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Are Flipper Feet in My Future?

April 20, 2012 By Lena

I’m filing this one under: AGING SUCKS.

And, it does the WEIRDEST things to your body.

Case in point: I’ve been a size 7 shoe for almost my entire life – certainly ever since my foot stopped growing around the age of sixteen. If you don’t believe me, you can ask my bestie – a confirmed size 7 whom I often swapped footwear with during our clubbing days (noticeably CFM* boots).

(*If you don’t know what CFM boots are, you’ll have to Google it. Sorry, I’m too old to use that kind of language.)

Anyhoo, I noticed a strange trend over the past few months – shoes that I’ve worn for YEARS suddenly felt very uncomfortable near the toes. The shoes clearly were too tight – my feet ached in protest if tried to slip them on for any length of time. Huh?

So last night, I had my husband bring up a storage box filled with old shoes – the ones I was hesitant to give away (hoping the style would recycle in the not-to-distant future). There were shoes and shoes and shoes.

And none of them fit. They were ALL too small. What.the.hell.

Exhibit A: These Barbie by David Dixon shoes were worn when I was 35 weeks pregnant. Do you know what women’s feet look like when baby-to-be is due? They’re swollen, take on manatee-like proportions and often lack a certain sex appeal.


(Of course, I’m still rocking my creepy skeletal feet, but trust me, they were quite larger than what I’m used to.)

And so when I came across the shoes last night I naturally thought, “These will fit for sure! If they fit while I was pregnant, certainly I can get into them now!”…. Yeah, not so much. Waaaay too tight.

So what gives? According to Terence Vanderheiden, D.P.M., “Feet can increase in size as you get older. Your feet are not really growing, but the tendons and ligaments tend to get stretched out and this leads to a larger foot size.” Also, weight gain (perhaps from 2 pregnancies in 2 years?) can also place pressure on the feet, slowly stretching and loosening the muscles.

The result: Mama needs some new shoes!

I have decided to embrace my newly size 8 feet and look forward to re-building my shoe collection, one pair at time. To begin, let’s start by coveting these colour block looks from Town Shoes:

Have your feet changed size over the years? I’d really like to think I’m not the only one!

Filed Under: Fashion Tagged With: aging, Lena, shoes, Town Shoes

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. AlexandraSD

    April 20, 2012 at 11:15 am

    Yes maam. I went from a 6.5 to 7.5 during my second pregnancy and stayed there 10 years later.

    • Lena

      April 25, 2012 at 12:52 pm

      Oy. Thanks for the clarification, LOL!

  2. dannyscotland

    April 20, 2012 at 1:48 pm

    I have always been an 8.5 but it looks like I’m creeping up on 9s now. (Two babies, here, too)

    • Lena

      April 25, 2012 at 12:52 pm

      Phew! Okay it is NOT just me :)

  3. trish

    April 20, 2012 at 2:03 pm

    Mine actually did the opposite – I was a 7 since my feet stopped growing & then a few years ago I started noticing that all my shoes seemed too big. I’m now a 6. Then again, I have noticed that my body tends to do the complete opposite of what it should be doing

    • Lena

      April 25, 2012 at 12:53 pm

      That is so interesting! Same with my mom – she’s taking a smaller size now too. We’re all strange!

  4. victoria

    April 20, 2012 at 4:53 pm

    you didn’t throw those out did you? *wink, wink*

    • Lena

      April 25, 2012 at 12:53 pm

      Hahaha, indeed I still have them ;) Will set them aside for you.

  5. Little Miss Kate

    April 20, 2012 at 7:58 pm

    I went up a size when I was pregnant, but then back down post baby.
    Plus side is you get to do some shopping, and we KNOW you like shopping!

    • Lena

      April 25, 2012 at 12:54 pm

      LOL yup, it’s not too hard building a new shoe collection ;)

  6. Bargainmoose

    April 21, 2012 at 6:01 am

    No way, I had no idea this could happen! * Shock *

    • Lena

      April 25, 2012 at 12:54 pm

      Ha! Consider me the bearer of bad (or good) news!

  7. Erin

    April 22, 2012 at 8:36 am

    Yes!..2 babies have not only stretched everything else on my body but my feet too? argh!!! I was a size 8.5..now I’m 9.5 which most stores don’t carry half sizes so I am pretty much in the canoe section…

    • Lena

      April 25, 2012 at 12:55 pm

      CANOE section – LOL!!! I love this. I’m seriously thinking this is a new phenomena that will catch on soon….

  8. Becky

    April 22, 2012 at 3:41 pm

    This hasn’t happened to me… yet. But my mom had to go out and buy new shoes after she noticed her old ones getting to tight.

    • Lena

      April 25, 2012 at 12:55 pm

      Ah, I guess it’s only a matter of time for most of us….

  9. amy t

    April 23, 2012 at 10:34 pm

    My feet also went up a size during my first pregnancy (and stayed there!) weird eh?!

    • Lena

      April 25, 2012 at 12:58 pm

      So weird! I honestly think it’s the craziest thing!

  10. stacey dempsey

    April 24, 2012 at 7:10 am

    yes after having kids I went up about half a size , not that they got longer but seem to get wider lol but then after many many years they seem to have come back to normal
    YOU LOOK AWESOME by the way

    • Lena

      April 25, 2012 at 12:58 pm

      Ha! Thanks – I didn’t feel that awesome at the time :) At least yours went back to normal!

  11. Allie

    April 24, 2012 at 10:11 am

    Oh ya quite a drag was a sz 8-8.5 now 9 9.5 – 10 omfg!!!!!! (three pregnancies will do that to ya!!)
    I had quite a shoe collection but sadly ……. you know the rest! :(

    • Lena

      April 25, 2012 at 1:00 pm

      OMG size 10!!! That is crazy talk! But at least you can wait until shoes are discounted heavily and grab a size 10 – the size is usually left over along with size 5 :)

  12. Andrea Scott

    April 26, 2012 at 10:46 pm

    Have you seen this?
    http://www.lifesongsofabusymom.com/2012/04/stretch-your-shoes.html?spref=fb

  13. Lara

    April 27, 2012 at 2:29 pm

    omg i saw the picture before your post and nearly pooped! i thought you were preggers again which had me wooping! aw. hehe. maybe that will be another post? lol!

    my feet grew about a half a size which really sucks because i have WAY too many beautiful boots, shoes, and sandals which i can no longer wear. i *almost* fit them but they kill to wear so it’s really a tease!

  14. Soulla

    April 27, 2012 at 8:41 pm

    Soooo, I’m currently a size 6. Can you please keep all your “old” size 7 shoes in storage until MY tendons and ligaments start to stretch? I’m loving the red pumps.

    • Lena

      April 27, 2012 at 8:55 pm

      LOL – while I do have some fabulous shoes I just couldn’t part with, the majority of them were sent to charity. But yup, you’ve got dibs on those David Dixon’s!

  15. Soulla

    April 28, 2012 at 4:01 pm

    Charity is also a suitable alternative ;)

    • Lena

      April 29, 2012 at 7:05 am

      I’m glad you approve :)

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Lena Almeida

Toronto Blogger, Social Media Strategist for Listen to Lena Inc. Television & Radio Personality, Columnist and Speaker. Family Travel Expert. Star Wars Fanatic. Perfecting the Art of Conversuasion. Read More…

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