Body shapers and the promise of giving you a sleek body and flat tummy. They come in different shapes and sizes and promise effortless and painless road to flat tummy as long as you wear them regularly even to bed. Some can massage you, vibrate and burn fat while you are sitting down in the office or watching TV. Even when your boss is yelling at you, it is busy underneath it all, calmly burning fat away from your midsection. Too good to be true?
A body shaper is any piece of clothing you wear to give an illusion of a flatter and slimmer body. It is also called a girdle, tights, body magic etc. It comes in different shapes, shades, and sizes. Earlier body shapers came with iron which made it very painful as it keeps sticking into the body. The new body shapers come without iron and are more comfortable.
One thing is really about a body shaper – they are guaranteed to give you a slimmer look wherever you need – temporarily.
Wearing a body shaper may boost your self-esteem. Some people battle with low self-esteem because of being overweight or not being curvy enough, so if this will make you feel better then, by all means, go for it, but it will surely attract the curiosity of friends who will wonder at your sleek body and suddenly flat tummy. They might feel you up for bulges or telltale signs of buttons and hooks. Gently unwrap their arms from your body and move on.
Body shapers used to be all in 1 type. They were not body parts specific. This ended up flattening where you do not want to be flattened. If for instance, you wanted only a flatter tummy, the all-in-1 will also flatten your buttocks and your chest.
Now you can choose where you want to look sleeker and buy the body shaper that will take care of just that part of your body and leave the other parts the way they are. You can buy body shapers for your, tummy, hips, boobs, and thigh.
Before buying a body shaper, there are certain things you should know;
- Where do you need to be shaped
- How long will you be wearing it? Is it for a few hours or all day?
Okay, now that you have got that settled, let’s take a look at the steps you have to take to get the best body shaper.
Try it on before buying
Do not take it for granted that it will fit perfectly. How it looks when you hold it up and stretch it does not translate to how it will look on you. If it is too small do not buy it. You may think smaller is better or that a smaller size is more capable of trapping fat and squeezing them in. That is far from the truth
According to Dr. Orly Aritzur a neurologist “The tighter the fabric, or the more uncomfortable it is, the more likely you are to suffer damage” A body shaper that is too small will be uncomfortable, it will bite into you, and will create a bulge where the shaper ends.
Sizes on labels cannot be trusted all the time either. Try it on and go with what fits you. How many times have you bought size 10 in a shop and it turned out to be size 6 in your room?
Be patient when putting it on and removing
Grabbing, pulling, and jumping might seem like the best option. Resist that urge. When you want to put it on start from the feet and work your way up. Do not start from your head and then pull it down. Stand up and step into it, bunch up the body shaper like a legging and gently pull it on. Be patient. Make sure that there is no fold, stand in front of a mirror, and adjust it to fit properly.
When removing it, roll it down your buttocks, sit down and gently pull it off. Unroll it fully and fold.
Wash it before you wear it
It does not matter where you buy your body shaper, what is important is that you wash it before wearing it. The same way, you try clothes on without buying them is the same way others do it. You don’t know who else tried it on. Your body shaper was handled by many people, touched by shoppers who never had any intention of buying it, dropped on the floor, it may have been used to cover a cough or sneeze and it may have been sat on. Wear underwear when trying it on and wash it as soon as you get home.
Buy for the part of the body you need shaped
If all you need is a flat tummy, buy a tummy shaper. For someone who wants to look trims all over, an all in 1 bodysuit is the best. Sometimes you may not want it smaller but bigger. Like bigger butts. There is even a body shaper in the market to give you big buttocks. Go for what you need.
Do a “sit” test
Sit down with your new body shaper. Did it roll down your tummy when you sat down? Are you comfortable? If your answer is no, remove it and try another one on.
Choose the right color
Check your skin tone and chose the shade that is close to it. If you are dark-skinned go for black and if you are fair-skinned go with a shade that is close to your skin tone.
Comfort
Make sure that you can breathe well, and that you have space to eat. Some are so tight that they make it difficult for you to use the bathroom. Sometimes in the urgency, and frustration of pulling the thing down, there might be leakage.
Limit the time you spend on them
Wearing body shaper is ok, but you have to limit the time you spend wearing them. According to Keri Peterson, M.D, a physician at Lenox Hill Hospital New York, “it definitely should not be part of your daily uniform”
Even though body shapers can transform your shape in an instant there is a lot of concern about safety. According to neurologist Orly Aritzur, MD, “Anytime we put on really tight garments we take a risk of compressing organs or nerves”
Body shapers restrict the blood flow from the pelvis to the heart and lungs.
It may also slow down blood circulation because of the compression and this may lead to a blood clot.
Health first
Your body shaper should not hurt. Some people have complained of feeling dizzy and shortness of breath immediately after putting on their body shaper. If you feel dizzy, have difficulty breathing, sweating excessively or have a feeling like a wave of hotness in your body when wearing one, find a place to remove it immediately. This is not the time to be shy. Yes, I understand that friends might go from admiring your figure to asking what just happened. Give them a vague smile. Let their imagination do some work. Your life and health are more important than what people think.
A body shaper cannot and is not going to ever take the place of eating right and exercising. You will not lose belly fat or burn more fat anywhere while wearing it during a workout. It will just make you look slimmer when you are wearing it, the moment you remove them everything will go back the way they were.
There is nothing like spot reduction but there are exercises that can target specific parts of the body when it is done regularly with other exercises. Workout videos like our butt shaper can help you with shapely butts; the tummy transformation workout will also help you on your journey to get the body you want.