Lifestyle

Waist Training 101: Should you try it?

Shruti Shekar

Don’t deny it.

Don’t sit there reading this article and deny the fact that you haven’t creeped Khloé Kardashian’s Instagram and seen her use a waist trainer, and then don’t tell me you haven’t thought about using one.

IN FACT, how much you want to bet that you probably even Googled a waist trainer website, but half way through got confused and bored and gave up the idea. Waist trainers – the modern day corset – are basically a band of material that has either two or three lines of hooks that wrap tightly and connect around your lower ribcage and waist.

Before delving into waist trainers though, I want to briefly mention that body image is subjective. Unfortunately society has presented to us images of what “might” be the right body type to aspire for, but at the end of the day, the most important thing to remember is that how you see your body, in what capacity you see it, how much y
ou choose to exercise, stay healthy, or put on certain clothes, should only be dictated by yourself and no one else.

That being said, this article is a reflection of my personal thoughts on waist trainers: how they may or may not be beneficial to you, and if they are actually helpful to people who are trying to look a certain way.

With everything I’ve written so far, I have tried to be honest with you, as well as with myself. So I won’t beat around the bush and say that I have never had body image issues. I have always struggled with my weight and it took me many years to familiarize myself with what is healthy, good for my body type and what to aspire for.

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This is what I wear underneath my gym clothes. It helps with keeping the core stable while I lift weights.

And just like the most of you, I saw the pictures of Kim, Khloé, Snooki, and all the other celebrities that were using waist trainers and I said to myself, I’m going to try this out.

I’ll talk about my journey in just a bit, but I wanted to mention how I recently got the opportunity to talk to Rose Golbahar, CEO and creator of NuTrim Waist, the trainer I use.

The personal trainer, nutritionist and entrepreneur told me that most people don’t recognize that waist training is a very personal act with the goal to achieve self-confidence and beauty, and the biggest problem is that most people don’t do their research before using it. And if you don’t want to use it, you can go to great Personal trainer in Los Angeles“}” data-sheets-userformat=”{“2″:513,”3″:[null,0],”12”:0}”>Personal trainer in Los Angeles.

“There are so many people that say it’s not good for your organs or it’s not good for your body, or it can really affect your health, but those are people who are just looking at one side of the picture,” Golbahar said in a phone interview. “I didn’t create a company without doing my research, our body is so strong in itself, and the materials we use to create these waist trainers are not strong enough to harm you.

She mentioned that there are companies out there that don’t do their research, or use products that aren’t of high quality and unsatisfactory, and thus give the concept of waist trainers to the public a bad reputation.

Golbahar noted during the interview that women have been waist training for years, and that the only difference is that now women are being safer about how they’re doing it, especially through the materials that are being used during the manufacturing process. She told me how NuTrim Waist goes to the factories where production is established and makes sure the quality is of the highest standard and quality, and that each product is carefully constructed.

“We want to help people be able to wear something and feel good about it, and we’ve designed it so that you can wear it when you don’t workout and you can wear it when you are working out,” she said. “Most importantly, we wouldn’t sit here and tell you to pick something that’s not your size, our website even tells you how to measure yourself so that you do pick the right option for your body type…we don’t promote an unhealthy vision; we just want girls to feel good about themselves.”

In terms of my journey though: I started waist training last year in August. I got a simple corset and I was working out about two times a week for about an hour long.

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The first time I wore it, I thought I was going to die, it was so hard to fit into, and I thought how do women do this to themselves?!?!

I’ve been blessed though to have the “I’m not giving up attitude,” and continued on. After three months I was down to the smallest hook and was working out about three times a week. I wanted to switch over to a vest for more control.

All the while doing all the research I could to make sure that what I was doing was safe and healthy. I didn’t stop eating, I ate everything I wanted to, and I was maintaining a very healthy balanced diet and fitness regime like Sweat Equity Fitness recommend.

I switched over to NuTrim Wasit Sport Vest, and started working out four to five times a week. I am still working out with it, and I’ve gone down to the second hook, which makes me very proud of my progress.

I think about it now in terms of what I want to do for myself, because at the end of the day, it’s a personal goal and a personal preference. I haven’t stopped doing the necessary things to maintain my health. And it’s all about moderation.

Just remember just as Golbahar had mentioned to me:

“I mean it’s all about feeling good for yourself. And I think people should do their research for anything that they choose to do.”

Love your body, love yourself, stay healthy and positive.