Do Your Feet Shrink When You Lose Weight? - Dr. Jamfeet (2024)

Life can get busy, which can sometimes result in packing on a few extra pounds. This is entirely understandable as the pressures of life, including work, family, and friends, can take up a lot of your time and energy. If you have decided to lose those extra pounds with diet and exercise, you may be surprised to see more than just weight coming off of your hips and thighs. You might wonder, do your feet shrink when you lose weight? In fact, weight loss can also impact the size of your feet, but maybe not for the reasons you think.

Most people plan to purchase a new wardrobe as their pants and shirts may loosen up with weight loss, but new shoes are something you may not have expected. Significant weight loss can result in going down a full shoe size. When you lose weight, you lose it all over your body, including places like your hands and feet.

Extra Pounds and the Impact on Your Feet

While a couple of extra pounds may not be a significant impact on your body, packing on large amounts of excess weight around can impact your feet. For those who are overweight or obese, the impact of the extra weight on your feet can negatively impact their ability to function properly and stay strong. This is because excess weight contributes to several structural problems like heel pain or arthritis.

The excess weight stretches out the connective tissues in our feet, which puts extra strain on your foot muscles. It can also wear down the natural fat pads which cushion your feet and absorb the shock when you take steps or stand for long periods.

Weight Loss and Your Feet

One of the major benefits of weight loss is the impact it has on your overall health. However, another great bonus is that weight loss can relieve theimpact of the excess weighton your feet. If you experienced pain, swelling, or poor circulation in your feet, losing weight can likely alleviate those issues. The pressure that extra weight can have on your feet can cause you pain and impact the strength and health of your feet.

Depending on how much weight you lose, your shoes may feel looser. The structure of your foot has not shrunk, and the frames of your feet are still the same. However, the weight loss can result in the loss of fat in your feet and reduced inflammation. Excess fat can cause inflammation in your feet, and both contribute to an increase in the size of your feet.

Exercise and Foot Pain

If you experience foot pain and are trying to lose weight, you may find it difficult. Many forms of exercise can exacerbate your foot pain, making it difficult to stay motivated. You can also run the risk of further injury, which can derail your weight loss regimen completely. Below you will find some tips for how to stick to your weight loss plan without injuring your feet.

Exercise:

Low impact exercises are essential for those with foot pain. Water aerobics, swimming, yoga, and walking are all great places to start. Talk to your podiatrist and medical provider to be sure that this will work for you.

Steps:

If you can move around and walk without issue, shoot for 10,000 steps a day. Even without rigorous exercise, increasing your movement can burn calories and help you shed the extra weight.

Diet:

Many nutritionists and health experts will tell you that weight loss happens in the kitchen. Now, you don’t need to hop on the most recent diet bandwagon or completely cut out all your favorite foods. Simply monitor what you are eating and be sure you are getting your share of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy carbohydrates. Lower your intake of fats, processed foods, and excess sugar.

Foot or Ankle Pain

If you have foot or ankle pain and cannot get relief, it may be time to see a specialist. When you have gained some extra weight and have foot pain, a specialist can help get you back on track without further injuring yourself.

If you have lost weight but still have foot pain, you may have a more significant issue on your hands that a specialist will need to diagnose and treat. Below you will find a few symptoms that should alert you that it’s time to make an appointment. If you feel any of the following in your lower leg, ankle, or foot, contact a specialist:

  • Pain that lasts for more than 3-4 days that makes regular movement difficult;
  • Swelling that does not get better after home treatments like icing, resting, or elevation;
  • Redness, warmth, tenderness or a burning sensation; or
  • Numbness or tingling.

Dr. Jamshidinia in Los Angeles

If you are experiencing foot or ankle pain, contact Dr. Jamshidinia atJamfeet. He is a board-certified foot surgeon trained in all areas of foot and ankle surgery and treatment.Dr. Jamshidiniaand his team believe in comprehensive patient care and are focused on getting you back to full health. Contact Jamfeet today for any of your foot or ankle needs!

Do Your Feet Shrink When You Lose Weight? - Dr. Jamfeet (2024)

FAQs

Do Your Feet Shrink When You Lose Weight? - Dr. Jamfeet? ›

The structure of your foot has not shrunk, and the frames of your feet are still the same. However, the weight

weight
Human body weight is a person's mass or weight. Strictly speaking, body weight is the measurement of weight without items located on the person.
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loss can result in the loss of fat in your feet and reduced inflammation. Excess fat can cause inflammation in your feet, and both contribute to an increase in the size of your feet.

