A mum and former U.S. Navy veteran wears a corset 23 hours a day to maintain her tiny 18 inch waist.

Mum-of-three Diana Ringo, 39, from San Diego, California wears her corset for 23 hours everyday - only taking it off when she showers or works out.

The 5ft 2in Navy wife, who also worked in the Navy as a chef for nine years, started wearing her waist-shrinking garments nearly three years ago after she lost her natural curves following the birth of her four-year-old twin boys, reports the Mirror.

Instead of losing the 77lbs she put on during pregnancy - making her waist 27-29 inches - with a balanced diet and exercise, Diana decided to get her hourglass figure back by wearing waist-pinching corsets.

Diana said: ‘When I have my corset on, it makes me feel so sexy. I naturally felt so sexy but it just boosted my self-esteem a lot more, it just makes me feel good.

‘I wasn’t happy with my body before because I was fat. There’s nothing wrong with being fat but my fat does not distribute in a feminine way. It distributes as if I have a male body type and I don’t like that shape.’

Diana, now a chef, has more than 45 corsets in her closet, costing £1,400, to help her maintain her 18 inch waist and hourglass frame.

She said: ‘When I don’t have the corset on it feels like when you take off your bra. You get a little bit of light relief I guess is the right word, but you want to put it back on because you’re just used to it by now.

‘Right now I weigh between 118-120 lbs. My dress size is around 2-4 but I have to take in the waist because I really like to show what I have accomplished even though I sometimes get dirty and wtf looks.’

Although her husband Brett Ringo, 33, an officer in the Navy, had initial concerns with her strict corset training, he eventually came to terms with her new image and way of life - even if he still has reservations and says he does not want her to go any smaller.

Diana said: ‘My family is torn between it’s okay and some of my family think I’m gonna die today maybe tomorrow.

‘I do value their opinion about what they have to say about corset training or corsets but I ultimately have to live with myself and the decisions I make are to make myself happy.’

Husband Brett said: ‘I was concerned with her health at first when I came back from deployment. That’s when I asked her to go see a doctor. So, she went to get checked out and the doctor said, ‘everything is good.’

‘I don’t think she has taken it too far. We did agree that this was the kind of base line. We have an agreement that she is not going to get any smaller.

‘The training has increased her self-confidence. They always say happy wife, happy life. So, this makes her happy.’

Diana added: ‘Ultimately I will do what I want, I am a grown woman and I pay taxes. Most importantly I do what makes me happy because if I am, then he will be too, especially if I’m feeling sexy he gets rewarded with sex because of how I feel.

‘I always wear my corset even when intimate. I have my husband grab my cords to get a good grip of me.’

While the curvaceous Latina loves her shapely figure, she receives stares and eye-rolls from parents when she takes her children to school, who think she’s setting a bad example to their kids about body image.

Diana said: ‘On the street I get things like 'what the fudge' or 'oh my god.’

‘I can read people’s lips sometimes and I know that they are talking about me because they wrap their hand around their waist with their eyes bulging.

‘Then I get some people that are like 'oh my God how did you do that, I want to do that’.

‘The one thing I notice all the time is if I’m walking toward someone they immediately look down at themselves and then look at me comparing or like 'how is that even possible that kinda thing'. I’m used to it now though.

‘Some parents think I am a bad example. But my job isn’t to take care of their children, my job is to take care of mine. Teachers, they just kinda roll their eyes and I roll mine back.

‘I’m not worried at all about giving my boys a negative self-image. I think that they are gonna grow up like manly men. They have their father to look up to. I’m just their mom.’

Despite the potential long-term damage and health complications posed by corseting, Diana hasn’t had any health issues and stands by her figure-hugging corsets that have finally given her the curves and confidence she has always wanted.

Diana said: ‘I eat everything. There is nothing I can’t eat. What I can’t do is over eat. I just can’t, it’s like having a lap band on the outside of your body rather than on your stomach, your tummy will not allow you.