A 15 inch waist is tiny—even for a young child. And yet, there are adults who have sculpted an unbelievably small 15″ waist by using corset training.
You’ll see a real-life example of these people in just a sec.
However, you’ll also learn why you shouldn’t aim to get a 15 in waist as a woman if you want to maintain optimal long-term health.
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Does anyone have a 15 inch waist?
Believe it or not, there are actually people out there who have a 15 inch waist. Ruth Lujan is one of those people. The Mexican twenty-something was diagnosed with hyperlaxity syndrome, a rare condition that can make one’s muscles, joints, and ligaments very painful. [1]
Ruth was recommenced by her doctor to wear a corset in a bid to improve her condition, which may have been a smart move considering that corset wearing can decrease lower back pain and increase muscular endurance. [2]
After wearing a corset to help her condition and noticing its waist-slimming effects, Ruth then became “hooked on the look,” as the video so rightly points out. [3] Ruth already had a small waist, most likely due to her healthy and active lifestyle, but now she has a 15 inch waistline and has become an online sensation of sorts.
Despite achieving her 15″ waist without any surgical intervention, many social media users think that Ruth’s waist is fake. But as you can see on the high-production mini-documentary that she did with truly, her waist looks like a genuine 15 inches in circumference.
Her sister, however, isn’t impressed; although her boyfriend likes the look, Ruth’s supportive sister worries about her long-term health, which is something we’ll discuss in more detail later.
What does a 15 inch waist look like?
What does a 15 inch waist look like on a person? A 15 inch waist looks absolutely tiny on a person of any height and build. Indeed, if you double the measurements, then it would still be quite small.
Now, whether or not a 15 inch stomach is desirable aesthetically is a different topic entirely. You’d need to factor in the hip measurement, in particular, as well as the person’s other anthropometric stats.
However, one thing that we can say for certain is that a 15″ waist is unnaturally small. Indeed, you could travel the world permanently, and you’d likely never see a healthy adult with a 15 in waist—that’s how small it is.
How small is a 15.5 inch waist?
A 15.5 inch waist is tiny because it’s more than 20 inches smaller than average for a woman. Although ever so slightly larger than a 15 inch waist, a 15.5 inch waist is still extremely small and is actually impossible for an adult to achieve without the aid of tightly laced corseting, a practice that we don’t recommend.
When you consider the fact that 15.5 inches is a normal size for your calves, you begin to realize just how unthinkable a 15.5″ waist is for an adult.
Of course, there are people out there who have tried to get a 15 inch waist with corseting and failed. So it just goes to show that even if you potentially sacrifice your health to achieve a certain measurement, you might still fall short (which should tell you something about how unnatural having a 15 inch waistline is).
Is it bad to have a 15 inch waist?
A 15 inch waist is—quite literally—a baby’s waist size. So the fact that there are adults with a 15 in waist is quite shocking, to say the least.
But how can having a 15 inch waist affect your health?
Since most adults who have a 15 in waist (which is one or two people in the entire Western population) sculpted their waistline via corseting, that’s where we’re going to focus our attention.
It’s often noted that tight corseting can impair your breathing and compress your internal organs. In rare cases, waist training can lead to acute limb ischemia. [4]
So while there are examples online of women shrinking their waists with corsets, there’s no way to guarantee that these ladies will retain peak health as they get older.
Conclusion: Why is getting a 15 in waist so unrealistic?
Getting a 15 inch waist is unrealistic precisely because you could be short, skinny, and lean and still not have a 15 in waist. In fact, the only way to get a 15″ waist is with waist training, which may put your health (and certainly your comfort) at risk.
It’s important to understand that you could double the waist measurement and still have a pretty trim waist, so you shouldn’t feel pressured to have an impossibly thin midsection just because you’ve seen one or two examples of a 15 inch waist online.
References
- Grahame R. Pain, distress and joint hyperlaxity. Joint Bone Spine. 2000;67(3):157-63. PMID: 10875311.
- SATO, N., SEKIGUCHI, M., KIKUCHI, S., SHISHIDO, H., SATO, K., & KONNO, S. (2012b). EFFECTS OF LONG-TERM CORSET WEARING ON CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN. FUKUSHIMA JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE, 58(1), 60–65. https://doi.org/10.5387/fms.58.60
- truly. (2021, November 4). I’ve Shrunk My Waist To 15 Inches | HOOKED ON THE LOOK [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5J4Q6kX-X8
- Ramcharan, M. M., Hanandeh, A., Donaldson, B., & Safavi, A. (2020). Waist Training Corset: An Unusual Cause of Acute Lower Limb Ischemia. Cureus. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.10465