A former U.S. Navy veteran who lost her curves after giving birth to twins has revealed how she wears a corset 23 hours a day to maintain her tiny 18-inch waist.
Mother-of-three Diana Ringo, 39, from San Diego, California, says she only takes off the device when she showers or works out – not even removing it to have sex.
The 5ft 2in chef, who’s married to Navy officer Brett, 33, started wearing her waist-shrinking garments nearly three years ago after she lost her natural curves following the birth of her four-year-old twins Armand and Lorenz.
She says after initial concerns, her husband now supports her – but admits he doesn’t want her to shrink her waist any smaller.
Diana Ringo (pictured with her twins Armand and Lorenz) wears a corset for 23 hours a day in order to maintain her 18 inch waist
The 5ft 2in chef, who’s married to Navy officer Brett, 33, started wearing her waist-shrinking garments nearly three years ago after she lost her natural curves following the birth of her four-year-old twins Armand and Lorenz
Diana, now a chef, has over 45 corsets in her closet, costing $1,955 (£1,400), to help her maintain her 18 inch waist and hourglass frame
Instead of losing the 77lbs (five and a half stone) she put on during pregnancy – making her waist 27-29 inches – with a balanced diet and exercise, Diana decided to get her hourglass figure back by wearing waist-pinching corsets.
Diana, who worked as a Navy chef for nine years, told Barcroft TV: ‘When I have my corset on, it makes me feel so sexy. I naturally felt so sexy but it just boosted my self-esteem a lot more, it just makes me feel good.
‘I wasn’t happy with my body before because I was fat. There’s nothing wrong with being fat but my fat does not distribute in a feminine way. It distributes as if I have a male body type and I don’t like that shape.’
Diana, pictured with her husband Brett and their sons Armand and Lorenz, said: ‘I wasn’t happy with my body before because I was fat. There’s nothing wrong with being fat but my fat does not distribute in a feminine way. It distributes as if I have a male body type and I don’t like that shape’
Diana (pictured before with husband Brett) says she lost her curves after giving birth to her twin boys
Mother-of-three Diana Ringo, 39, from San Diego, California , says she only takes off the device when she showers or works out – not even removing it to have sex
But rather than diet and exercise following her pregnancy, Diana decided to wear a waist pinching corset
Diana, now a chef, has over 45 corsets in her closet, costing $1,955 (£1,400), to help her maintain her 18 inch waist and hourglass frame.
Diana said: ‘When I don’t have the corset on it feels like when you take off your bra. You get a little bit of like relief I guess is the right word, but you want to put it back on because you’re just used to it by now.
‘Right now I weigh between 118-120lbs (eight stone). My dress size is around 2-4 but I have to take in the waist because I really like to show what I have accomplished even though I sometimes get dirty and wtf looks.’
Although Brett Ringo had initial concerns with her strict corset training, he eventually came to terms with her new image and way of life – even if he still has reservations and says he does not want her to go any smaller.
Diana, now a chef, has over 45 corsets in her closet, costing $1,955 (£1,400), to help her maintain her 18 inch waist and hourglass frame.
Diana says she was not happy at her old size describing herself as ‘fat’ and claiming she had a ‘male body type’
Diana says that her husband had initial concerns about her waist training but she says it makes her happy
Diana said: ‘My family is torn between it’s okay and some of my family think I’m gonna die today maybe tomorrow.
‘I do value their opinion about what they have to say about corset training or corsets but I ultimately have to live with myself and the decisions I make are to make myself happy.’
Husband Brett said: ‘I was concerned with her health at first when I came back from deployment. That’s when I asked her to go see a doctor.
‘So, she went to get checked out and the doctor said, ‘everything is good.’
‘I don’t think she has taken it too far. We did agree that this was the kind of base line. We have an agreement that she is not going to get any smaller.
‘The training has increased her self-confidence. They always say happy wife, happy life. So, this makes her happy.’
Diana added: ‘Ultimately I will do what I want, I am a grown woman and I pay taxes. Most importantly I do what makes me happy because if I am, then he will be too, especially if I’m feeling sexy he gets rewarded with sex because of how I feel.
Diana says she is not worried about setting a bad example for her children, and says they will just grow up to be ‘manly men’
‘I always wear my Corset even when intimate. I have my husband grab my cords to get a good grip of me.’
While the curvaceous Latina loves her shapely figure, she receives stares and eye-rolls from parents when she takes her children to school, who think she’s setting a bad example to their kids about body image.
Diana said: ‘On the street I get things like ‘what the fudge’ or ‘oh my god.’
‘I can read people’s lips sometimes and I know that they are talking about me because they wrap their hand around their waist with their eyes bulging.
‘Then I get some people that are like ‘oh my god how did you do that, I want to do that’.
‘The one thing I notice all the time is if I’m walking toward someone they immediately look down at themselves and then look at me comparing or like ‘how is that even possible that kinda thing’. I’m used to it now though.
Diana says that she doesn’t remove her corset during sex with her husband taking hold of the cords to ‘get a good grip’
‘Some parents think I am a bad example. But my job isn’t take care of their children, my job is to take care of mine. Teachers, they just kinda roll their eyes and I roll mine back.
‘I’m not worried at all about giving my boys a negative self-image. I think that they are gonna grow up like manly men. They have their father too look up to. I’m just their mom.’
Despite the potential long-term damage and health complications posed by corseting, Diana hasn’t had any health issues and stands by her figure-hugging corsets that have finally given her the curves and confidence she has always wanted.
Diana admits she wears her corset 23 hours a day – and doesn’t even remove it during sex
Diana said: ‘I eat everything. There is nothing I can’t eat. What I can’t do is over eat. I just can’t, it’s like having a lap band on the outside of your body rather than on your stomach, your tummy will not allow you.
‘I can breathe properly in my corset. I just cant take tremendous full breaths while I’m wearing it and nobody lives their lives taking tremendous full breaths.
‘I trust corsets if made and used correctly to make my waist smaller, as I used them and saw the results the more I was convinced that this was the right choice for me.’
She said: ‘I do not want to get my ribs removed I have no interest in doing that. I don’t think it would make that much of a difference.
‘This is important to me because it makes me feel good. It makes me feel sexy and I mean if I feel good and I’m happy, I go with that.”