[Doll]

AW, YOU FINALLY GOT YOUR CORSET?!?? IT'S SO PRETTY!!! It looks so well-made! I can see what you mean about the center point, but it still looks great! I can't wait to see what kind of results you get! <3

43 day cycle? Wow, that's crazy! Mine's always at least 30 days long on its own, and was close to 35+ with my first NBE plan. I expect to probably skip over some with PM. I thought that was just because my cycle is weird on its own, I didn't even realize that PM lengthened most women's cycles. This stuff really must be strong.

[mochaccino]

Thanks Doll I got a boring color because I wasn't planning to wear it as a top, and if I somehow manage to expose it in public by accident, I don't want hot pink leopard print peaking out.

[mochaccino]

I finally realized that I still wasn't wearing it properly. I pulled my corset down even further yesterday, and think I finally got it into the right position. It covered up the pooch finally, but the bottom edge still looks very strange under clothes. I was able to wear it with a big, long, flowy tunic covered in distracting folds and stripes. Anything less and it wouldn't have been hidden. I don't think I'm going to be able to wear it in public very often. I'm going to have to learn to sleep in it Once I lose a lot of fat (not necessarily weight) and tighten up my tummy, I'm gonna get a much narrower, smoother corset that closes with buckles instead of laces. It'll be so much easier to hide under anything, at least until my waist start to look too unnaturally tiny for shopping at the grocery store and such.

[Doll]

Thanks Doll I got a boring color because I wasn't planning to wear it as a top, and if I somehow manage to expose it in public by accident, I don't want hot pink leopard print peaking out.

LOL Mine peaks out all the time. I just stopped caring so much. Although a more boring colour would certainly make me less worried about it. ^^; DIDN'T THINK THIS THROUGH THE WAY YOU HAVE.

My corset has the wonky bottom, too, and it is harder to hide. It sucks because I have such a short torso, so the bottom comes down to the top of my pants, so it either gets stuck on the back of my pants button or just buldges my pants out extra. :/ But it's going to be winter soon, so I'm no longer worried about it. My coat covers everything pretty well. Lol

I just bought Sweet Sweat and joined Planet Fitness, so I'm hoping I can get rid of my little bit of stomach pudge. If it works out well for me, I'll let you know so you can try it. lol

[mochaccino]

My cycle finally started today. That means my last cycle was 47 days long. Now I only have one more cycle until I start my new program.

[AbiDrew85]

Crimeny. That's a long cycle!

I hope you can keep it on the right track next time...

[mochaccino]

I collected my hormone samples today but wasn't able to collect enough blood for the testosterone test. The lancet that came with the test is extra wide, like a thin blade rather than a needle. It comes attached to a tiny spring loaded device that can't be used twice. The blood test also comes with a small blotting paper with 12 roughly 1/2" wide circles that you're supposed to completely fill with blood. After jabbing my finger with it I was able to get enough blood to fill 5 of the 12 circles but then the wound closed and even after prying it open with a tip of thin knife (ow!), I could only get out enough blood to fill one more circle.

After that, I went out and bought a lancing device for diabetics. I got one that goes extra deep, but the tip is a very fine needle rather than a thin blade. I jabbed myself ten times with that thing on 3 different fingers. The holes would only give out one tiny drop of blood before sealing shut. I didn't get anywhere near enough to fill even one more circle. Now I have 3 bruised looking fingers, and still only half the test paper filled. I'm going to send my samples in tomorrow, and hope that they're still able to give me results. I really wish they'd just start including a second lancet in the packaging, since you apparently can't get the same kind of lancet at a pharmacy.

I really want to know what my testosterone levels are, and the combined cost of the test and the extra lancing device was around $50. This sucks Maybe if I complain, they'll send me another test that has two little lancing blade devices

EDIT: I just found another lancet in the package while packing it up to ship. Now I feel stupid I should really pay more attention.

[mochaccino]

Since, I'm on a break from NBE right now, I thought I'd at least update you ladies on my corsetting. I hate to admit it, but I've been really, really inconsistent and haven't made any progress. Part of the reason is that I'm just plain lazy and a I'm a big baby when it comes dealing with any kind of long term discomfort, but I do have two slightly more "legitimate" reasons for being so inconsistent.

