Does being a military wife make you over weight?
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Deployment, specifically, has given me WAY too many excuses. Before my spouse left, it was easy to justify NOT working out (why would I do that when we can do all of this other fun/romantic/lazy/etc. stuff!), and also easy to justify eating any and all junk we wanted. I gained an embarrassing amount of weight in the months leading up to deployment, and I will probably spend all tour working to get it off.
I am of course not saying the lifestyle in general leads people to being overweight (just like anything, people react differently to the stresses of such a lifestyle), but the new experience of deployment is something that I am going to have to learn to balance in the future :S.0 -
When I met my husband I had just gotten out of the Marines, and I was 189lbs fast foward a few months and i was back down to 148lbs.I recently had my baby and im sitting at 200
.....Ive become the mil wife i never wanted to become! Im so scared to go to the ball and look like a hefer! Army wives do seem to be bigger and lower enlisted Marine wives 0 -
My husband joining the military is actually what inspired me to finally drop the weight I gained. He loves me at any weight, but when he saw me during the Airman's run, he said he almost didn't recognize me because I dropped so much weight. We also ran together while I was there and he had never seen me run more than 2 blocks and we went almost 2 1/2 miles in the hot San Antonio sun so he was very impressed. He is supportive and we've compromised on some things when I get to live with him after tech school...like if I cook, I can make it as healthy as I want and he will eat it and if I don't buy the junk food, he won't bring any into the house either. He also said he would run with me whenever his schedule permits, but if it doesn't, I know I can easily run on my own time frame. I am worried about once we have kids, but I will find a way to make time for my health because I don't want to be the fat wife. I won't be a stick either, but I will be fit and healthy and do my best to keep up with him!
Plus making new friends is so much easier when you are into fitness. Normally, I do solitary activities like writing or reading. This way, I can join a running club to meet people.0 -
Being a military wife does not MAKE you over weight. It does give us added stress which makes it easier to blame our over eating/crappy habits on something other than ourselves. At the end of the day tho we chose to eat those things and chose not to work out in our living room because the gym on base doesn't have childcare. I actually weigh about 10lbs less now than I did when we got married and at least 5 less than when my husband joined the Navy, granted our only kids are dogs so if I want to go to the gym I just leave them at home
Overall I actually think I see LESS overly huge (I dare not say obese since what is technically obese is much smaller than what I am actually thinking of in many cases) milspouses than I do people in the general public, not to say the people I see at walmart/kroger/target aren't milspouses, there are just way more there than at the NEX or commissary.
I do think that because of the high stress lifestyles we live it is far easier to fall into bad habits and turn to comfort food and something I have see with my friends is a constant cycle of eating healthy and being skinny when he is gone then falling into the fat & happy habits when he comes home, its like being in a new secure relationship every time he comes home from deployment.0 -
I Agee there are two types of wives.. But I think some of it has to do with wives being stay at home moms... And then they tend to more to hide there emotions. I know of some wives who sit and ***** about the skinny wives like they jealous that the skinny women take care of themselves and try and make themselves better. Yes an army wife may be a hard job if you have kids and the husband is deployed. For me I have two kids (3yrs and 1yr old) and a brand new 12 week old puppy. I work full time and still find time to learn to cook, work out, spend time with my kids and keep my house clean. You need to push yourself to be better.. And if you make yourself better then maybe a lot of army wives wouldn't over eat.0
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No, I don't think so. With three military moves and grad school, this kept me busy all the time. I felt like I needed to resort to food to make me feel better, but I knew that would add to the stress. Personally, it deals with how people manage stress and time. I guess I like to know the area around me instead of staying in the house. I have seen wives that take their children out for exercise while they sit and talk. That is an opportunity to get up and move. So, it all depends on the mindset of the person.0
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To me no, we make our own choices. My weight gain was a health issue. Nothing to do with the military or the lifestyle. I've seen wives that fit into both things you mentions, however I've seen lots of others too. I am "skinny/fit" according to many. I don't want/need any man's attention, though I enjoy the attention my husband gives me. I love my husband and find that filling my time with important things is better than a food binge or being down cause my husband left again for his job. Its his job, I support him but I have my jobs too. Taking care of myself is one of them.0
