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Stop Listening To What The Media Says About Your Waist

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Roisin Gibbons
Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Juliet Onufrak
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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at CUA chapter.

People in China have been posting photos proving how they are “paper thin”. Sounds harmless right? Well not so much. In order to be a part of this #A4Waist craze, one has to hold a vertical piece of paper over their waist to prove it is wider than they are. I’m sorry but WHAT THE HECK?? A Chinese newspaper described it as a fitness challenge but most people do not see it that way. People see it as “unhealthy and unrealistic” because honestly, how is making one’s waist is smaller than 8.3 in. natural? I mean unless you are born this way, it is not healthy to make yourself that small. The other claim behind this craze is that medical experts can estimate your health risks because of the width of your waist. WELL NEWS FLASH Y’ALL! It is about the circumference of your waist not the width when it comes to your health. So can we all just stop and leave the term A4 to cars?

Now luckily, not everyone is obsessed with this absurd craze. However, at the same time, people are not staying silent about this topic because honestly, it can lead to eating disorders and other issues. Instead, people are making it funny and basically “sticking it to the man”. I mean even guys are getting involved. You should see some of the posts, not only are they empowering but they’re pretty funny. For example, Matt Chambers posted a photo with the caption: “#A4Waist Nailed it! By the way, as a dad raising 4 kids (2 girls), can we stop the ignorant body image stuff now?” Others are posing with their University diploma and asking what defines them more? Their education or their waist.

Now there is a new hashtag going on called #notpaperthin that is supposed to combat #A4Waist and that is great! It is allowing girls to realize that it is more important to be healthy and it is important to love yourself. Everyone is beautiful and no one has the right to take that away. Don’t allow a hashtag or a celebrity make you feel like you have to look a certain way to feel beautiful because you don’t. Just be you <3.

The Kardashians have basically taken over the media at this point; Keeping up with the Kardashians has roughly 5 million viewers a season. Kim Kardashian has 66 million followers on Instagram. Kim and Khloe recently posted photos of them wearing “waist trainers.” Waist trainers are said to “Burn up to 4 inches on your waistline in under 30 days, and offer maximum compression for an instant hourglass figure.” This new waist training corset craze is the last thing young women should be seeing in the media.

“Waist shapers will help you lose fat and inches from your waist, metabolize fat, release toxins, compress your core, and reduce food intake throughout the day.” Scientifically this is simply not true. The corsets are made out of thick latex material, making the wearer sweat infinitely more when wearing them. The supposed “fat” they are losing is WATER WEIGHT not actual fat. The second the wearer eats a good meal and chugs some water the weight comes right back. Wearing a waist trainer to narrow your waist is not fixing your abdomen muscles, it is actually forcing your internal organs to morph and compress. “Medically, it doesn’t make sense that cinching your waist tightly will make it permanently smaller,” says Mary Jane Minkin, M.D., clinical professor of ob-gyn at Yale School of Medicine. “Once you take the garment off, your body will return to its usual shape. It’s also uncomfortable, restricts your movements, and if you wear it really tight, it can even make it difficult to breathe and theoretically could cause rib damage.”
Many women attempt to workout in waist trainers, thinking that it will help reduce fat around the waist. This is actually extremely dangerous. When you workout your need for oxygen increases, waist trainers crush your core; limiting the room your lungs have to expand, literally depriving you of oxygen. It is also scientifically impossible to reduce the size of your waist without doing the proper exercising and dieting. Waist shrinking actually comes from strengthening the abdomen muscles. How do you do this? Take off the stupid corset and hit the weights. Strength training is scientifically the only proper way to shred fat from the specific areas you want. In addition to strength training, diet properly. Focus on eating clean foods high in protein and low in calories. Waist trainers are not what you think they are, they’re a shortcut that are detremental to your health. Would you rather permanently morph your internal organs into dysfunction, or make some small adjustments to your everyday eating habits and workout routines? Instead of spending money on a waist trainer try this instead: http://www.spotebi.com/workout-routines/core-exercises-for-women-abs-obl…

Pic: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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After living in 3 different countries including 3 different states in the USA, it is no surprise that Roisin Gibbons decided to come to the nation's capitol to pursue a career in Social Work at CUA. Whil she did run away to Australia, her love for DC and the HC family brought her back home. Now a semester away from her senior year, Roisin is a HerCampus CUA writer, Co-President of CSWNA, Active Minds Fundraising Chair, and Marketing Chair for NRHH. Along with that, her own blog and volunteer experiences, she finds time to be a fashionista, singer, adventurer, and model for GUS Vintage Goods in California over school breaks. Roisin hopes to make a difference for victims of human trafficking and alcohol and drug addiction as a Social Worker and believes that her work with communities and blogging has put her ahead of the game. 
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