A friend of mine, who is experienced in such things, recently made an off-hand comment about how corsets can function as a poor-man’s bariatric surgery–they compress your stomach and make you feel fuller, sooner.
Any truth to this? I put this in IMHO because I am interested in both research (if any exists) and anecdotal data.
Anecdotally, … sortof?
If you are at risk of overeating socially or at specific mealtimes, but not otherwise, then wearing a corset can be a useful trick as long as you actually pay attention to the discomfort and don’t continue eating when it gets tight.
If you are the type of person who “grazes” throughout the day, then a corset isn’t really going to do squat.
I’ll also point out that (again anecdotally) I never experienced any sort of APPETITE reduction, just that I couldn’t eat as much because there was no room to expand. That tended to make me grumpy. Other people’s MMV.
There is a theory that shift away from tailored, well fitted clothing has contributed to obesity. The logic goes that when you eat a big meal, the slight pressure along your waist serves as a subconscious signal to stop eating. On a week to week scale, more fitted clothing makes it much more obvious when you’ve gained that extra pound or two, whereas in sweatpants and tee shirts you may be able to put on ten pounds without really being aware of it.
I have a few corsets that I wear on a selective basis. Whenever I go out wearing a corset, I know I won’t be eating very much… this is both a blessing and a curse. You can’t slouch in one, either, as it forces you to sit up straight.
But you also have to have the willpower to put it on, keep it on, lace it up, etc. How that’s different from the willpower of not eating so much, I’m not really sure…
I dislike my victorian corset but I love my medieval pair of bodys, it helps me when my back is seriously ouchy. That little bit of support is perfect. [the pair of bodys is more to make the torso smooth, unlike the victorian one that makes your torso shaped like a pouter pigeon and wasp waisted.Too tight for me, I haven’t practiced body mod through compression enough to be comfortable.]