TygerLili

Actually there are four types of boning a corset can have: continuous steel, spiral steel, plastic, and actual (real or synthetic) bone.

The corset style tops that you can get at lingerie shops, or most mall stores that sell "corsets," have plastic boning instead of steel boning. They also usually have hook-and-eye closures instead of lacing (they may have lacing, but it's for decoration) or a busk as the way to get in and out of them. They usually cost between $25 and $70. You might get a 1-2 inch reduction from these, but the boning will start to bend and become misshapen immediately. These are for people who want a top that looks like a corset, but don't care about shaping and don't want to spend a lot of money. They look okay if you are naturally slim and don't really need shaping, but they usually don't look right if you are curvy, busty, or full figured. I can usually tell by looking if someone is wearing a plastic boned corset because you can usually see a bend somewhere in the boning.

Spiral steel is coiled, flexible steel with plastic over the top of it. Most of the corsets that you can find online that cost between $50 and $200 that claim to be steel-boned have spiral steel boning. It holds it's shape better than plastic alone, and you can get up to a 4-5 inch reduction with it, but it will start to lose its shape in time. I have 3 corsets with spiral steel and, while they are worth what I paid for them ($50-$75) I personally don't think they shape as well as the ones with continuous steel, nor are they as comfortable. Plus they wear out faster.

Continuous steel is a solid, flat strip of steel with plastic over it. This is what is (generally) used in the expensive (starting around $200 and going considerably higher) corsets. It holds its shape well, and allows for a pretty good reduction. In my opinion it's more comfortable because the bones don't shift and end up poking me in the hip or ribcage. I have one corset with this type of boning and it has lasted years, after being worn dozens of times. I can't necessarily tell by looking whether a corset has continuous steel or spiral steel boning, but I can tell which it is when I put one on.

In the "old days" whale bones were used for corset boning. You can get synthetic whale bones for corseting now, but I have never personally owned one or tried one on, so I don't know much about them. I would imagine they are pretty inflexible.

Aside from the boning, what the corset is made out of, what type of lacing it has, how well the seams and busk are sewn, whether it is lined or reinforced, etc. all contribute to the quality of a corset as well.

I decided 2 weeks ago to quit screwing around. My new plan has consisted of upping my protein intake and keeping the amounts of fat and carbs I eat balanced with the total amount of food I eat. That's way harder than it sounds as a vegetarian who can't stand chicken or fish. I have pretty much been replacing 1 or 2 meals a day with greek yogurt or cottage cheese. I have also been making an effort to snack on fresh fruit and vegetables, versus stuff like crackers, or bread, or candy, and cooking more things using mostly fresh vegetables and reduced fat dairy products. I have cut down on the amount of salt I cook with or put on my food, using more pepper and other spices available to me. I am forcing myself to drink a 40-60 oz of water per day (I am horrible about water) and limiting soda and juice to once or twice a week. I am eating very little sugar, other that the natural sugar in fresh fruit.

Doing this I have lost 7.5 lbs in the last 2 weeks.

I do need to figure out what I am going to do for exercise, since I HATE it! On days I work it's not a problem, since I am on my feet 9-10 hours a day running back and forth waiting on people, but on my off days I need to figure something out.

I find it kind of amusing that if you are only interested in people at or above a certain level of physical attractiveness, it's considered bad, shallow, or exclusive, but if you are only interested in people at or above a certain level of intelligence, it isn't. Both are traits are inherent and predetermined, and you can't really, drastically change them. Yeah, you can do things to try to improve both you appearance (make-over, plastic surgery) and your intelligence level (reading, studying) but if you were born with below average intelligence, you're never going to be a genius, just like you're never going to look like an Adonis if you were born to look like a garden gnome.

I personally don't think that my preference for guys who are quick-witted is any less, or more, shallow than my preference for guys who are taller than I am.

Few things in the world annoy me as much as when I get up at 7:30 am for work and find my fiance is still awake and playing video games! This is when I want to unleash all of my rage on him, not just because I am tired and have a massive headache and have no choice but to go work all day while he gets to sleep, but because now I have to listen to that mother f*kin racket all morning while I am trying to wake up. I just want my damn 20 minutes of peace and quiet!

Wow, DGN! Great job on being completely hypocritical!

But I guess something had to be done about the lack of drama to generate interest as of late...

That all is right and how it should be

OMG! Stop!

I agree. Clear shoes don't breathe, and they show when you get sweat or dirt on your feet. Not hot. Also, no matter what they cost, clear shoes/boots always look really cheaply made to me.

Hehe! That's certainly...pink.

And I like the ruched black satin, but it also kind of reminds me of the box covers on soft core porn.

I'm thinking it's probably your time zone settings. On the old board mine would do screwy things when I posted from Charlie's computer in California.