What causes weight gain in new relationships? How do couples manage the transition and maintain a healthy lifestyle together? Discover the insights from a recent poll and expert advice.

The Relationship Weight Gain Phenomenon

A recent poll conducted by the market research firm OnePoll on behalf of weight management company Jenny Craig has shed light on the widespread phenomenon of weight gain in new relationships. The survey questioned 2,000 people in relationships and found that more than three in four Americans pack on some “love weight” once they’re in a relationship.

The average poll participant had gained 36 pounds since they first started dating their current significant other, with 17 of those pounds gained in the first year alone. Men were more likely to report weight gain in the first year than women, with almost 7 in 10 men saying they had gained weight during that time, compared to fewer than half of women (45 percent).

Factors Contributing to Weight Gain in Relationships

The poll identified several key factors that contribute to weight gain in new relationships:

Increased Dining Out and Indulgence

During the early stages of a new relationship, many couples choose to dine out for dates, which can lead to an uptick in calorie intake. The poll found that 41 percent of people said this was the primary reason for their waistline expansion.

Eating More at Home

Another significant factor was the increased consumption of takeout or home-cooked meals, with more than 30 percent of couples attributing their weight gain to this.

Feeling Comfortable and Letting Go

The poll also revealed that 64 percent of people felt “comfortable” and no longer felt the need to maintain their appearance, leading to a more relaxed attitude towards their eating habits.

The Timing of Weight Gain in Relationships

The poll found that most people felt “comfortable” with their new partner by one year and five months into the relationship. For younger people (18 to 24 years old), the comfort phase begins more quickly, as soon as 10 months, while for those aged 45 to 54, it takes nearly a year and a half before they feel confident enough to let their guard down.

Weight Gain After Marriage

The poll also revealed that more than half (57 percent) of people admitted to gaining weight in their first year of marriage, with the average person putting on 17 pounds. Once again, men outpaced women, gaining 22 pounds compared to women’s 13 pounds. The poll found that the biggest culprit of this weight gain is the demands that starting a family puts on couples, as it becomes increasingly difficult for either partner to prioritize their own body.

Strategies for Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle Together

Despite the challenges, the poll also revealed some positive trends. A majority of the couples (52 percent) were currently exercising together, and 60 percent were eating healthy together. Furthermore, the poll showed that the average participant had shed 16 pounds in the year prior to the survey.

Expert Advice for Navigating Weight Gain in Relationships

Allison Childress, PhD, RDN, assistant professor in the department of nutritional sciences at Texas Tech University, emphasizes the importance of being mindful of the changes in eating habits that can occur in a new relationship.

“Eating together, whether at home or out, is one of the most popular activities for couples to do together,” Childress told Healthline. “Sharing meals allows us to bond even more. You may find yourself indulging in foods you would have passed on before or simply eating more or more often.”

Dr. Beth Donaldson, family physician and medical director at Copeman Healthcare Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, also notes that the shift in priorities during the first year of a relationship can lead to weight gain.

“In the first year of a relationship what ends up happening is that people feel like they’ve found their mate, so they no longer have to try to attract the opposite sex,” Donaldson told Healthline. “They probably let go a little bit more and pay less attention to calories, time at the gym, and they end up doing things together, on dates, for example, that involve a lot of calories.”

Conclusion

The weight gain phenomenon in new relationships is a common experience, but it doesn’t have to be an inevitable outcome. By being mindful of the changes in eating and exercise habits, and making a conscious effort to maintain a healthy lifestyle together, couples can navigate this transition and embrace their relationship in a way that supports their overall well-being.

Weight Gain During Relationships

A new poll indicates people gain significant weight in the first year or two of a relationship. Here’s why.

Share on PinterestYou’re likely to gain weight after you get into a serious relationship, but there are strategies you can do together to help buck this trend. Getty Images

You gain more than a friend and companion when you enter a new relationship.

You gain weight.

More than three in four Americans pack on some “love weight” once they’re in a relationship.

That’s according to a new poll, which was conducted by the market research firm OnePoll on behalf of weight management company Jenny Craig.

