For those of you who don't know me very well, I've been trying to get back into shape after boozing and poor dieting during my hectic years of college. About a year and a half later, I went from a size 14 to a size 9 - all from proper dieting and exercise.
However, I felt I needed a little extra boost to help get rid of my stubborn area (that being the entire midsection). I recalled back in highschool on how I used to keep the inches off said area by wearing a rubber girdle. For about 4 to 6 hours a day I kept it on, allowing me to sweat off the excess calories and toxins. And then I went to college and simply forgot about it.
After consuming tons of delicious foods, ballooning up, feeling gross and finally losing much of the weight, I stumbled upon the Squeem waist cincher. There were two variants: the girdle and the vest-like, high-back variant (shown in the picture above). I got the latter one, based on the reviews claiming that it helps keep the back fat in check.
It was similar to my old girdle in that it has a rubber shell to induce extra sweating. The similarities end from there. This sort of waist cincher provides instant results, in that the rubber provides little give. It sucks in and holds excess flab using high-compression, whittling the midsection down a size or two and smoothes out your silhouette (which includes eliminating the dreaded muffin top!). It also gives your boobage some extra lift :). The interior was lined with cotton to prevent chaffing and skin irritation, while the plastic boning helps maintain good posture for the wearer. You wear this vest with the rubber side out and close it on the front with sturdy, steel hook-and-eye clasps.
There are two rows where you can hook, which allows you to adjust the sizing as you gradually lose weight. The company claims that you can lose between 1 to 4 inches from the waist
per month, but the trick is, you must wear it for 8 to 10 hours each day,
everyday in order to see decent results.
When I first donned my newly purchased waist cincher, it took me about ten minutes to get it on. It does require a bit of muscle, so if you can't open a jar of pickles by yourself, then it's recommended that you get some help. Also, it's adviseable that you start with the top hook and work your way down.
About four hours into wearing this contraption, I just wanted to rip it off of me because it felt so tight and uncomfortable. So I only wore it for about five hours total that day. The next day I wore it for seven hours and from then on, I got into the groove of wearing it for the 8 to 10 hour time period. For me, it took about five days to get used to wearing the cincher. By the second week, I started seeing results, such as finally being able to move down to the inner notch.
So far, I've lost about five pounds and about an inch off my waist (with the cincher taken off, of course) and counting. And this would also factor in a reasonably healthy diet, with low to moderate exercise. So this cincher would not work so well if one constantly eats junk food and gets no exercise.
The downside of this product is that the straps sort of cut into my shoulders, but I solved that by loosening them up a bit. The straps are also wide, and on top of which the hook and eye closures are noticeable through fitted and thin fabrics, thus limiting your wardrobe choice. But if you layer your fitted shirts and avoid thin-strap/strapless tops, you should be fine.
One of the other downsides of the cincher is the plastic boning. If you've worn corsets with the cheap plastic boning, you know that they'll buckle around the midsection, which can get annoying. If you're really up to it, you can replace said plastic boning with metal ones and sew the ends back up. Just make sure the ends of the metal strips are capped to prevent tearing of the material. I would also like to note that this cincher may be extra uncomfortable for the more petite crowd, due to its length.
Overall, I rank the high back waist cincher
4 out of 5 stars - this product truly does work if you wear it according to the instructions. One star was knocked off mainly because of the plastic boning buckling. You will not be disappointed.
If you're looking into purchasing one, here's their size chart listed below:
Care Instructions:
Handwashing is highly recommended. I wouldn't toss this into the washing machine.
Hang dry only.
Here's one of my favorite shops that I've been 
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