Does SlimAway (As Seen On TV) Work?

A few weeks ago as I was browsing through the As Seen On TV section of my local Walmart, I decided to grab the SlimAway waistband. It came pretty cheaply at $9.99 and looked appealing with its promises to "seal in body heat to lose water weight".

When I got home, I took a picture of myself without it on. This item (like many others) also promised that I would "look slim instantly". I wanted to see if there was any change. I was a bit disappointed that the correct position on the belt for me was also the last one, which means I can never get it any tighter. I'm not a large person, but I am definitely overweight, and since I've had the baby I'm looking for anything that will assist me in shrinking it back to almost-normal. I was hoping that this would be a product I could use until I reach my correct weight, but it looks like it will be too big for me after I lose 5-10 lbs.

After I put the belt on, I did look a bit slimmer. Actually, I looked tons slimmer and the belt had pretty much reshaped my torso. I could feel the belt working to support my posture - the zippers were stiff enough that slouching was less comfortable than usual, and I sat up nice and straight throughout my first evening of wearing it. I don't know about the water weight part, (I've been exercising to lose weight at a decent pace on my own) but my skin felt very moist inside the waistband, so there is a possibility that I was sweating out some of the water around my stomach.

I was pleased enough with the results of the way I looked with it on and how it helped support my torso that I wanted to keep it. But I also wanted to further the experiment. I have a whole slew of cocoa butter lotions in my cabinet - supposedly helpful for getting rid of stretch marks. But I don't have the time to keep applying it over and over and rubbing it into myself all day. What if I slathered the lotion on before I put on the belt though? Would the neoprene inside the belt seal the lotion against my skin and continuously rub it in enough that my stretch marks would diminish?

I took another picture of my stomach and stretch marks to see if I could get a thinner stomach and/or diminished stretched marks by wearing the band for a couple of weeks.

Before



Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have worked the way I thought it would. The picture below is an after picture. It looks pretty much the same as the picture above.

After

I can see a slight lightening of the stretch marks when I am looking at them on myself, but that could be due to a lot of different things, like the cold weather tightening my skin, or the passage of time. If there had been a vastly noticeable difference, I would have attributed it to the belt. I wish there had been, but oh well! As for losing water weight, I don't really see a big difference in my waistline. I'm still slowly losing, but that is due largely in part to my healthy eating habits. Not to mention all the energy it takes to breastfeed and take care of a toddler.

All things considered, this is still a product worth buying. No one likes to be reminded of the slight pooch that pregnancy leaves, and this handy belt makes sure that while you work at getting rid of it you don't have to live with looking at it. By no means should this be used as the solution to fixing your post-baby body, but it goes a long way in boosting your self-esteem while you tackle that problem.

And for all the ladies out there who are stressing about their post-baby belly, don't. You worked hard for nine months to make a baby, don't expect that your body will just forget all the effort it took overnight. Getting rid of an after-baby belly usually takes another nine months if you focus at it, and if you are pinched for time to exercise (like me), it's going to take even longer. Just work at it slowly and don't be discouraged. That belly made something wonderful, and you earned those marks in the best way possible!