The poll questioned the behaviors and weight gain trends of 2,000 people in relationships.

The average poll participant had gained 36 pounds since they first started dating their current significant other. They gained 17 of those pounds in the first year alone.

Men were more likely to report weight gain in the first year than women.

Almost 7 in 10 men said they had gained weight during that time while fewer than half of women (45 percent) reported the same.

The reasons for the slipping scale point back to behaviors that are inherent in many budding relationships.

During the early courting and wooing stages of a new relationship, many couples choose to dine out for dates. It’s a good opportunity to get to know each other, but it may be setting your waist up for some baggage down the road.

The lovers in the poll attributed their weight gain to this uptick in dining out with 41 percent of people saying that was the primary reason for their waistline expansion.

The second culprit was also food related.

More than 30 percent of couples said their weight gain was the result of eating more takeout or cooking and drinking together at home.

What about the food choices in these meals sets the waist up for growth?

Frankly, the respondents said, they didn’t feel the pressure to look their best all the time, so when they might have once picked a low-calorie salad and a glass of wine when dining out, their newfound coupled status may encourage them to pick the macaroni and cheese — extra cheese, please.

“Eating together, whether at home or out, is one of the most popular activities for couples to do together,” Allison Childress, PhD, RDN, assistant professor in the department of nutritional sciences at Texas Tech University, told Healthline.

“Sharing meals allows us to bond even more. You may find yourself indulging in foods you would have passed on before or simply eating more or more often,” she added.

Indeed, 64 percent of people questioned in the poll say “being comfortable” and no longer feeling the need to keep up their appearance was a factor in their weight gain.

The stage of your relationship at which you slip into this comfort zone may portend when you’ll notice the pounds packing on.

Most people felt “comfortable” with their new partner by one year and five months into the relationship.

For younger people, those in the 18 to 24 age range, the comfort phase begins more quickly, as soon as 10 months.

For love birds 45 to 54, comfort comes a bit more slowly. They have to be in a relationship nearly a year and a half before they feel confident enough to let their guard down.

“In the first year of a relationship what ends up happening is that people feel like they’ve found their mate, so they no longer have to try to attract the opposite sex,” Dr. Beth Donaldson, family physician and medical director at Copeman Healthcare Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, told Healthline.

“They probably let go a little bit more and pay less attention to calories, time at the gym, and they end up doing things together, on dates, for example, that involve a lot of calories.”

Marriage also provides the gift of additional weight gain.

The poll showed that more than half (57 percent) of people admitted they gained weight in their first year of marriage. The average person put on 17 pounds.

Here again, men outpaced women, gaining 22 pounds to women’s 13.

The pounds keep creeping on after marriage, too.

The poll revealed five years into the marriage, participants had gained the most weight.

The biggest culprit of this weight gain is the demands that starting a family puts on couples. With babies and jobs, it’s hard for either partner to put much focus on their own body.

It’s not all doom and gloom if you’re trying to get back into the jeans you wore on your first date. (That is, if they’re even stylish anymore.)

A majority of people polled had actually lost weight in the year before the survey. The average poll participant had shed 16 pounds in the 365 days prior to participating in the poll.

What’s more, the poll revealed some healthy behaviors from the majority of the couples.

About 52 percent of them were currently exercising with their partner and 60 percent of them were eating healthy together. Four in ten couples were doing both.

Those couples that said they both eat healthier and move more together were twice as likely to report weight loss in the year before the poll.

The bonuses of these behaviors extend beyond the waistline, too.

“Couples who exercise and eat healthy together are also nearly twice as likely to say they’re consistently happy in their relationship than those who don’t,” Dr. Pamela Peeke, MPH, FACP, FACSM, chair of the Jenny Craig Science Advisory Board, told Healthline.

For couples both old and new, gaining weight together is an unintended consequence of falling in love.

Losing weight together, however, can be an intended benefit of having a built-in exercise and accountability partner.

These tips can help:

Plan your smarter meals.

