The Truth About the Corset Diet (2024)

What if we told you that you could just put on a piece of clothing and lose weight? Sounds pretty amazing, right? That's the idea behind the "corset diet," which has women wearing corsets for several hours a day to help them slim down. Back in April,Jessica Alba told Net-a-Porter's magazine that she used the diet to lose weight after her two pregnancies—and since then, the number of women trying it has been on the rise, according to a recent Good Morning America report.

What does the diet involve? Here's what Alba said about it:"I wore a double corset day and night for three months," she says. "It was sweaty, but worth it."Glamour Boutique, a company that sells steel-bone corsets designed for weight-loss, recommends that customersbegin with a steel-bone corset that's 4 to 5 inches smaller than your actual waist measurementand start out wearing the corset for three to six hours a day before building up to longer periods. The idea is that wearing the corset—along with maintaining a healthy diet and exercising—can help "train your waist." But does it actually work?

In a word, no, says Keri Peterson, M.D., a physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and a medical advisorfor Women's Health. "It's outrageous, and it just absolutely makes no medical sense whatsoever," she says.

Corsets can only make you appear slightly thinner while you're wearing one–they can't physically change your size. And if anyone wearing a corset loses weight, it's not actually because of the corset—it's more likely because the contraptionmakes it so uncomfortable to eat that you automatically consume fewer calories, says Peterson. And sweating while wearing it—which Alba suggested helped her lose weight—only affects your water weight, which won't help you drop pounds long-term.What's more, wearing a corsetcould actually cause you harm in a few ways. They could potentiallycause acid reflux (because of the pressure they put on your stomach) and trouble breathing deeply (because of the pressure they put on your diaphragm and lungs). "If you can't take a deep breath, you can't be aerated efficiently," says Peterson. Not to mention, it would be almost impossible to get in a good workout, given your inability to move or breathe properly.

"If you want to create an hourglass figure, Spanx aresufficient," says Peterson. And if you're looking to drop a few pounds, try one of these healthier weight-loss strategies.

Photo: lynea/Shutterstock.com

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