eat as much is going to lose weight,” Miller echoes. That said, you will have a hard time digesting the food you do eat due to the pressure on your organs. “You’re compressing your stomach so much that when you take a bite of food, you end up with acid reflux.” Damn, that’s intense.
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Besides, acid reflux, using a corset to waist train can also cause bruising of your bones, which some may mistake as their bones moving or their ribcages tightening together. “What is a myth is that you can change your bone structure by wearing them,” Phillips explains. “For [adult] women, your bones are formed. You can bruise them and harm them, but you can’t change them.” A waist trainer won’t slim down a wide ribcage – it’ll just leave it bruised, or worse.
In other words, say no to waist-trainers and say yes to ab workouts!