“To start on a healthier path, couples should pay attention to their eating, physical activity, and sleeping habits to help improve weight loss,” Peeke says. “The key is to do this following the body’s natural, light-dark circadian rhythm. If they can shift their eating times toward earlier in the day and take a break from eating for 12 hours, where they stop eating a few hours before bed, they can take full advantage of their metabolism’s 24-hour rhythm. ”

Be each other’s #1 fan.

“It’s important to challenge each other to eat better and exercise more,” Donaldson says. “Go grocery shopping together and push each other to opt for more fruits, veggies, whole grains, and lean proteins to keep each other healthy. Sign up for a new fitness program together and encourage each other to stick to it.”

Be independent.

Don’t let your partner determine whether or not you decide to get healthy, Donaldson says.

“It’s important that couples don’t rely solely on each other — ‘I’ll only go to the gym if you do’ — when it comes to exercise or eating well,” she says. “If you and your partner don’t have a compatible schedule, don’t wait for the other one to make plans to hit the gym or eat a healthy meal. Fit it in where you can. If it happens to be at the same time, it’s a bonus.”

If you start these healthy habits early in a relationship, it’s easier to stay motivated together and to plan physical activities into your dates and daily activities.

That way, you build a strong foundation for your romantic relationship and your healthy future together.

Scientists Found That Couples Who Really Love Each Other Tend to Gain Weight / Bright Side

The idea that happy couples gain weight when they love each other sounds slightly far-fetched, but surprisingly, there is evidence that supports this statement. According to several studies, couples who reported being happy and satisfied in their relationships/marriages were more likely to gain weight.

Here at Bright Side, we followed the studies that had been carried out and learned what was examined and what the result of the research was.

Married couples gaining weight

© depositphotos.com, © pixabay.com

Research done by the University of North Carolina followed the weight measurements of more than 8,000 people and it was concluded that a married woman can gain, on average, 24 pounds during the first 5 to 6 years of her marriage. In addition, women who lived with their partners but weren’t married gained 22 pounds while women who were dating but weren’t living with their partner gained only 13 pounds.

The study also showed that men gained weight during the transition from being single to being in a relationship, and it showed that men who cohabited with their other half for more than 2 years were twice as likely to gain more than 25 pounds than men who did not live with their partner.

© depositphotos.com

The study reached a conclusion that there is a strong association between romantic relationships and the number of obesity-related results. However, even though weight gain is evident in long-term romantic relationships, there was a significant decrease in smoking and alcohol abuse which shows a willingness of couples to pursue a healthier lifestyle.

Newly wedded couples

More research was done by the National Institute of Health to examine whether weight gain in newly wedded couples was a positive or negative reflection of their happiness. The study followed couples who had been married for more than 4 years and it examined their emotional health and levels of stress. It was found that couples who had recently been happily married were twice more likely to put on weight whereas couples who reported being not as happy with their spouses were less likely to gain weight.

© depositphotos.com

The study reached the conclusion that happy couples gain more weight because they don’t have the need to attract another partner and they feel happier the way they are. Whereas couples who feel unhappy in their relationships are unable to gain more weight due to stress. However, it is recommended for happily married couples who gained weight to think of their BMI because of health issues rather than their appearance.

Weight gain is contagious

A study done by the New England Journal of Medicine showed that weight gain is also contagious in married couples. If one partner is gaining weight, the other partner has a 37% chance of gaining more weight as well. This is because they adapt to each other’s habits since they spend so much time together. Whereas couples that might be unhappy in their relationships avoid spending time together so it becomes more difficult to adapt to each other’s eating habits.

© depositphotos.com

People holding the study analyzed the social environment, habits and mutual activities of the couples and reached the conclusion that mutual weight gain derives from both individuals psychologically influencing each other with their eating habits.

© unsplash.com

It is important to keep in mind that even though these are studies done by health professionals, they only show a number of instances in the world and not the whole world in question, so it does not apply to everyone. There are always exceptions and it doesn’t mean that when you don’t gain weight when you are married that you are not happy with your partner. These studies were mainly done in order to understand the living situations of couples and to help fight obesity.

