The Girdle

A friend showed me an article on 20/20 regarding lace up girdles. She had noticed after her cat had been bound around the waist after a surgery that the cat's hanging stomach no longer hung down to the ground. I have another friend who had bound her female dog to raise the dog's sagging nipples from the ground after having puppies. Over a cup of coffee my friend and I decided that our sagging stomachs could take a girdle lift. We went on line to price them out and look at the various styles.

I found we had to check out several sights and look beyond some lewd pictures. We were interested in waist cinches. The selection was big, but I was worried about fit. I tried to find a local store that might carry lacing waist cinches for us to try but none of the stores had exactly what we were looking for.  Finally at Sears I found a girdle that doesn't lace but has hooks and flexible ribbing. It is not nearly as strong as I wanted but it claims to shrink the waist by an inch using stretchy fabric. It was only $20, worth the experimentation.

I wore the girdle for several days hooking my self into the contraption consisting of 20 hooks, sucking in my middle age gut. I could tuck my shirt in again. It made a noticeable difference. It also helped suppress my urges to eat. It was not comfortable but neither is forced dieting. This way I still order food but I find when I am wearing the girdle, I can stop myself from over eating. I wore the girdle on Thanksgiving for this  very purpose. I did not want to eat myself to oblivion.  I was able to take small portions and did not feel a great need to go back for more. The darn thing worked like a charm.

My girl friend and I had taken our measurements when looking on line for the right size lace up waist cincher. The style I have says it will remove one inch. The lace ups say they can remove from 4 to 6 inches. Some even say they can go to 10 inches but many warn of health safety problems if you take it too far. Four inches would be delightful. I have  noticed the difference with just my cheap imitation model. I am able to be disciplined in my portions.

I have not lost any significant weight, but I think my tummy pouch is more contained, even when not wearing the girdle. I am still on the hunt for a lace up cinches that I like, but not in any hurry to truly torture myself. Though I have read that the lace up version really does help you eat less and in moderation as your stomach is squished like a lap band surgery without the surgery, forced moderation.

If I can prevent myself from over indulging during the holidays by wearing this contraption, then it was money well spent.