Shapewear is a body shaping garment intended to make you look slimmer and is being marketed to complement weight-loss. But does shapewear help you lose weight?
Weight loss can be extra difficult for women. The feeling of constant pressure to look a certain way can sometimes force you to look for faster ways to achieve it.
Shapewear can help you create an instant smooth figure and trim down those troublesome areas while looking great in any outfit. It comes in various shapes and types to meet your desired body shape.
While shapewear can help flatten specific areas, these results do not last. It’s important to be well informed of what shapewear really is, its risks and what it can possibly do for your weight loss goals.
What Is Shapewear?
Shapewear is an undergarment that helps produce a sleek silhouette and shape your figure to showcase your natural contours, particularly while wearing tight-fitting apparel. This sort of foundation garment is commonly referred to as ‘Spanx,’ after one of the most popular brands on the market, despite a plethora of fashion and lingerie names selling them.
Shapewear has a bad reputation for being unpleasant due to its compressive nature, but fortunately, things have improved in recent years thanks to developments in fabric technology. Even with the improvements, the job of shapewear hasn’t changed—they’re supposed to make your clothes fit better and increase your confidence, whether you wear them every day or on special occasions. Women from all walks of life, with a variety of figures, can enjoy wearing the clothes they love with the help of shapewear.
Benefits Of Wearing A Shapewear
Looking shapely is almost every woman’s dream. There’s nothing like having a well-proportioned and attractive figure looking great right off the bat in any type of garment. Every attire you choose to put on will exude your inner confidence. The truth, however, is that not all of us are blessed with the perfect shape to don all types of clothing.
The popularity of a corset stems from the effect it had on the female body, including the erect posture required of high-class women, elevation of the breasts, accentuation of hips in contrast to a narrow waist1.
Body-shaping underwear targets four major areas: the breast, waist, hips, and thighs. One significant advantage of using shapewear is instantly achieving a feminine silhouette. With the correct shaper, you can achieve an hourglass form that complements your everyday clothing and tightest fitting dress.
See how else shapewear benefits you:
1. Overall Appearance
Shapewear can improve your appearance and boost your confidence for a party, casual, or corporate setting. Wearing shapewear has numerous advantages because it helps your body shape, especially when attempting to appear your best before attending essential occasions.
Furthermore, looking your best is always crucial when making an impression in society and knowing that you are at your best can help boost your confidence as well.
2. Helps Improve Posture and Relieves Pain
Shapewear for women comes with the usual elasticity, providing compression and back support. Thus straightening and strengthening your physique.
It also assists in relieving discomfort in the lower back and lumbar area. If you suffer from the kind of poor posture that leads to back pain, a good body shaper can help support weak, sore, or strained back muscles so that it’s easier to once more stand up straight without pain.
Wearing shapewear in this way helps build muscle tone in those weakened muscles safely without risking damage to them. This can help improve your walking and sitting posture dramatically.
3. Improves Self-Esteem and Confidence
It’s normal to feel self-conscious of certain areas on your body but there are things you can do to make yourself feel more confident in your skin, such as wearing a shapewear.
This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t feel confident without it. But there is no reason to feel bad about using shapewear if it helps boost your confidence level.
Shapewear can affect your body confidence in so many positive ways. By smoothing out body insecurities or enhancing your curves, it can help raise your self-esteem when you look in the mirror and increase your physical and emotional comfort levels.
4. Better Fitting Clothes
Even if you are in fantastic shape, working for hours to lower your waistline, you typically can still have muffin tops especially when wearing jeans.
Shapewear can help with this problem when you are wearing low-rise trousers and fitting tops. While you are still dieting to achieve your ideal size, shapewear can assist you in fitting into a smaller size garment.
5. Motivates Slimming Goals
Shapewear creates a great effect on how your body looks. While this is temporary and is more cosmetic, one of the biggest shapewear benefits is that you can easily visualize the type of body shape that you would like.
This creates a physical look to what you could have once you achieve your weight loss goals. It can help you know what to work towards and how great it’s going to feel to get there.
