Can a Corset or Waist Trainer Help you Lose Weight?
So... Can waist trainers or corsets help me lose belly fat?
Short story? No. Longer story… sorry, no. Waist training with a corset doesn't magically melt body fat, but it can make some big changes to your body!
Fat loss is achieved when you use more calories than you bring in to your body - through a combination of diet and exercise. Corsets don’t target fat loss, as much as we may like. And unfortunately there isn’t a magic weight loss tea, “fat burning” gel or wrap, or celebrity endorsed waist cincher that will cause you to lose belly fat. Waist training can support your healthy weight loss journey to carve out a more curvy hourglass shape when you aren’t laced up in a corset. Just take a look at any of our Before & After results to see how your silhouette can be transformed with waist training.
What about the Corset Diet? Does that work?
Corsets are not designed for weight loss-but rather to reshape the waist (and provide posture and back support). If you choose to employ corseting as a way to help shed unwanted pounds by eating smaller portions, here are some things to consider.
- First, make sure you are getting enough calories! If you are new to corseting, you may find yourself only able to eat really small portions. It is important that you consume enough calories for your lifestyle.
- Also, less food intake also requires more careful meal planning. Make sure the calories you are eating capture the necessary proteins, vegetables, fruits and complex carbs your body needs to function optimally.
- If you find you are not getting the nutrition and calories you need, try loosening your corset-or just remove it completely when you need to eat. Allowing yourself to feel deprived almost always leads to binge eating later. You will also find not all foods work well while corseting. For example, carbonated drinks and heavy fried foods don’t mix well with a corset. The carbonation will be trapped in your cinched waist likely giving you unwanted gas or discomfort.
What does waist training do exactly?
Over time with consistent waist training, you’ll notice your natural waistline measurement will come in and measure smaller even when you’re not wearing your corset. You’ll also be able to cinch your corset in further than you could at the beginning of your corset training! So, the corset "shapes" your waist into a classic hourglass shape but doesn't melt belly fat.
How do I look slimmer in a corset without changing my diet?
Perfecting your corset look is easy if you follow these tips for looking slimmer and smoother:
Tip #1: Choose the right size & style! A too small corset won’t give you results more quickly and can even make you look bulkier. If you’re unsure about the fit of your Orchard Corset, try our corset sizing tool or send our team a message and they will be happy to do a fit assessment with you!
Tip #2: Play with your wardrobe! You’ll notice that some silhouettes flatter a corseted waist better than others, we highly encourage you to lace up and play dress up to find the shape that makes you feel your most awesome. Make sure to check out favorite customer looks in our corset lookbook.
Tip #4: To battle the dreaded back bulge that corseting can create, we highly recommend either our beloved Vedette 941 for Orchard Corset Underbust bra booster. This little shaper can be worn with and without your corset and will smooth and shape for an enviable figure.
If you’re looking for even more coverage than the popular Vedette 941, we suggest the Vedette 3133 Sleek Upper Arm shaper & Back Bulge Smoother! This powerful shaper has everything you love about the 941 but with even more shaping power!
How can my corset or waist trainer work with my diet or weight loss regimen?
If you want double the impact, you can use corsets as part of your weight loss journey. Make sure to keep these tips in mind:
Tip #1: Consistency. Like any program that requires dedication, the best waist training results will come from consistency. This doesn’t mean you need to wear your corsets every hour of you day, but dedicating a few hours each day will go a long way.
Tip #2: Diet. Everybody is different but there are some basic things that all people can try to get in their diet to feel like their most awesome self:
- Plenty of water
- Fresh fruits and vegetables
- Enough protein for your activity level and dietary needs
- Try to your salt and added sugar intake
Tip #3: Regular Exercise. Everybody is different but there are some basic things that all people can try to get in their diet to feel like their most awesome self:
- You can workout in any of our shapewear pieces or waist cinchers to keep your progress up, because you can’t workout in your steel boned waist training corset.
