Do feet shrink while losing weight?
 

I'm just curious. I have lost 20 lbs and my shoes are getting big. I was like what!?! Already?

I have wide feet and I've heard that your shoe size can go down when you lose weight, but just after 20 pounds? I'm confused.

I have gone from a size 22 to a size 18 in clothes. I usually wear an 11 in shoes, but they are getting big.

Is this normal? Does this happen?

YES! I went down a shoe size, from a 9 1/2 wide to an 8 1/2 average after I lost 80 lbs. But I don't think my feet shrunk/lost fat until I had already dropped around 65-70lbs. But everyone loses differently, so I think it's totally fine that your shoes are already feeling big on you.

Just one of my totally unresearched, uneducated, unscientific theories here but, I think feet are one of the first places that do get noticably smaller because they usually have less of your total body fat stored there to begin with. I swear my first 20 lbs all came off my face, fingers and feet :lol:

Yep! I was a size 10 1/2 back in 2004. 60 lbs later, I now wear a 9 comfortably with space. Once I lose all this weight, I'll probably be an 8 1/2 or 8 because the running shoes I just bought are kind of loose and I have to pull the laces extra tight for them to feel comfortable.

Sadly, but truly - does it not seem to come off first where you're least hoping it would.

When visiting my parents in Illinois, I was talking about my weight loss, and had to bring out my old drivers' license to show them that there is in fact a difference (I think rather dramatic). My mom say's that she can see it IN MY NECK. I lose 50 lbs and it's only noticeable in my neck - I must look like a bobblehead!?

Yup, my feet shrunk too. I never would have thought that my shoe size would have gone down from losing weight but, I guess it makes sense. Just another excuse to buy more shoes, ha!

Definitely do. I have very small feet as it is but wide so I often buy shoes a half or full size bigger to accommodate the width. When I lose weight my feet become narrower and hence my shoes get too big. I'm currently a UK 4.5 (US 6.5) but expect to drop a further half size as I get closer to goal.

Kitty

Yup, my shoes are getting bigger, too! I think the biggest factor, at least for me, is that I retain less water overall the more weight I lose, and that is especially true for my feet. Before I lost this weight, my feet were always so swollen in the evening, especially in the summer. Now, they only swell minimally in the course of the day and are smaller overall. Yay, I guess - I used to be a size 10 1/2 to 11...

Yah I lost alot of weight in my fingers and feet too! I am hoping When I am finished I will no longer be a wide...but I think my feet are just naturally square lol.
I can't even wear my wedding band anymore because it slips off YIKES. I can't get it cut smaller either because of the engraving on the inside and the design around it. I think they have inserts to make it smaller right? I dunno lol.

Yup same here my shoes fit differently especially my heels!

I've lost ~35 pounds so far and haven't noticed any change in how my shoes fit. Then again, I'm wearing sandals everyday. Maybe by winter, with more loss and some closed shoes, I'll notice. Plus I wore the same size at my high of 197 this spring as I did 10+ years ago at 130.

Sure, when you lose weight you lose weight all over your body. Some of what we lose in our feet could partially be water as well.

I'm with Heffalump in that my feet used to be much puffier. I wore a pair of clogs last night that I hadn't had on in a few months and I've got tons of room around the tops of my feet. The last time I wore them I had indentation lines because of how tight they were. I noticed that when I put on the last 10 or so pounds last year I started getting a lot more swelling in my fingers, feet, and under my eyes and I'm thrilled that it's gone away!

Well, this thread just excites me because I discovered just the other day how my feet were affected by my weight. There are some shoes I couldn't fit in to height-wise, which made me extremely sad as I want to go off leather shoes.

Thanks for posting this :) It gives me even more motivation!

JulieJ08:
I didn't notice weight gain in my feet until I was about 230 or more. That's when issues started with me.

I did have some swelling in my feet and ankles that caused some marks with some shoes, and that is better. But it's not a different size.

I do, however, wear a whole size larger than in high school. Not sure if shoe sizes have actually changed.