Choosing Shapewear
Shapewear should fit snugly against your body but not dig into or harm your skin for the best benefit. Choose breathable textiles to keep sweat from clinging to your skin.
If you develop dizziness, difficulty breathing, excessive sweating, discomfort, or tingling around or under the shapewear, cease wearing it immediately. Good shapewear should not harm or hinder your ability to perform your daily chores.
Types of Shapewear
- Controlling Camisoles
The most popular shapewear is controlling camisoles. They are straightforward and aid in tummy control. These are ideal for those who do not want to wear controlling trousers but want to streamline their breasts for a seam-free silhouette from their shoulders to their hips.
- Controlling Tights
Controlling tights are an all-in-one solution for individuals looking for belly fat tucker shapewear that also tucks your thighs and bottom. This can be worn beneath any dress or skirt.
- Controlling Shorts
Controlling shorts are comparable to controlling tights in that they do belly fat shapewear and tucking your thighs and bottom. It is an excellent choice for wearing underneath a short dress or skirt.
- Corsets
Corsets have been worn for centuries, but that doesn’t make them outdated. Corset belts and dresses are back in style, as seen in many celebrities.
However, the primary purpose of a corset was to slim your waist while molding your belly fat. These detachable ones are simple and can be worn with your regular bra. There is also a seamless version available for corsets.
- Body Shapers
Body shapers are the most excellent option if you want a full-coverage shaper that shapes your torso and your breasts. For everyday use, use a light-but-firm material. These can be used under any length of dress or skirt. Body shapers do not require the use of a bra.
- Singlets
Singlets are ideal for plunging bra underneath since they allow you to wear whichever bra you prefer. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes from which to choose. If you prefer a nicer alternative, go for a lacy one.
- Half Slips
Control slips are another name for half slips. This is ideal for wearing a little dress or skirt. It also appears to be a pencil skirt. It contours your waist, tummy, and thighs and are quite comfortable to wear.
- Dress Slip
The dress slips, like half slips, are ideal for wearing underneath a tiny dress and provide full support from the bust to the hips. Dress slips offer full coverage and an extra layer of support. You don’t need to wear an extra bra because they normally come with one built in. There are also many neck-line possibilities.
- Control Pants
Control pants are excellent for cinching your tummy and slimming your waist. These pants are ideal for a pear-shaped physique. Control pants go with anything, including dresses, skirts, jeans, and pants.
- Arm Shaper
Arm Shapers are ideal for wearing under a long-sleeved top or dress. An arm shaper is a wonderful alternative if you have big arms and wish to tone them. It provides light control and can be worn with or without a bra.
Does Shapewear Help You Lose Weight: How It Works
Shapewear acts as a compression garment that works by pushing fat in and compressing the entire flat stomach area. This can temporarily reduce the size of your stomach and waist.
Shapewear, on the other hand, will not accomplish miracles. If you have a lot of fat on your stomach, shapewear may make it appear smaller, but it will not necessarily look flat. Even the most form-fitting shapewear will make you look no smaller than when you’re sucking in your stomach.
However, there is a form of shapewear that is said to contribute to losing weight and that is a waist trainer.
What is a waist trainer?
Waist training is an A-list trend that became popular in 2014-2015. A waist trainer (also known as a waist cincher) is a wide elastic belt that ‘trains’ your tummy to shrink in size. It is claimed that it can accomplish results if adequately sized and worn, reducing roughly 4-6 inches from your belly.
What does a waist trainer look like?
Waist trainers are the modern-day equivalent of a Victorian-era corset. They’re significantly more comfortable to wear because they’re made of pliable material.
They’re designed to be worn tighter than conventional shapewear. While they produce immediate visual effects, you’ll need to wear a waist trainer almost every day for months to get long-term benefits. The idea is that your waist will be ‘trained’ to the new shape over time. Some are even intended to be worn while exercising to maximize their effectiveness.
How exactly does waist training work?
The effectiveness of waist trainers is debatable. It is said that wearing one causes thermogenesis (heat production), which creates a dual slimming impact. Breaking down lipids and aiding in eliminating pollutants from your body through sweat.