It is vital to influence each other in positive ways with healthy eating habits and lifestyles regardless of weight in order to enjoy each other’s company for the rest of your lives.

What do you think about the results of these studies? Do you believe you can gain more weight when you are happily married? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Please note: This article was updated in May 2022 to correct source material and factual inaccuracies.

Preview photo credit depositphotos.com, pixabay.com

Bright Side/Relationships/Scientists Found That Couples Who Really Love Each Other Tend to Gain Weight

7 tips on how to lose weight by running. Rules for training and nutrition for beginners.

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Just a word of warning – running does not guarantee that you will lose weight. The main problem with weight loss for a runner lies in the fact that running is a rather energy-intensive process, and we need food to replenish energy reserves. And this is where many amateurs make a typical mistake – they think that a run will “forgive” them a couple of extra cakes. The result is exactly the opposite of what a novice athlete wants – kilograms are gained, not gone. It doesn’t matter if you are an experienced runner who plans to lose 1-2 kilograms before an important start, or a novice amateur who dreams of becoming a little slimmer – losing weight with running is possible, but you need to follow a number of rules. There’s a very fine line between losing weight and losing performance as a runner.

Think of losing weight like an ultra-marathon, slow and long. This is not a sprint, you should definitely not expect results after 1-2 runs. Be patient, and after a while you will see changes – you will become leaner, faster and more energetic.

A running watch can be a great help in your weight loss through running. For information on how to choose a watch for running, read our separate material. Let’s go over each of the points separately.

Relationship between training and weight.

In the real world, the vast majority of people who lose weight and maintain it at a stable level exercise regularly. In a National Weight Control Registry study, all actively exercising people lost their weight within a year, and this weight was maintained thereafter (Catenacci VA, Ogden LG, Stuht J, Phelan S, Wing RR, Hill JO, Wyatt HR Physical activity patterns in the National Weight Control Registry Obesity (Silver Spring) 2008 Jan;16(1):153-61) . Approximately 90% of those who lost weight exercised regularly, and approximately 2,600 calories were burned in one week of training.

Many types of activity are suitable for effective weight loss, but running stands apart, being one of the most effective means of losing weight. In 2012, a study by authors from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory was published in which runners, both male and female, were found to be the lightest and leanest compared to people involved in other sports with the same frequency and / or intensity (Williams PT. Non-exchangeability of running vs. other exercise in their association with adiposity, and its implications for public health recommendations. PLoS One. 2012;7(7):e36360) . The main reason, according to the authors, is that runners burn more calories per minute than swimmers, cyclists, or other sports.

Running is a very good way to lose weight, as evidenced by countless people who have lost weight through running. However, one should not think that the secret of success is only in running. The very “dark side of the moon” in weight loss that is often forgotten about is changing your diet. Put together these two components – and then the result in the form of lost kilograms will not keep you waiting.

Several studies show that regular exercise has a pendulum effect on weight (Yoshimura E, Kumahara H, Tobina T, Matsuda T, Watabe K, Matono S, Ayabe M, Kiyonaga A, Anzai K, Higaki Y, Tanaka H. Aerobic exercise attenuates the loss of skeletal muscle during energy restriction in adults with visceral adiposity Obes Facts 2014;7(1):26-35) . If you are not interested in short-term weight loss, for long-term results you will need to change both your diet and training. Here it is necessary to remember the benefits of the diet + exercise combination. The fact is that if you lose weight only by limiting the number of calories per day, you will lose mainly muscle tissue, while combining a diet with regular exercise will allow you to strengthen muscles and lose fat mass.

Let’s try to highlight the main directions that you need to follow on the way to weight loss, as well as a number of typical mistakes that you need to avoid.

1. Determine your target weight.

Make your weight loss plan more specific, and it will only be so if you know what weight to aim for. In addition to the target weight, your goals can be: the percentage of subcutaneous fat, muscle mass, or maybe all at once. The main thing is to understand what to strive for, and not to work on gaining some abstract weight. To stay motivated, use the simplest means of measurement – scales and a mirror.