One big reason is that this particular corset looks extremely weird under almost every kind of clothing. Even if I were comfortable with the idea of every random stranger knowing that I'm wearing unusual lingerie (which I'm not ok with), it just looks flat out ugly under normal modern clothing. Apparently most corsets don't work with pants, especially jeans, but usually you can wear them with a relatively slinky dress and not look strange. My corset, however, probably won't work with anything short of a full on Victorian ball gown. Doll if you're reading this, you are super lucky for finding corset that's so easy to hide. Also, you are kicking my butt with you're dedication to waist training

The other reason that I can't wear my corset during the day is that I have a long history of stomach pain issues. My stomach usually hurts after at least one of my three meals, every single day, and the pressure from the corset just intensifies it. If I wear my corset to bed, I can make sure most of my food has left my stomach before lacing up.

Enough with excuses I've decided I'm finally going to start following the roller coaster training method from Romantasy. I'll try to explain how it works. Basically, you start off with a 2 inch reduction and then follow a two week cycle, starting with only 2 hours per day, and finishing with 8 hours per day. You even get to take one day off per week. After that, you only reduce by 1/2" per 2 week cycle. For beginning waist trainers, it supposedly gives the same amount of reduction you would get by doing 23/7 training (about 1" per month for the first few months), but it's much easier and more convenient. Here's 3 weeks worth of a sample training plan for a 28" waist copy/pasted from Romantasy's site:

Week 1-Mon.,Tues.,Weds. - Measure over corset 26 inches and wear for two hours; Thurs.,Fri.,Sat. - Measure over corset 26 inches and wear for four hours
Week 2-Mon.,Tues.,Weds. - Measure over corset 26 inches and wear for six hours; Thurs.,Fri.,Sat. - Measure over corset 26 inches and wear for eight hours
Week 3-Mon.,Tues.,Weds. - Measure over corset 25.5 inches and wear for two hours; Thurs.,Fri.,Sat. - Measure over corset 25.5 inches and wear for four hours

Romantasy says that the roller coaster method doesn't work for more advanced waist trainers who have already reached a fairly large reduction. That means that I'll eventually have to switch to a 23/7 schedule. For that I'll probably need to switch to some kind of waspie (a narrow corset that's still wider than a corset "belt") because it can be easier to hide under clothes and allows much more freedom of movement. At the same time, it can't be too narrow or it'll apparently have all the same issues that a long-line corset has under clothing (odd shape, tummy bulge), plus the additional problem of the pain from too much pressure distributed over a smaller area. I hope I hit the sweet spot next time I buy a corset. I can't wear a waspie yet because even though I'm not that fat, I'm too weak and soft like a marshmallow, and my flesh will just squeeze out like tooth paste along the top and bottom edge I've been working on finally getting fit. Let's just hope I stay committed and don't embarrass myself. Next year, that waspie will be my reward to myself, hopefully along with a much bigger new bra

[Doll]

Doll if you're reading this, you are super lucky for finding corset that's so easy to hide. Also, you are kicking my butt with you're dedication to waist training

LOL Mine sometimes interferes with my pants, too, actually. The little bottom piece in the center pushes out some. Some of my pants get caught on it sometimes, and sometimes it just looks stupid to either wear it above my pant line or to push it under my pants. I can't win. lol But I'm determined!

So far, my favourite way to hide it is to wear button-up shirts. I've got a button-up flannel on now, and it not only makes me look very busty with a tiny waist (lol), but the bottom helps hide the corset flares. I've also begun hiding the corset string under the bottom of the corset, so it doesn't fly out in the middle of the day.

As far as your stomach problems, do you know the cause? I'm just discovering that I have low stomach acid, which causes pretty much every problem in the world, from bloating and acid reflux, to malabsorption and insomnia. I've started taking Betaine HCl and am already starting to notice a slight difference. Might be something to look into. I'm gonna try to put together a thread on it sometime soon.

[mochaccino]

I started my new program today finally. Yes!!
I might add SP extract and a product called Dong Quai Women Treasure (DQWT) because I just realized that Miyusakimilk used them. DQWT is actually a blend of a whole bunch of different herbal extracts. Her current program was my inspiration for this new program, but it's different from the program she used to get from a B to an F in 5 months (supposedly).

What's strange is that she only used SP extract during follicular phase because she believes that she only needs to take SP while also taking PM. She calls the combination "synergistic". What is she talking about? Does she know something we don't, or does she just have an overly literal Yin/yang view of the roles of estrogen and testosterone? Is there any legitimate reason why someone might want to block DHt only while taking PM ?