Does your foot get smaller if you lose weight? ›

Can you lose weight in your feet? While you can not spot reduce weight in your feet, when you lose weight you might find your shoe size goes down a bit. Weight loss will result in a decrease in inflammation and fat throughout your body, including your feet. The change will likely not be extreme.

How much weight do you have to lose to lose weight in your feet? ›

Even just walking normally can put up to twice your body weight worth of force on your feet. As a result, sometimes as little as 10 or 15 pounds of weight lost can lead to a dramatic reduction in force loads on feet, and consequently painful symptoms as well.

Can you get rid of wide feet by losing weight? ›

In some cases, losing weight or reducing swelling may also help your feet look narrower.

How much pressure is taken off your feet when you lose weight? ›

In normal walking, you transmit three to six times your body weight through your foot, Dr. Webb says. “By losing five pounds, you potentially may be transmitting 30 pounds less through the foot and ankle,” he adds. “So it's quite dramatic.”

Can weight affect foot size? ›

People who have gained a significant amount of weight may notice their feet have increased in size. Additionally, there may be foot pain that has developed because of the added weight, and this may cause the connective tissue to stretch.

Can you get your foot size reduced? ›

The Foot Tuck ™ is a cosmetic and reconstructive procedure that will deliver patient a 1-2 shoe size reduction in the overall size of their foot.

How to shrink your foot size naturally? ›

Losing excess weight can cause fat loss and reduce inflammation in your feet. So, if you lose some weight and you have to change your shoe size, your foot has gotten smaller, kind of. The overall structure of your foot hasn't changed, but as mentioned, you've lost fat and reduced inflammation.

When you lose weight, do your breasts get smaller? ›

Why Do Breasts Change After Weight Loss? The breasts are mainly composed of fat tissue. So, when you lose fat tissue in other areas of the body due to weight loss, you also lose fat tissue in the breasts. This causes the breasts to shrink in size, leading to loose, sagging skin.

Do feet get smaller with age? ›

Do people's feet change as they get older? They don't change in size, necessarily. But feet may get wider, not longer, as we age. They change in their elasticity the same way other body parts do – tissue becomes less tight, causing the increased width and sagging of the arches.

What is Cinderella foot surgery? ›

Sometimes called Cinderella surgery correcting the big toe joint bunion and little toe joint bunion. Sometimes called Cinderella surgery, this is a combination of procedures usually involving correcting the big toe joint bunion (hallux valgus) and little toe joint bunion (Tailor's bunion).

Can I shrink my wide feet? ›

If you absolutely cannot handle the discomfort your wide feet are giving you, or simply want narrower feet, you may want to consider corrective cosmetic foot surgery. More and more people turn to foot surgery to prevent worsening of the deformities that cause wide feet.

What is the average shoe size for a woman? ›

While the average women's shoe size in the United States is about 9, that is on the higher end of the global average. Across the globe, women have an average shoe size of 7 to 9. Each country ranges slightly with its own mean. Asian countries have been found to have smaller sizes, like China, with 5.5 to 6.5.

Will my feet get thinner if I lose weight? ›

Most people plan to purchase a new wardrobe as their pants and shirts may loosen up with weight loss, but new shoes are something you may not have expected. Significant weight loss can result in going down a full shoe size. When you lose weight, you lose it all over your body, including places like your hands and feet.

What happens to your joints when you lose weight? ›

Even a five-pound loss can make a huge difference when it comes to joint pain. "Losing one pound of weight results in 3-4 pounds of pressure being removed from joints," says Dr. Dudley. "In other words, losing ten pounds of weight relieves 40 pounds of pressure from your joints."

How many pounds do you have to lose to notice? ›

A good rule of thumb is that people tend to notice your weight loss when you've lost around 10% of your starting weight, so if you started at 250lbs, people will start to notice when you've lost 25lbs. Naturally, the same amount of weight loss can look different on different people.

Does losing weight reduce flat feet? ›

Maintain a healthy weight – Excess weight can contribute to flat feet. If you're overweight, dropping pounds can take pressure off your feet and help reduce pain. Limit standing – Avoid standing for long periods of time as this can aggravate flat feet.

When you lose weight, do your fingers get smaller? ›

Like other parts of the body, fingers can store fat. Although this fat is not as much as other organs, but when losing weight, this fat is lost and the size of the ring changes. Some people also lose weight as they age, and as a result, their fingers become narrower. In such cases, the previous rings cannot be used.

Have shoe sizes gotten smaller? ›

Shoe manufacturers and retailers, parents and physicians have known for years that Americans' feet are getting bigger. The National Shoe Retailers Association announced in late 2012 that the most popular shoe sizes have increased over the last 30 years, from size 7½ to 8½ for women, and from size 9½ to 10½ for men.

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