However, there is little data to back up this theory, and it’ll help you lose weight due to the compression on your stomach, forcing you to eat less.
Why Other People Say That Shapewear Can’t Make You Lose Weight
When it comes to losing weight, the rule is simple: if you consume fewer calories per day than your body burns, your body uses excess energy stores to fuel your body. This causes weight loss as your body expands its energy reserves.
So, why can’t shapewear assist you in losing weight? Because it neither cuts nor raises your calorie consumption or physical activity. While some varieties of shapewear are more compressed than others and might give you a more sculpted appearance when worn, they will not physically transform your body shape.
In reality, waist trainers promoted as “weight loss” trainers might be hazardous.
Waist trainers not only cause heartburn (as stomach acid is squeezed and makes its way back up the esophagus) but also place undue strain on your vital organs. Any shapewear that claims to reduce your body fat permanently with wear should be avoided at all costs.
How Shapewear Can Contribute To Your Slim-down Strategy
Maximizing your Workouts
We all want to get the most out of our fitness regimens.
A waist trainer is the ideal workout partner because it helps to boost core body heat, sweat, and fat cell mobilization. That implies you’ll be increasing the intensity and efficacy of your workouts, progressing from low-intensity to more vigorous exercise.
Here are some of the finest exercises to do with your waist trainer:
- Resistance exercise alone might not necessarily make you sweat a lot, but combine it with workout shapewear, and you will. This sort of workout is excellent for burning fat and increasing muscle strength by using resistance bands, weights, or your body weight as resistance.
- HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) entails repeated bouts of highly intense exercise followed by rest and recovery periods. Sprints, squats, and weight training can all be combined into HIIT. This exercise allows you to burn more calories in less time than lower-intensity activities.
- Cardio (such as bicycling, running, or utilizing a row machine) is an excellent way to complement your waist trainer. It is best to stay hydrated while doing so. If you’re doing cardio outside in the summer, you will also feel hotter when wearing a waist trainer. While this is effective at intensifying your workout, you’ll want to use caution if exercising in the heat, to prevent overheating.
- Walking around the neighborhood or sweeping the home might help you burn calories while wearing your waist trainer. You’ll sweat more during these low-impact normal activities, and you’ll feel good knowing you’ve integrated your weight-loss plan into your daily routine.
Tips To Making Waist Training Safer And Effective
For some users, waist trainers could fall out of their favor due to the risks they represent to the wearer. However, a good rule of thumb is to heed your body’s voice.
You can wear a waist trainer as long as you feel comfortable. In the same way, if you seem unlikely to be able to tolerate the outfit, please take a break to change things.
A terrible reality is if waist training is done incorrectly. Also, doing too much and too fast is a sure method to bring the dangers of waist trainers to you. Let’s look at the garment’s potential drawbacks:
- It might cause acid reflux and heartburn – The compression might cause internal organ displacement, affecting digestion.
- Difficulty breathing – This is especially concerning if you’re wearing the waist trainer while exercising, as it can cause dizziness.
- Skin irritation – Excessive sweating and restriction can cause severe pain and skin rashes.
To mitigate these, do:
- Consult your physician before using a waist trainer.
- Choose the right fit. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that going down on the size would work better.
- Take time. Bigger changes require bigger patience, care, and courage. Don’t rush towards achieving your slimming goals. Start with the least amount of wearing time and as your body accepts it, increase the duration accordingly.
Summary
Getting in shape and looking great has long been a goal for many individuals. In some circumstances, you may resort to looking for faster and easier ways to help improve your overall physique.
Shapewear can be used to enhance your appearance or even hide or cover up “flaws” to look a certain way. You can also use shapewear to support your weight loss efforts if you can combine it with exercise.
However, wearing shapewear alone won’t guarantee that you lose weight and the appearance that shapewear makes your body look a certain way is only temporary. It’s important to practice a positive body image, but should your weight affect your health and your emotional wellbeing, then the right exercise and diet is still the best way to help you achieve your ideal body and stay healthy.