Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

These pictures are not a hoax. They are very real. Cathie Jung started corset training after giving natural birth to her three children. She whittled her 26 inch waist down to 15 inches. She has been listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as the Smallest Waist on a Living Person. She has been unable to get down to Ethel Granger’s 13 inch waist, but she is far taller than Ethel Granger was.

• Cathie Jung Website

I remember in fifth grade, the Guiness Book of World Records was the cool book to read. I found everything except the human body section incredibly boring. I remember being fascinated by the fat, the tall, the small, the conjoined and the boy with flippers for hands. It was like an eighteenth century sideshow in a book. The capacity for variation within the human species is so vast that we all fit in there somewhere.

Comparing yourself to anyone else is as silly as comparing yourself to the extremes of our species. We are all unique creatures. Wishing your butt looked like Jessica Simpson’s is just as harmful to your psyche as wearing a corset every day of your life in order to whittle your waist down to 15 inches. Yes, you can do it, but you are never the same afterward. Enjoy the beauty of your body as it is now and do your best to treat it with respect and loving kindness.

Via: Museum of Hoaxes – 15-Inch Waist