By Maria de Lourdes Campos |Staff Writer|

Social media can be the platform in which celebrities endorse the latest fashion craze.

Kim Kardashian, Amber Rose, and Black Chyna swear by waist training as the new standard for beauty.

What exactly is a waist trainer?

“A waist trainer is a device that is made up essentially of bands of material that wrap tightly around the waist and lower rib cage to provide women with an instantly slimming hourglass figure,” said student Monica Sanchez.

Sanchez said that on social media, actresses like Brooke Burke and Jessica Alba were trending because they gave credit to waist trainers for helping them get back into shape after giving birth.

“Waist training has helped me reduce water retention and the swelling of my uterus, while it supported my unwanted baggy baby skin,” stated Burke on her blog.

The misconception that many people have about waist trainers and corsets is that they are the same thing.

In fact, they are somewhat different.

Corsets reduce the waist by compressing the waistline, but also comfortably support the ribs and hips.

Whereas, waist trainers simply compress the whole midsection, which is an uncomfortable approach, as this squeezes the ribs, resulting in the notorious inability to breathe,” according to plastic surgeon Stephen Greenberg.

Greenberg states that this new fashion trend can and has caused detrimental side effects to women who want an easy solution to weight loss.

Waist training can cause the stomach to push up and beyond the diaphragm, which can result in reflux.

One should tread lightly when trying new trending products on social media, because products are often glamorized to promote consumerism.

Many students here at CSUSB can relate.

“I tried a waist trainer, because I thought it was going to shape and form my body like Kim Kardashian,” said student Rebecca Reyes.

Reyes said that when one waist trains, there is a loss of mobility because of constraint and control around the midsection.

However, after a couple months of waist training, she noticed that she lost about two to four inches off her waistline.

“Waist training can be a daunting task, especially, when your waist trainer is loose, because that means you have to buy another one and they don’t come cheap,” said Reyes.

The amount of money spent on a waist trainers is quite high, because it’s a temporary fix to to permanent weight loss.

On average waist trainers run anywhere from 60 to 100 dollars.

“These devices can’t actually reshape the body or trigger fat loss, there’s no evidence of that, rather they are just temporary results. If people want to lose weight, they need to have a balanced diet and implement a workout that is suitable for their age, height, and weight,” stated Dr. Caroline Apovian of Boston University School of Medicine.

If one wants to achieve a more slenderized midsection, high-intensity cardio exercises can be the alternate solution to waist training.

“Movements like the infamous burpees, mountain climbers and jump squats are high intensity cardio movements, that have been proven to slim down the midsection,” stated personal trainer and student Jorge Sandoval.

Tread lightly, be careful, and question whether or not products that are trending on social media are, in fact, credible and safe.