First, I have a very high instep, so unless the boot zippers up, I'm not going to be able to slip my foot into the boot. Second, my calves are just too big for any boots - even those that have expanders at the top. I would have to be SKINNY to fit into them and I'm only about 15 pounds over my ideal weight - so it's not going to happen in my lifetime. I should be happy, right? less expensive this way. But I really wanted to be able to wear boots once in my life - and now that they are so HOT...

Well, NOPE!!! (and buying special order ones for bigger calves kind of defeats the purpose of feeling thin enough to wear boots).

They have really cute boots at the avenue. I know it's a big girl store, and honestly I am not a fan of their clothes, but they have cute shoes sometimes.

BTW, I thought it was interesting what you said about the instep. I never heard that used but I can NEVER slip boots on either...even as my former skinny self. Good luck with boots shopping!!!

Some of my boots have stretch or something in them--I swear! I love them--not too loose or tight...JUST RIGHT. I think mine came from Penneys.

I just heard yesterday that DSW has boots that fit! I still have a pair of new boots in my closet that hope one day I'll be able to zip them up.

I've been as small as a contemporary size 2-4 (which is jutting hipbones and ribcage thin on me--not good) and I've never been able to fit my calves into boots without at least an elastic gusset. It's not always about being fat.

I was about to post the same thing as MariaMaria I'm a size 4 and I can't wear boots for the same reason I can't wear skinny jeans- I have really big calves!

How do insteps factor into it? I don't think mine is high, I have flat feet, and I hate pull-on boots as well.

Don't let this experience make you feel that you have irredeemably fat calves and that there is no point getting boots if they're from a specialist place. Clothes are not designed to fit women beautifully, clothes are designed to look good on clothes hangers, and the size and shape insanity extends to boots as well. I have often had to go up several sizes for shirts and dresses even when I was slim, because I'm busty. A very thin friend of mine is a pear shape, and she has to buy clothes for her bottom half which are several sizes larger than for her top half. At least you can do that with clothes; you can't mix and match sizes for your feet vs your calves, alas. Find boots that look good on you and stop worriting about what size they are, just enjoy having a lovely new pair of boots. Though you are very much allowed to grumble about how annoying all of this is!

By the way, I'm down to a BMI of 22.8, well into the healthy range, three quarters of the way to goal, and I still can't get the zips done up on two of my three pairs of knee/calf boots. I think they make them for women with very thin calves and big ankles, because I always have no end of trouble with boots being far too big around the ankle. Hopefully this'll improve soon, as I don't think I was all that much thinner when I bought these boots. Maybe it's the thing about losing weight from different parts of your body first?

Wow! Really? Even 'normal sized' people can't fit into many boots? I guess that does make me feel a bit better. I was feeling like, "Man, you are still a cow!" But it is true... they are built for one type of leg/foot. My instep problem has nothing to do with weight - it's the shape of my foot. And I'm a big built girl (Wrists are 7" circumference) so expecting my calves to be the same size as someone with a smaller build, isn't going to happen. My calves are muscular too. I do step aerobics and weight training 4-5 times a week.

I can't slip my foot into the boot because the arch/instep won't fit around the curve of the boot where the foot slips in. I would have to try 10 pairs of winter boots as a kid to find one pair that would let my foot even slide in. The angle of the boot is opposite of the shape of the foot at that point.

Here's info on high insteps: http://www.superfeet.com/foot-health/FHI55.aspx?FL=H

Lace up boots would work for that problem, but wouldn't necessarily solve the big calves problem. I should measure my calves ... just a sec...

They are 16" at the upper mid calf - where most boots would have to go past. Ankle is a shade under 10".

Try some lace up boots. There might be some more give to those. When I was in high school I was able to wear knee high boots that laced up and I was about 40lb heavier than you then.

Yes, I had to get down below 110 pounds and watch my menstrual periods dwindle to nothing before I was able to pull on conventional riding boots. I mean real riding boots, that you'd wear while showing a horse at a horse show, not fashion boots that look like riding boots. And this may interest you: I went to a very good saddlery, which specializes in riding attire, and the clerk who helped me get boots, and who is pretty familiar with the anatomy of legs, told me that peoples' legs come in all different shapes and all carry their calf muscles a bit differently. My calves are markedly muscular. It's not just fat, it's simply the way they are formed. This clerk made me feel a little bit better about something that -- to borrow a term from the equestrian world -- seems like a major fault in my conformation compared with the ideal for the breed. ;-) So please, remind yourself it's not necessarily a Fat Thing, though it is a Body Thing.

And you can get lace-up boots with a zip up the side, too, so they're less of a faff to put on.

Thanks for the link. I just realised that I too was muddling high insteps up with high arches. It all makes sense now. Is it not common for people to find that they rarely have space to put an orthotic insole into a shoe or boot, then? I've now lost enough weight that the shoes I wear the most are loose, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to get insoles in there as I have flat feet. I didn't have a chance before, and there are plenty more shoes or boots with the same problem. Of course, some of that was simply fat, but I still had this problem when I was slim.

And don't be silly, of course you're not a cow. How could a cow possibly get knee boots on over their hooves?

I don't normally post, as I'm more of a lurker, but just wanted to say that even at my thinnest in high school (110lbs), I was never able to buy/wear 'normal' knee-high boots. I'm down in the low 140s now, with still a bit more to lose, and I haven't lost anything off my calves and doubt that I will really.

My calves are muscled rather then fat, and mine are 16.5", so I can definitely appreciate how difficult/impossible it can be to fit into normal size boots.

I've bought some boots at Bloomingdales previously which used to stock wider calf sizes, but I haven't seen them online lately, so it doesn't always have to be specialty places that you buy them from.

I'm an American living in the UK, so I currently buy from boots from Duo of Bath - they have different calf fittings for the skinniest calves to those like me with a bit more muscle on their calves, so I was glad to find them when I moved over.

I wear these and have always been able to open them wide enough to let my calf and foot in, and lace them up around my calf, even at my fattest - but as hot as I feel in them, I imagine it's not what most of you chicks have in mind when you talk about "sexy boots"