- Interested in sweating it out? Some people like to wear a cincher during their HIIT workouts to really feel the burn!
- Planks are a great way to work your entire body in one move, these can be done on your forearms, your hands, on your fists if your wrists are weaker or even on your side to really focus on your oblique muscles specifically.
- Leg Lowers work the difficult lower belly area as well as the entire belly, you can even add ankle weights when you’re ready to level up and try doing these extra slow to really maximize the workout.
- Superman is a move that requires your lower back, glutes and hamstrings to really work together with your abs. Wearing a corset will give you fantastic posture while you’re laced up, strengthening your back muscles outside of your corset will help you to maintain that healthy posture even when you’re not laced up. This is a tough one, be sure to listen to your body and take care not to strain your neck and back.
- Windshield Wipers are great for helping to lose the muffin top, which is one of the most common problem areas that people are trying to target when waist training.
Tip #4: Rest and Hydration. Hydration is proven to help promote proper digestion which prevents a bloated tummy, anyone that has ever felt constipated knows that when your stomach feels this way, it can often be accompanied by visible bloating.
Our bodies recover while we are at rest/sleeping. Our muscles repair themselves and our natural collagen is able to build back up. If we are not rested, our body can’t take care of itself. Everyone is different, but a good goal is to go to sleep and wake up at the same time each day, some people thrive on 8+ hours of sleep and others feel too groggy with that much rest and feel better with 6 or fewer. Whatever makes you feel most awesome is the right thing for you.
Tip #5: Keep a journal. Whether you keep a digital journal on your phone or an old-fashioned paper journal, we highly encourage you to track your progress and results! It can be difficult to maintain perspective when it seems like your results aren’t coming in fast enough, but if you track your natural and corseted measurements, hours you’re able to cinch in, any notes on comfort or fit and feel we think you’ll love the process! Waist training requires you to listen to your body, incorporating a journal can be a positive way to enjoy the waist training journey.
Inspiration to get you started on your own Waist Training Journal:
- Write yourself realistic goals and reflect on them regularly.
- Track your current natural measurements & your corseted measurements.
- Log the hours spent laced up.
- Did your corset help you today?
- Photos in and out of your corset, create an album dedicated to your progress pics in your phone!
- Ask yourself: How does my corset make me feel?
Tip #6: Sleep in your corset. Yes, you read that right! You can sleep in your corset safely. In fact, many people like to get their waist training hours in while their body is at rest. Some people choose to do this because their daily routines prohibit them from corseting while they are awake, or for those super dedicated waist trainers that train 23/7 - only taking their corset off to shower and workout.
Tip #7: Make some corset friends! While this one doesn’t seem like it’s relevant to results, it’s actually one of the most important and overlooked! Finding support on your new waist training journey will help you to feel more confident in your choices, will allow you to get advice from waist trainers who have been training for some time, have more fun while with it and get to know like-minded individuals who share a passion for corseting! Join our Facebook group to find waist training support all over the world!
Check out these customer waist training looks:
Time to bust some waist training weight loss myths!
Fat burning gel: Unfortunately, products like this are not able to affect changes on your body. The idea that you can spread some moisturizing gel on your body, wrap yourself in a cincher or corset and “target belly fat” is just too good to be true.
Sweating out water weight: Water weight is just that, weight that is dependent upon the amount of hydration in your body. We can sweat to a point where we will become dehydrated and look a little slimmer for a period, but it’s only temporary. You may sweat out water weight if you let yourself get warm while laced up or cinched into a corset, however water weight fluctuates and will return just as soon as you’re rehydrated.
Moving fat from your belly to your butt or hips: This is another one of those "too good to be true" myths. While you can surgically move fat from one place on your body to another, you can’t shift your belly fat to create a more curvy hip and rounder booty. Wearing a corset will trick the eye into giving the illusion of a fuller hip by comparison of your smaller waist, but it’s not able to force the fat tissue into a new location. Wouldn’t that be nice, though?