Having a small waist is becoming the trend these days, but there are certain anatomical factors that need to be taken into consideration when we determine how small your waist can be. Even though every single patient can have a smaller waist, how small your waist gets will depend on three factors:
1. The thickness of the fat layer surrounding the muscles of the abdominal wall.
2. The transverse distance between the right and left abdominal walls.
3. The ratio of visceral fat to subcutaneous fat.
Subcutaneous fat is the fat that surrounds every single soft tissue in the body. In liposuction, this is the type of fat that is removed on the flanks and waist. If you have more subcutaneous fat tissue and a small transverse dimension of the abdominal wall, your results will be more dramatic because the subcutaneous fat can be removed with liposuction. The transverse dimension of the abdominal wall is determined by the ratio of visceral fat to subcutaneous fat and muscle weakness, if any. Visceral fat is the fat around your internal organs. The more visceral fat you have, the bigger the transverse dimension of the abdominal wall; this causes a problem when performing surgery to enhance your waist, because the visceral fat cannot be removed with surgery.
Another reason that you can have an increase in waist size is due to weakness and separation of the abdominal wall. In pregnancy, the soft tissue between the muscles of the abdominal wall is stretched, which increases the transverse dimension of the abdominal wall on the sides. One way to correct this is by tightening the muscles, as is done when performing a tummy tuck.
The size of your waist is determined by all these anatomical factors. You have to be conscious of and realistic about the fact that not everybody can get a very small waist-to-hip ratio. Depending on these factors, your waist can vary in size and shape.