Feet got bigger or shoes got smaller?

In the past few months, my climbing shoes that once fit perfect started to feel like they were getting much smaller... I wear 37 Miuras and 37 TC pros. I used to climb with socks on when I wanted to get the snug feeling, and climbed without socks when I wanted the shoes to fit looser. Now they are painful to wear after one pitch of climbing without socks.

I am not sure if it's my feet that are getting bigger (I'm 27, unlikely still growing), or my shoes somehow got smaller. Has anyone encountered this problem? Please let me know!

Thanks!

Yes - your feet can change shape over a season of different activities. A winter in ski boots can 'shrink' your feet. A summer in chacos can spread your feet out. 

Are you pregnant? :-D

I'm old, and yes, my feet are getting malformed. I've also lost weight, and weirdly, that made the fit go the other way, so I still wear the same shoes as a year ago, but they fit differently.

Lots of things can change how shoes fit.

Best, Helen

Did you just get a new pair of the same shoes, or are you saying your OLD shoes now fit differently?

Feet can absolutely change with time. But you also, occasionally ,get a weird pair of shoes that are supposedly the same size/model as the one you always get, yet they obviously fit differently.

Ultimately, nothing you can do, other than try a bunch of different shoes and find what fits the feet you have now, regardless of what used to fit before.

I’ve gone up almost 2 full sizes in the last 4 years.  I know two others (non-climbers), also in their forties, that this is happening to.  So, yeah, it can happen.  Falling arches, weight gain, water retention, muscle gain, injury, etc can do this.

Don’t forget the joy of heat. If I try to climb when it’s pushing 80 I actually have to go a half size larger. In winter when it’s high 30s I need to wear liner socks to keep a snug fit.

My feet were getting larger and wider but when I switched to minimalist footwear it reversed the trend. I'm guessing it tightened up my arches that were likely falling.

My feet grew a size when I was 30ish and another full size around 40ish. Since then the growth has slowed down.  

I am so glad that I came across this post, I thought I was the only one who keeps sizing up!

climber pat wrote: My feet grew a size when I was 30ish and another full size around 40ish. Since then the growth has slowed down.  

This is exactly my experience.  Late 20's, my running shoes were 9.5/10. These days I wear 11 and sometimes 11.5 depending on the brand.  Same for climbing shoes.

Thanks for all the responses! At least now I know I'm not the only person having this problem.

I am not pregnant.. :p  nor have I gained weight. However, I have been doing a lot more hiking and lower body exercises as I am getting into mountaineering, and I don't know if that has anything to do with the foot size change. 

Yes, this has happened to me starting in my late 70s. Was a 9.5-10 street size for decades and now in my 80s, it’s 11.5. Length gain but no change in width. Best explanation I’ve heard is that my plantar fascia have stretched. My arch is still prominent. I have had one climbing issue because of this. In the easy size for a foot jam (say 1 or 2 Camalot), my jamming foot tends to stick, and I end up having difficulty extracting it. I’ve worn Mythos for years but have had to increase them in size because of my longer but not wider feet. I’ve tried some other shoes--some seem better than others but no really good solution. Like other have said, nice to know I'm not the only one with this issue.

My feet grow and shrink depending on the amount of hiking I’m doing. Once I got serious about keeping my approach strength up year round, my feet have remained 1.5 sizes larger than when I’m less active. Sucks cause I can’t wear my old favorite project shoes anymore.