Gransnet forums

Health

Has Anyone Shrunk?

(74 Posts)
Sparklefizz Tue 01-Aug-23 10:13:40

I dug out a maxi skirt from my wardrobe yesterday which I haven't worn since before the pandemic. Now it doesn't stop just above my ankles but drags over my shoes onto the floor!! Eek! I must have shrunk.

I do have osteoporosis but my height had stayed the same 5' 3" when measured at hospital visits.... last one 18 months ago.

JenniferEccles Tue 01-Aug-23 16:19:58

Yes, unfortunately we all shrink a bit as we age for reasons already given.
I also remember reading that we are very slightly shorter at the end of the day compared with the beginning.

mrshat Tue 01-Aug-23 16:25:15

Yes, me too. I was 5' 7.5" and now I'm 5' 6" - I put it down to ageing but I don't like it!

Oreo Tue 01-Aug-23 19:29:35

M0nica

Lost 2.5 inches, obviously all from my spine, but given that I always had a relatively short body and dlong arms and legs, I now look like a spider. All limbs, with a little round body in the middle.

😂
Aww, am sure it’s not that bad!

Oreo Tue 01-Aug-23 19:32:52

I only realised that I had shrunk a bit by reaching up to take a plate from a higher shelf in the kitchen cupboard and now I can’t do it. Seems I can look forward to losing even more height as I get older, doh!

V3ra Tue 01-Aug-23 20:08:14

JenniferEccles

Yes, unfortunately we all shrink a bit as we age for reasons already given.
I also remember reading that we are very slightly shorter at the end of the day compared with the beginning.

I agree with this.
I often find I need to adjust my car rear view mirror first thing in the morning from where it was the evening before.

Coolgran65 Tue 01-Aug-23 20:33:17

I though I was about 5'5" and bit. Haven't been measured in decades. Recently the clinic nurse asked my height and then measured me. I was so shocked. 5'3" !!
So that's why I thought M & S were making their trousers longer.

62Granny Tue 01-Aug-23 21:27:46

Yes and me , I went for a health check the other day she measured my height 5'6" no I said I have always been. 5 '7" well you have shrunk came the reply.🤔😲

Granmarderby10 Wed 02-Aug-23 03:09:41

wildswan16 yes my feet have definitely shrunk in length. I’ve always had very long toes and thin flat feet with hardly any arches. I can feel the big difference with my lace up trainers because there is so much room in the so called “toe box”.
Still on the bright side there are more size 7.5 to choose from than 8 so every cloud.🫤

Hippy110 Wed 02-Aug-23 04:41:41

Have lost 3", recent osteoporosis diagnosis

karmalady Wed 02-Aug-23 05:09:31

I naturally shrink, especially after lifting heavy sacks or buckets of stones. I know I am now shorter anyway, used to be 5` at a push. I use a teeter inverter and I feel my back stretching as my compressed discs extend themselves and that gives them a chance of re-hydrating and plumping and straightening. Short and strong body, won`t blow over in the wind

Whiff Wed 02-Aug-23 06:31:08

Sparklefizz have you lost weight ? Losing weight I found my clothes where longer because they hang down now and not held up with my fatty bits.

My 5 year old grandson yesterday told me I will soon be bigger than you nannie. His 2.5 year old brother said and me nannie. I am still 5' 2" aged 65. What I found funny losing weight I lost width off my feet. I take a wide fitting instead of extra wide. Never realised I had fat feet🤷.

My mom had osteoporosis from early 50's she was 5' 1" when she died at 90 was 4' 8".

seadragon Wed 02-Aug-23 09:41:48

I seem to be in the minority having gained an inch. My passport from 1968 states my height as 5' 7" but a recent medical exam gave 5' 8"! I am crediting long walks with Nordic poles after angioplasty/3 stents in 2016.... However, suspect it may just be the result of improved posture....

Auntieflo Wed 02-Aug-23 10:36:46

Yes, well I knew I had lost 2", when measured at the clinic last year.
Yesterday, when chatting to DD, she said that she has shrunk a bit, as she and her DH were the same height. He is now taller that her.

grannyrebel7 Wed 02-Aug-23 10:43:15

I think that's where the term "little old lady" comes from smile My DS asked me at the weekend if I'd shrunk. I told him not to be so cheeky, but he was probably right!

FannyCornforth Wed 02-Aug-23 11:00:27

wildswan16

The only parts of me that have shrunk are my feet. I have been size 5 all my life - now I am a 4 or a 4.5. Is it me or have shoe sizes got bigger?

My feet have got bigger.
From 4 and a half to a 6.

This happened when I was 25 -26.

I also grew from 4’4 to 5’5.5 and I put on weight too.

It was following my mom’s death.
I know it sounds stupid, but I have wondered if the unbearable grief affected me physically

Cagsy Wed 02-Aug-23 11:47:53

Well I’ve been 5’ 2 1/2” for all my adult life until I went for my first MOT with practice nurse last year age 71 and she reckons I’m only 5’ 1”!

Cossy Wed 02-Aug-23 11:54:44

Redhead Same ! But also put on round hips and bottom and thighs too 😂😂😂

4allweknow Wed 02-Aug-23 11:56:52

Lost an inch. Had HRT for 6 months only on my late 40s. Wonder if long HRT users shrink the same given all the other reported benefits to women's health.

sharonarnott Wed 02-Aug-23 11:58:08

When I last had a check up at my doctors surgery they said I had lost a inch.

Your dress would also go longer if you have lost weight, especially around your stomach and hips. It is also possible to change shape as you get older without losing weight. Could be several reasons

gillyjp Wed 02-Aug-23 12:01:47

I've gone from 5'4" to 5'3" over the last few years. It's the ageing process unfortunately. Still I still use 5'4" when working out my BMI wink

lizzypopbottle Wed 02-Aug-23 12:13:22

I have no particular skeletal problems but, yes, I've lost an inch and a half over the years. I used to be 5'6 and 1/2" but now I'm 5'5" Very annoying!

tinad42 Wed 02-Aug-23 12:45:24

Is it the sort of fabric that might stretch down when hung up for awhile? Perhaps give it a quick wash to see if it goes back to size

pen50 Wed 02-Aug-23 13:18:03

Measuring my height seems to be a pretty inexact science. Up to 2006 I thought that I was 160cm. In 2006 I was measured, by a doctor, at 161cm. In 2016 I was measured, by another doctor, at 162cm. In 2018 I was measured, by a nurse, at 157cm. Two weeks ago I was measured, by another nurse, at 160cm.

I was the same person, standing up straight, at all times.

Musicgirl Wed 02-Aug-23 13:35:35

I was 5’4.5 and my daughter a petite 5’1 and always felt a lot taller than her. Last year, I noticed that on a photo of us together that I was much nearer her height than I had realised (she, of course, had already noticed) and am probably more like 5’3 these days. Osteoporosis runs in my family on my mother’s side. My grandmother probably lost 6” and had a true dowager’s hump; the same with my aunt. My mother has a slight dowager’s hump and knew she had lost some height but got a shock when she was measured at 4’10.5 - a loss of around 3”.

Norah Wed 02-Aug-23 13:38:30

Yes. Several inches in height.