Can your feet get ... smaller??

PinkyCoyote@sopuli.xyz to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 52 points –

Over the last 4 years i've barely worn shoes like 30 days in total. Today I noticed my previously best fitting shoes are like a size too big.

Ive also lost 40 kg from the point i bought these shoes. Have the shoes shape been ruined or have my feet shrunk??

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Feet often do get smaller when you lose a lot of weight. Partly because feet have layers of fat too, and partly because there's less weight squishing them out sideways.

Partly because there's less weight squishing them out sideways.

It's like TIL , but it's common sense that remained unexplored.. atleast for me.

How is it possible to wear shoes for 30 total days in 4 years? That seems like an incredibly low number.

Sandals, flip-flops, slippers.

I live in a culture where people don't wear shoes ever.

Yeah thats pretty much it. Tho i also like to play the couple of sports I do bare foot in the grass unless theres risk of cat poop

I know this is veering off the course of discussion a bit, but I think I'd prefer to stand in shit with my bare foot than with a shoe on, because it's much easier to clean off. Unless I haven't got anything to hand to clean it with and I've come to the field wearing shoes.

That makes sense. I was thinking no shoes = barefoot.

Working from home, I'd imagine. Since covid, I think I've only put on real pants maybe 8 times.

Could be shoes that only get worn on special occasions. I have a pair of ghillie brogues that I only wear a few times a year

Edit: wait, never mind, I see now that OP meant shoes in general, not a specific pair

Do you consider sandals "shoes" or just footwear?

The difference is that shoes that are fully enclosed need to fit you pretty well to be comfortable, while for something open like a sandal that's not nearly as important

I'm so confused as to how people say sandals aren't shoes. they're open-toed shoes. what is your definition of "shoe," people?

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Yes... You likely had fairly flat and atrophied feet. I'm guessing they were pretty long and narrow, with your big toe extending much further than your little toe. With a more developed arch, foot muscles in general, and not being bound, your foot is probably quite a bit wider with a more square toe box. That square toe box results from your big toe being pulled in.

Also, if you had an issue with water retention before, your feet may just be less swollen now.

Others have mentioned losing fat... Definitely possible but I don't think you'd see a shoe size drop from that (since it's more volume loss than length) and I don't think 40 lbs would have included that much on your feet anyway 🤷‍♂️

40kg is about 88 lbs, and could be a significant enough amount of weight to lose for these changes.

I missed it was kg instead of lbs, definitely agree with you in that case.

I don't think you'd see a shoe size drop from that (since it's more volume loss than length)

For people with wide feet, it can sometimes be hard to find shoes that fit properly and you may have to go up a size or 2 to get shoes that work for you

I normally wear a US men's size 11 wide and my shoes tend to be a bit long for me, but my feet aren't fitting in anything much smaller comfortably. Wide shoes are usually an E or EE width, if I could more reliably find EEE width shoes I could probably go down to a size 10 or 10½, so I could definitely imagine someone in a similar situation going down a size by losing some weight

It's especially frustrating when I go looking for safety toe shoes because usually that toe cap isn't actually doing much to protect my feet and just kind of makes the shoe more uncomfortable

It's also only about half the battle for me, because my toes are pretty wide but the rest of my foot and especially my heels are actually kind of narrow, so trying to find shoes that actually fit me well is basically impossible unless I start shelling out big bucks for custom made shoes.

You can definitely lose weight off your feet, same thing happened to me.

Out of curiosity, wat were the biggest changes you implemented? Would you do anything differently given hindsight?

Out of curiosity, wat were the biggest changes you implemented?

My changes were basically three stages:

  1. Cut out sugary drinks (both soft drinks and juice)
  2. Keto
  3. Intermittent fasting (this is much easier when you're already doing keto)

But even just cutting out sugary drinks made a big difference.

Would you do anything differently given hindsight?

I'd do it sooner. I'd also not get so caught up in trying to make keto food that mimics carby food (though maybe it actually is worthwhile doing it in the early days if you have cravings for certain things).

The sugary drinks is what did it for me too! First thing I cut out. Havent had anything but teas coffee amd inhumane amounts of water over the last 8 years. Maybe an average of like 3-4 sugary drinks a year at most.

Intermittent fasting was also my second most important method.

I also used to ask myself do you meed to eat or are you bored/ thirsty. Drink water and check back. If still feel hunger I'm eating.

Homecooked meals only. 0 fast food and very little going out for food anyways. Plus understamding nutrition.

When I got heavily involved in karate and kickboxing, training barefoot 5x per week, I lost almost two shoe-sizes. After I stopped, I gained them back year by year. Now I wear mostly barefoot shoes and again have lost at least one size. I attribute it to the ability of your feet muscles to maintain the arc and keep your middle foot together,

Because this is the Internet, I feel like OP is gonna to get at least a few creepy DMs over this.

Naaa im a dude, i'm safe. Never once gotten a creepy message. But if you want feet pics feel free to ask

People are right on here, losing weight can make your feet skinnier.
However the fact that you walk barefoot is what caught my attention. Im a barefoot runner, and your feet's arch becomes more pronounced as you train like that. I assume walking would lead to the same results. So yeah, being barefoot all the time does make your feet smaller, and starting to wear shoes again all the time would make that arch go away over time