2. Start with the right step in training

Beginner runners should understand that when choosing a training program, start with the simplest steps. Start running regularly, monitor your heart rate (ideally determine your heart rate zones, and at first your entire run should be in only 1 zone), build up the load gradually, follow the recovery tips. Remember that with the right and rational approach to running, you can progress fairly quickly, primarily by reducing body weight. Another “bonus” of losing weight is less stress on the joints, and as a result, fewer injuries.

Here’s what the experts recommend for overweight men and women starting to exercise:

3. Start your run….with a walk or a walk/run combination.

Compared to running, walking is less stressful for the bones, muscles, ligaments and joints of the legs, but stressful enough to trigger beneficial changes in the muscles, joints, ligaments and bones. These changes will lead to the strengthening of the musculoskeletal system. Alternating running with walking will reduce the risk of injury and begin to gradually strengthen the body, prepare it for running. The very first workouts can be only walking (again, under the control of the pulse, so as not to harm the cardiovascular system !!!), and gradually arrange short runs, interspersed with walking. The main thing here is not to go too far, and not to drive the heart and blood vessels into an unusual and too hard mode of operation. Your heart rate is your best friend in this matter, it will allow you to stay in the right heart rate zone at all times, and smart alerts on your running watch will warn you if you accidentally exceed the set heart rate limits. After a few weeks, you will be surprised to find that you can run longer and longer than usual without stopping, and there will be fewer and fewer walk transitions

4. Run more often.

This advice may seem a little strange to you, but it is true. If at first your body will perceive each run as a lot of stress (which this training is), then soon you will be able to train two, then three times a week, and then more often. Once again, a sports watch will serve you well – after analyzing the workout, they will give advice on how much time you need to recover after a run. If you want to exercise every day, replace some of your jogging with walking at an energetic pace. Thus, you will strengthen your body and prepare it for further stress.

5. Increase the distance gradually.

You won’t lose 10 kg in a week if you run 15 kilometers instead of three at a time. You may even make it worse, as a sharp increase in running load is a direct path to injury. Increase your weekly mileage very slowly and gradually, no more than 10% of the previous week’s volume. Let’s say if you ran 20 km in a week, then next week you can run 22 km. Remember – gradualness and consistency in training are your best allies in strengthening the body and controlling weight.

6. Change your diet

It’s easy to get confused with all the different diets. At the same time, the main “trick” of each of the diets is the same – a calorie deficit. It is enough to spend (burn) a little more calories than you get from food – about 300-500 kcal per day, and your weight will gradually decrease. In other words, move more and eat less. Here is such an “unclassified” secret.

It seems easy on paper to maintain such a small calorie deficit, but it’s not always easy in reality. Once again, running will be your assistant here, helping you burn calories during your workout. But here you need to be careful, because after the completion of the training, the so-called compensation effect enters the scene. This effect leads to the fact that the runner after training eats not less, but more, negating all the beneficial effects of running. This effect is the main reason many runners fail to lose weight by running regularly.

In fact, the main problem is that we consume an excessive amount of empty calories. Before you get down to business and seriously reshape your diet, heed the advice of Matt Fitzgerald, author of The Endurance Diet. He recommends reducing the amount of sweets, pastries, white bread and other “sweets” in your diet. Replace them with fruits, vegetables, protein, and other high-quality foods, and you’ll start to lose weight even without a radical change in your diet.

High quality food – containing key macronutrients (proteins, fats and carbohydrates), micronutrients and fiber – is less energy dense and more filling than low quality or processed foods. Eating high-quality foods will make you feel full faster while eating fewer calories. Thus, you will increase the quality of your food , you will be able to eat until you are full and not worry about adding extra pounds to your waist and being surprised when you look at the scales.

