Are Waist Trainers A Waste?

When someone is said to have “an hourglass shape” they essentially just have a thin waist in proportion to the rest of their body. It’s not surprising that this is a highly sought-after shape, particularly in females, because they’re more likely to store fat in their extremities than their waist. 

However, that’s just on average. Some women are more likely to store fat in their waist and won’t have an hourglass shape, just like not every man will have a robust torso. Corsets were developed to force or accentuate an hourglass figure. Though they’re considered a piece of clothing, they look more like a torture device. The idea is that you wrap something very tight around your waist and it pulls everything in. With your clothes on, you look svelte.

Over time it might look like someone who regularly wears a corset is actually shrinking their waist, even when they take it off. Skeletal evidence shows that people who wear corsets for a long time actually bend their ribs and change their bone structure so that it looks like their waist is shrinking.

Corsets are out of fashion for the most part. They’ve been replaced with waist trainers, which are less extreme but similar in design. You wrap them around your waist and it makes you look smaller. However, there have been claims that they actually help shrink your waist.

Fat loss occurs internally, meaning, hormones in your bloodstream cause you to burn fat. An external object (waist trainer belt) can’t change these hormones. 

If anything, waist trainers hurt more than they help. Since they’re so tight, they can restrict your breathing. There’s also scant evidence that they’re bad for your organs since they press everything together. Save your money and time, and skip the waist trainers.