The concept of a waist trainer is simple: wear it and your waist gets smaller; easy right? Well, sort of. This still leaves a lot of questions as to how to get the most out of your waist trainer and how to rock yours in style! Here we cover the basic daily dos and dos for your best waist training experience.
How Long to Wear a Waist Trainer a Day
We get this question from wearers a lot. The simple answer is “as long as possible!”. The complicated version is “it depends on what you want from it.”.
If you’re wearing a waist trainer as an item of shapewear, or for posture support then simply wear it for the intended period of use. Simple. [We have an article on the differences and cross over between waist trainers and abdominal shapewear here] For a change to your waistline that lasts when you aren’t wearing the waist trainer, the answer is below. All Slimtum waist trainers are specifically made for the purpose of reshaping the waistline unless specifically stated otherwise.
Waist trainers work from a combination of pressure over time. If we increase the pressure exerted or the time that we exert the pressure over, then – within a relevant range of application (e.g. no nonsensical things like wearing it for > 24 hours a day, wearing for =<0 hours / day, applying 0 or infinite pressure, or applying unsafe levels of pressure) - the time to see results is shortened. There is a minimum amount of pressure and time per day to see any results from your waist training, but there is no maximum time per day beyond comfort and physical constraints. With that as a preamble, here are some convenient guidelines for how long to wear one!
Minimum times – We’ve found from customer experience that the absolute minimum amount of time to wear a waist trainer to see results is 3 hours per day.
Recommended times – Slimtum recommend wearing your waist trainer for 6-10 hours per day consistently. With this much wear time, we typically see customers drop 1 size in a month.
Optimal times – The fastest results have come when customers wear their waist trainer for 10+ hours a day. We have seen customers drop a size every 1-2 weeks when wearing for 16+ hours a day every day.
There are two caveats to wearing times.
Firstly, always listen to your body and maintain reasonable levels of comfort. Some minor discomfort is reasonable and should be expected, especially at first, but never force yourself to wear your waist trainer for extended periods if you’re experiencing more than minor discomfort. Give yourself time to adjust to it; waist training is not supposed to be a punishment but is often an enjoyable experience because it looks great, feels supportive and helps posture.
Secondly, sometimes – rarely - wearers can experience indigestion when wearing a waist trainer for the first time or for extended periods. If this happens to you, simply give your body a break! A typical digestion cycle takes anywhere from 48-72 hours and this is the period of time we recommend taking a break for if you experience anything more than minor or typical indigestion for you.
Can You Wear Waist Trainers All Day
Absolutely you can. Many of our customers wear our waist trainers during work and most report that they are supportive and help relieve back discomfort from prolonged periods of standing or sitting.
The main thing to watch for is your comfort levels when wearing a waist trainer. While wearing a waist trainer during the day is supportive and can help relieve back pain, sometimes sitting for extended periods in one can become uncomfortable on the hip/thigh joint as they can exert pressure on the sartorius muscle and branches of the femoral nerve. Slimtum waist trainers are designed with a shorter profile near the hips so they don’t cut in as much here. That being said, an effective waist trainer still has to come low enough to cover the top of the hips and below the belly button in order to properly shape the ‘muffin top’ and the belly area.
How Tight Should Waist Trainers Be
The simple answer is as tight as you can manage to get on (without breaking it!). Remember from above that waist trainers work using pressure over time? Increasing the pressure (within reason) will shorten the time to seeing optimal results. It also results in an increased ability to realign the floating ribs and the myofascial and adipofascial tissues which can require significant pressure to yield to permanent reshaping.
You might wonder if it’s safe to wear a tight waist trainer, but at Slimtum we haven’t had one serious customer complaint from the nominal pressure even a tight waist trainer exerts. What most people find for tight waist trainers is that they experience some discomfort at first and can’t wear their waist trainer for too long at first. Usually people adjust to it within a week and can start wearing for the recommended time pretty quickly. It’s all about adapting to wearing to it and listening to your body; don’t make it an uncomfortable experience but take your time instead.
How to Hide Waist Trainer Under Clothes
We don’t often get asked this question at Slimtum. This is for two reasons:
Firstly, our waist trainers are usually low profile enough to hide under almost any clothing (even clingy summer dresses!). Except for our sportiest models, we have a clean, flat exterior with interior boning that doesn’t show outside the clothing.
Secondly, the styling on our waist trainers is pretty cool. A lot of wearers like to show off their exaggerated curves while wearing their Slimtum waist trainer. Our waist trainers are also styled to further compliment your curves with angled lines and contours that visually make wearers look slimmer through the waist in an elegant manner.
How to Rock a Waist Trainer in Style
Our waist trainers look really cool. Our favourite way to dress them up is in a pair of leggings and a sports bra. Most women like the extra control this gives them through the midsection while wearing them and their aggressive elegance really sets off an activewear set. All of our current models are black, which makes them easy to colour match as well.
Another cool option we’ve seen is wearing a bodysuit (sleeveless or short sleeve) with denim and the waist trainer over the top. Don’t be afraid to style them up or down – they’re essentially a cool looking functional corset, which is still on trend (actually they’ve never been off-trend!).
