A question and also a bit of positivity at last!!!

[Sez]

Does your calf size reduce once you have lost a large amount of weight? I have always had mega calves, due to the fact that body was twice as heavy as it should be.

Now I have lost over 100lbs, I sort of assumed that my calves had shrunk too.... I have alwayslonged to wear knee length boots, instead of the calf length I was stuck with. (They never looked that great either, sat just below my great bulging calf..) Today I thought I'd treat myself to some boots, as the chilly weather is onits way. I was devastated to find that "normal" boots are still far too narrow for my legs.... Is it a return trip to Evans for me, each time I want some boots or is there hope yet??


On a positive note, I bought a size 12 Lonsdale hoody for myself today, after trying on the too-big 14.Tonight, post bath and feeling low, I decided to try on the 3 prs of different brand size 12 trousers I have lined up & "waiting"...(how sad)

Monsoon nonstretch jeans - did up but still too tight to wear. Better than last time tried tho!

Prmiark - pink, cotton casuals (sale bargain £3!!) Now wearable, when bought a month ago, too tight to consider!!

Papaya stretch denim jeans - I reckon I could get away with wearing them, but maybe could do with being a tad smaller.


This all made me feel a bit better, especially as my abstinence has been very much lacking of late, and boy am I battling those demons. Does your body shape change, even if no weight is lost? I ask, because of the above, and because I have has so many strokes just this week, from people whohave seen me a the last few months... Curiuos???

 

[Conn76]

I definitely think your body shape changes even when the weight doesn't. I had a couple of really rubbish weeks (1lb then 2lb) despite my saintly behaviour. The only thing that kept me with it was the fact that clothes that were too tight began to fit.

I think that weighing scales are quite probably the natural enemy of the dieter. The human boday sure does some weird and wonderful things!

 

[Cerulean]

Sez - I asked this same question as i got to a size 12 - your calves need to go to about 15.5 ins before they will fit most fitted calf high-street boots. The great news is that the trend his year is for principal boy style boots and ones with ties the side with looser calves and most stores are going to be carry at least one of those two styles...

When I dropped the last half stone my calves changed and became less prominent.

 

[yo-yo-dieter]

YES! YES! YES

Even when I was slim in the year 2000 (briefly) my calves were still too large for ordinaryknee-high zip up boots from high street stores, and I had to buy welly-like boots from Evans (cos obviously if you have fat legs your feet are also fat - NOT!) or £100+ boots from the likes of Duo of Bath!

Well the good news is that my calves have shrunk by 2" to - what Cerulean says - 15.25" and I can now fit into knee-high zip-up boots from the high street and now am the proud owner of THREE pairs costing £15, £18 and £20! Less than I would used to have paid for one pair.

Hooray!

And I feel really foxy in them too!

 

[Sez]

Thanks for the replies. Just measured my calves and they are a stonking great 17.5 inches!!! Bloomin heck, that was a big shock!!

No long boots for me this year then!! Still, glad Cerulean pointed out that ankle boots are in, gotta get some of them!! Mind you, I still lurve my Uggs, cant be doing without them, thats for sure!!

 

[rubywoo]

Hey Sez,

Glad your feeling better. It's amazing when you try on something which you may consider a small size and it turns out to be too big.

I think I have big calves - but haven't measured them to see if they are or if it's just my warped thinking.

xx

 

[Russiandoll]

I've got big calves. (Sounds like an AA meeting! lol) They don't seem hugely fat, just BIG. And I have thick ankles too.

I tried a pair of wellies on once in Asda. I forced my leg in and the air that was expelled created a vacuum in which my leg was well and truly stuck.

I really panicked when I realised I couldn't get my foot out and had visions of the boots having to be cut off! I had to hobble around to find hubby and get him to give them a good yank. Thought my leg was going to come out at the socket!

Consequently, I'm very wary of boots!

 

[yo-yo-dieter]

I tried a pair of wellies on once in Asda. I forced my leg in and the air that was expelled created a vacuum in which my leg was well and truly stuck./quote]

Sorry, am I allowed to laugh at this quote!! It's the air vaccum which set me off.

 

[scotwannabethin]

Hmm, mine are just over the 16" but are not showing any signs of moving just yet. I have been doing weekly measurements since I started LL. I guess I will just have to wait a bit longer. Oh and live in the lace up boots I got from Evans last year.

 

[whatsnewpussycat]

My calves are still around 17.5 - 18 inches :cry:and that's after completing Foundation and the first week of Development. I'm glad I didn't measure them before I started the program or I'd probably have had a breakdown.

I'm now under the impression that I'll always have big calves and I can't see that I'm going to lose 2.5 inches off the b***ers by the time I get to goal - which is about 1.5 stones away.

So today (after trying on the 'wide fit' boots in Next only to find they still wouldn't do up further than my ankle) I checked out a website called 'simplybe.co.uk' which does mail order boots - and the calves come in Extra Large and Ultra Extra Large (or something like that). And the boots don't look too bad - some even look quite sexy. Now I need to add the caveat that I've never ordered anything from this site before so have no idea what the boots look like in real life, but I'm thinking of ordering myself a pair.

