My horrible week in a waist trainer

THEY suck your guts in until you can’t eat or bend over and you struggle to breathe. Kim Kardashian swears by them, but the reality of this road test will make you think twice.

My week in a waist trainer

FEW things are certain in life, but one undeniable fact remains. Whatever Kim Kardashian does, the rest of the world follows.

The sale of waist trainers skyrocketed the moment the reality star posted a selfie in a corset to her 41 million follower-strong Instagram account earlier this year. But it’s an endorsement that has divided public opinion.

In an age where the rules of beauty and body image are being rewritten every week, one has to wonder how the archaic practise of corset training still remains relevant. Having first emerged as a trend in the Victorian era, waist training involves wearing a corset over long periods of time in order to reduce your midline for a physique even Barbie would be enviable of.

Bondi-based plastic surgeon Dr Michael Miroshnik explains, “By pushing the waist inwards, the bust, hips and buttocks are simultaneously exaggerated.”

When I first told my mum that I would be embarking on a week of waist training for the sake of this article, she was immediately taken aback. As a baby boomer, she grew up fighting for the women’s liberties that my generation had become accustomed to. It was as if I had threatened to undo decades of progress with this one act. Mostly, though, she was genuinely concerned about my health and what it might do to my petite 5’2 ft and 51kg frame.

But according to Dr Miroshnik, I was in the clear. “Short periods of wear are relatively safe but long periods of wear can cause more serious health issues,” he says.

The tasteful cheetah print waist trainer Jenny Hewett wore for a week.

With that in mind, I order an XS corset online in a tasteful multicoloured cheetah print (the more brash the better) from Waist Gang Society, the same company the Kardashians are linked to.

When it arrives, I’m puzzled as to how this impossibly tiny device will even come close to fitting around my circumference. Is it too small? I reach out to the company for advice, but the customer service is non-existent. The struggle to latch up the first notch of hooks leaves me swearing, frustrated and breathless, but eventually I’m victorious.

And so ensues two hours of training a day. All tightened up, my bust is pushed up under my chin to the point where I can only barely catch sight of my feet. Unnaturally upright, partially immobile and unable to bend, I had officially launched my career as a fembot.

Unable to bend, the waist trainer made it hard to move around.

On the first day, I resign to wearing the trainer in half-hour stints due to the pressure it places on my insides. By the third day, the fabric has given slightly, making getting into the waist trainer marginally less difficult.

On an aesthetic level, there are the obvious benefits to the corset, it straightens up your back, pulls in your core (making lunges and light exercise requiring balance much simpler) and noticeably improves your posture as well as pronouncing your curves. But was it possible to look like this forever if I kept training?

According to Dr Miroshnik, the effect is only temporary. “The word ‘trainer’ really is misleading as it suggests that the body can be taught to stay in a more favourable shape, which simply isn’t the case. Once you stop wearing the corset, everything eventually returns to the way it was.

Having said that, wearing a tight corset does create pressure on the stomach, causing a sensation of fullness with meals earlier, it may be that those habitual wearers who feel ‘thinner’ are simply eating less,” Dr Miroshnik says.

That certainly seems to be true in my case. My tummy is constricted to the point that I feel full after three or four bites, at most. More concerningly, my organs begin to ache after each training session and the discomfort to my abdomen and lower back would remain for up to an hour afterwards.

“As the abdominal area is soft, the pressure of the waist trainer is transmitted directly to the skin, ribs, internal organs and blood vessels in the region of the waist,” says Dr Miroshnik. “Direct pressure on the stomach may cause heartburn or acid reflux and indigestion.”

With eating now ruled out, I shift my focus to the simplest of human functions: breathing. But even that feels impossible. The capacity of my lungs must be a quarter of what it should be.

“With long periods of shallow breathing, fluid can accumulate in the lungs and put the wearer at risk for pneumonia,” says Dr Miroshnik.

“Additionally, shallow breathing may make wearers feel faint and even lose consciousness,” he says. Even after a few days, I was coming to the conclusion that the corset was doing more harm than good.

After seven days of training, I’m no closer to looking like Jessica Rabbit. When worn at a comfortable level the waist trainer can be useful for light, balance related-exercise, but if you’re looking to lose weight or shrink your midline, the only thing that needs training is your mind.

“There really is no substitute for diet and exercise, says Dr Miroshnik. “No procedures or external items of clothing will really replace that”.

Sorry Kim, but we’re not with you on this one.