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I adopted a sulcata about 3 years ago from a classmate of my sons who no longer wanted to care for it. The tort is about 10 years old and is, according to the vet, in excellent health. The previous owner did a great deal of research to take care of his pet nutritionaly. The diet was very good, and the shell has very minimal pyramiding. The old owner kept feedings sparse to avoid fast growth in hopes of building a large encloser some day. Now for the bad part. The sulcata spent the first 7 years of its life in a 55 gal. aquarium and is now only 10" and 5.5 pounds. I have a large fenced in yard which she/he has the run of 4 months a year and has grown greatly(I live in Ohio and it has its own heated room in the winter). My questions is, will the tort catch up in size or destined for small size?

well i can tell you that it will catch up! my experience has taught me that in the right conditions the sulcatas will grow very fast and if kept on a healthy diet they will grow with fine looking shells and have a healthy life. my sulcata i got in 2002 for the first couple years he didnt grow much at all. i think because he didnt have "ideal conditions" i live in a very cold climate and didnt pay close enough attention to his needs. after i woke up and decided to give him the best life i could i went to work on building him the best home i could. so i built a greenhouse where i grem grasses and plants that were good for him to eat. i built tunnels to an outdoor pen that is fenced in with water pools and caves, with natural grasses and plants, then i built a shed that is super insulated that he can stay in all winter. anyway since i have put the effort into providing for him he has rewarded me with being healty, growing like a weed, and there is not much i enjoy more than watching him grow.
at the begining of our warm weather may/june he weighed 5.5 lbs at the end of the outdoor season he weighed 11.5 lbs at the beginging of this warm season he weighed 14.9 lbs and now he weighs 18 but he has very good growth and hardly and bumps on his shell !

Thank you. I am noticing steady growth now into the second year that I have had her.

I dont think that he will be destined for a miniature size... he should catch up shortly . i know mine grow more in the summerthan in the winter due to constant grazing in his outdoor pen.. he will still grow in the winter but just less....i live in newengland and my torts are outside/greenhouse about 6 months out of the year. my sulcata started off slow too due to the wrong set up but now like you i have corrected the problem and hes doing fantastic. hope this helps