High quality food:

• Vegetables, including legumes
• Nuts
• Fruit
• Dairy products (excluding butter)
• Fish
• Bird
• Fresh red meat

What can be classified as low quality food:

• Processed cereals (white rice)
• Sweets (including drinks)
• Processed meat
• Fried food

When you start exercising, try to eat less low quality food and more high quality food. Researchers from Denmark have shown that beginners who run more than 5 kilometers a week for a year – but do not change their diet – on average lose about 3.6 kilograms. Interestingly, those runners who adjust their diet in favor of high-quality products lose about 5.6 kilograms per year (Nielsen RO, Videbaek S, Hansen M, Parner ET, Rasmussen S, Langberg H. Does running with or without diet changes reduce fat mass in novice runners? A 1-year prospective study. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2016 Jan- Feb;56(1-2):105-13.).

However, in the pursuit of burning calories, make sure you get enough calories. One of the biggest problems and mistakes athletes make is deliberate malnutrition, excessive calorie cuts. Keep a close eye on the number of calories burned – a modern watch or fitness application will easily do this for you, showing the number of “active” and inactive, as well as the total number of calories burned. Remember that in order to successfully reduce your weight, you need to spend about 300-500 kcal more than you get.

7. Add strength training

While effective, cardio may not get you the results you want. To speed up the weight loss process, add one or two strength training sessions per week to your schedule. Strength training has been proven to improve your running as well as increase fat burning and strengthen your muscles (Zurlo F, Nemeth PM, Choksi RM, Sesodia S, Ravussin E. Whole-body energy metabolism and skeletal muscle biochemical characteristics. Metabolism. 1994 Apr;43(4):481-6.) . A 2008 study showed that women who added strength training to their schedule lost a few extra pounds while maintaining muscle mass compared to those who only did running (Hunter GR, Byrne NM, Sirikul B, Fernández JR, Zuckerman PA, Darnell BE, Gower BA, Resistance training conserves fat-free mass and resting energy expenditure following weight loss, Obesity (Silver Spring), 2008 May;16(5):1045-51.). When adding strength training to your schedule, make sure you’re recovering well from running and eating enough protein.

As you can see, weight loss through running, on the one hand, is a slow and complex process, on the other hand, there are a number of simple rules, following which your weight and body will thank you. However, nothing will come of it without the right attitude in training. Any workout should be a joyful event, not hard work. Running is a joy, and only in this way will you enjoy it, and your body – the maximum benefit.

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Nutritionist Mosley explained what time you need to have dinner to be guaranteed to lose weight

• Lifestyle

In order to accurately lose weight and not gain weight again, you need to radically revise your diet. It is also important what time you have dinner in the evening. The nutritionist explained why.

February 5, 20232

Source:

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A nutritionist and author of many books for those who want to lose weight said that it is very important to schedule your dinner at a certain time in the evening – no later than a specific hour. This will help your body use calories efficiently.

According to Dr. Michael Mosley, cited by The Mirror, this is important because if dinner is moved to a later time, the food literally “hangs in your body.” The doctor also recalled the famous saying about “breakfast like a king, dine like a prince and dine like a beggar.”

What time to eat in the evening

– Try to have dinner before eight o’clock in the evening, and after that do not eat anything high-calorie, said Michael Mosley. – What you eat before bed will linger in your body much longer and will not allow you to lose weight and lose weight. By eating before 8 pm and not snacking until breakfast, you increase the amount of time your body burns fat.

Let’s add that the active period of the pancreas ends at 21:00.

The doctor notes that you shouldn’t completely exclude dinner. It should be 30% of the daily ration. This is an important meal and should not be skipped. When you are hungry, your body actively produces the stress hormone cortisol, which in turn causes you to store fat.

Therefore, to lose weight, you have to eat, no matter how paradoxical it may sound.

The main thing is to put light protein food on your plate in the evening — fish, stewed chicken, and vegetable salads to go with it. Then you will not want to eat, you will keep a feeling of satiety and will not go to bed hungry.

By the way, the habit of eating dinner well before bedtime helps reduce the risk of developing cancer – this is evidenced by a study by the Barcelona Institute of World Health.

Read also

Chew properly

Previously, Dr. Michael Mosley said that there is one simple rule that will help you lose weight, even if you are a big fan of delicious food.