Relationships = Fat Gain?

I gained quite a bit when I met my husband 11 years ago. I moved in with him and his (now mine too=)) five year old daughter and I 'treated' us too much. Garlic bread or yummy buns, lots of cheesy dishes and baking and desserts almost every night. We spent a lot of non-active time together too - watching movies and playing card games. Our outings were going to Tims or DQ and then a 'drive'. My husband gained some but mostly he just lost quite a bit of muscle tone because before meeting me and having 2 more children with me, he worked out a lot on his own. Now we are 'clean eating' - low or no preservatives as much as possible. Treats are a lot less frequent. We aren't really active but I try to get us all out for walks and hikes when I can. It was definitely a conscious decision to change to a healthier lifestyle.

I definitely agree. I was in pretty good shape and had decent eating habits before i started dating my boyfriend. I'm not saying he's the reason i started eating bad and not exercising which led to weight gain because i didn't really exercise too much before we started dating and my eating habits were alright but there are some bad habits that i picked up from him. For example, going to fast food places he would get 2 sandwiches, a large fry, and large drink- i would have never done that before i met him, i barely ate fast food and when i did it was always 1 sandwich, a small fry, and if i got a drink it would be small. So yeah i would say i started eating bigger portions since we started dating & more fast food. It was hard because we both lived with our parents and we couldn't always cook meals plus he worked 2nd shift so by the time we hung out it was late and fast food was just convenient. We've been living together for about 2 years now and in the beginning we were still eating bad but now we've realized that we have both gained a lot of weight and have a very unhealthy lifestyle and decided together that we wanted to change that. Now we make a lot of food at home and try to make better choices and barely eat any fast food. We weren't really paying attention to what we were eating before because at the time it didn't seem like a big deal and we were happy, but after 3 years and about 40 lbs of gained weight for each of us we realized we gotta do something now before it gets worse. I think being in a relationship you kind of let yourself go because 1. you're happy and going out to eat and getting food is fun to do when you're with someone and 2. you've found someone so you aren't really looking anymore and don't need to impress anyone. It's just sometimes it can get out of hand and it's just going to have a negative impact if you keep going down that road.

I was curious as to what the opinions of the MFP community might be, but personally I think there is a direct correlation between being in a relationship (short term, long term, committed - doesn't matter) and a decrease in Physical Fitness.

I only say this because the last girl I was with was in constant need of attention, advocated that I "didn't need to work out" and encouraged eating of obviously unhealthy foods on a frequent basis.

I don't doubt that being in a relationship obviously has its advantages as well but once again im just curious as to some of your opinions.

found this interesting because I was thin and very active until I hit about 30...then spent 4 years in a relationship with a guy who was just like the girl you mentioned above I don't "blame" the relationship for my weight gain, exactly, but I stopped spending time on my own doing things I loved (like working out) and that ultimately hurt my physical fitness...

My last bf was seriously limited physically and I gained about 30 lbs. in 9 months mimicking his lifestyle.

this sounds much like my last serious relationship (a LONG time ago)--I gained about 60 pounds over a couple of years...

I refuse to compromise my activity/nutrition goals for a man ever again. Lesson learned.

AMEN SISTAH

I think it completely depends on the people. My boyfriend now thinks health is very important and eats well and exercises and we try to make healthy decisions when together too always. Obviously there are times we treat ourselves, but I think I eat better with him than I would on my own and vice versa because our individual desires to be healthy and fit feed off of each other's and are stronger than before.

I succombed to Happy Fat Syndrome when we moved in together. I had too much fun cooking for my new little family to the exclusion of almost all exercise. Then BAM! 50 pounds on in a year.

Oopsie!

Thankfully he's also not happy with the pudge and we've taken up running together.

It's not just relaxing, it's having a partner in crime. Walk by an ice cream shop on a Saturday afternoon by yourself and you probably won't head inside to eat a sundae. But with a partner, there is a certain shared naughtiness involved. Not to mention, many romantic activities involve food. Food is lovely, really.

I gained 20 lbs in the first 6 months of my marriage. But now (7 years after that dreadful weigh-in), I weigh less than I have since puberty, so that's something.

It happens for me when i'm with my boyfriend on the weekends we eat a lot more than usually but during the week we both get back on track

This, but also on the other hand now that i am in a happy and respectful relationship, overall my weight loss and fitness has improved. Along with my confidence

Yup...when my husband is around we eat out a lot and I have a lot more "ah **** it" moments. But when he's deployed or at drill or work it's much easier for me to stay focused.

I know when I moved to another town and started dating a certain someone, between the lack of home cooked meals and her lack of social motivation, I gained about 60 pounds. After we broke up and I moved back to my hometown... I kept the poor eating habits and gained another 40.

No way am I doing that again. I will be active and I will be fit (eventually) and I will be with someone who takes care of herself and cares about what she puts in her body, or I will be single. Just the way it's gotta be. I don't want to look back 20 years from now in poor health and have regrets about the way I took care of myself.

Dropped 57 pounds so far, 72 to go. Then I'll weight train until I'm in the 260 range, and maintain after that.