Has anyone got any experience of them??

 

[JustJo]

Hiya, Sez.

I've always had fat thighs and fat calves - my legs are definitely my 'problem area'! Before dieting, I couldn't even do up Evans' boots. It doesn't help that i'm only a size 4, as, bizarrely, the calf sizes on Evans boots get narrower as the sizes come down.
Evans do have a couple of 'extra-wide' pairs, but I didn't like the choices.
I eventually ordered a gorgeous, but expensive pair, from Duo (fella paid for them as a birthday pressie!). I loved them.

Even now that i've lost my weight and have maintained a size 10/12 clothes for a couple of years, I still struggle with regular shop bought boots, as my calves measure just over 16". If I want knee-high 'tight' boots, I still have to go into Evans, although I thankfully don't need their 'extra wide' any more! I do tend to get funny looks in Evans though, as I guess I don't 'fit' the category any more of Evans' sized women!

So, bad news from me, i'm afraid. I've actually considered liposuction on my calves, as the don't look 'fat and wobbly' - I just have these pockets of fat in one contained area... if that makes any sense.

whatsnewpussycat: I've never ordered boots from Simply Be (they didn't do a wide calf range when I was bigger), but I used to order clothes from there, and never had any problems.


Jo x

 

[pticouk]

whatsnewpussycat - got some wide calf boots from simply be would totally recommend them, as even if they aren't right sending them back is very easy.

They are a lovely suede type of material and zipped up and were nice and easy to walk in and I loved them, got them in about January, wore them a couple of times to work and out. but too used to walking in trainers everywhere!

Tried them on 2 weeks ago and they are now too big - totally gutted, I can finally feel confident enough to wear boots and skirts and I have to buy another pair of boots!!

I'm size 7 if they'd be of any use to anyone. They kinda look like these ones but without the side panel but they are nice and strechy Simply Be - Stretch Mock Suede Boot - JZ903JR but I cancelled my account with them so can't check on my past orders!! One of the heels ends will need replacing as I cracked it! But still usable pm me of interested.

Thanks

Helen

 

[Peridot]

This is a perennial problem - not just for us LLers either - my friend who is a perfect size 10 cannot get boots to fit over her calfs. And they vary wildly - I tried a pair on in Clarks which hardly did up at all and another pair in Next which were fine!

I usually buy from Duo - expensive but nice boots (and I only do brown which makes it more complicated). Worth going to one of their shops though as the fit can vary wildly.

 

[whatsnewpussycat]

At least it sounds like us larger calved ladies have a solution or two available to us. I was chatting to my size 8-10 friend today and she can't fit into some regular sized long boots either.

But for those of you who are interested, I went to Brantano today and bought a pair of black suede(tte) knee length boots (with side zip) in a brand called Emotion which apparently are for wider fits. My calves measure approx 17.5 inches, and i usually take a size 6 or 7. I had to buy a size 5 (although they were still a little on the large side) and they zipped up easily with room to spare and i was wearing thick opaque tights.

 

[whatsnewpussycat]

PS - thanks for the earlier tips!

 

[Sez]

thanks for info on Brantano. I feel a weekend shopping trip coming on.......

 

[whatsnewpussycat]

Oh yes. Shopping trips - my kinda girl. I've had a HUGE spending week - today was a pair of black boots (as you know), yesterday was 3 handbags (apparently a girl can never have enough), Saturday was a new dress (gorgeous and as its wraparound it'll fit me when I'm a size smaller too) and a winter coat, and Sunday was a new car. Do you think I should stop spending now??

 

[JustJo]

Ooh, thanks for the Brantano hint! Looks like a shopping trip is on the cards for me, too...


Jo x

 

[Tiger Girl]

Hey everyone, just throwing my bit in on the calf size debate!

I do think progress can be made as mine have moved considerably. Just looked at my numbers and I started as 17 and 3/4...they are now...drum roll...14 and 1/4! Wow. That's quite a drop I think. For me I guess it's exercise related, although I expected exercise to bulk them up a bit?

All I do know is that one of my best friends and my fittest friend by far (she's a fully qualified fitness instructor) has never been able to buy full length boots without hours and hours of searching, and it's driven her mad for years (she is and always has been a perfect size 10)

So yet another version of freak or unique on the measurement front I guess. I think my pins would look amazing around the 12-13" mark on the calf front so I'm going to have a go at focusing on that with my PT and we'll see how I get on.

After the mega obsession with the so called 19" perfect thigh size I'm still 1.5" from that!!

 

[whatsnewpussycat]

OMG Tiger Girl - 14 and a 1/4 - that's perfect already from my eyes. I've still got the leg exercises you posted for me weeks ago. I havent been doing them as regularly as I should but I'm going to start tonight and make sure I do them twice a day from now on. Hopefully that will do the trick. Thanks for being an inspiration Hope you're having a good week. xx