Do you think it is true that marriage...

Do you think it is true that marriage is a major factor when it comes about gaining weight? Some people use it as a joke that all you need to do in order to gain weight is to get married.

The logic I'm finding behind this, although that statement is not always true, is that when people get married, they feel they already have someone with them, so there's no need to take care of themselves anymore. That goes for both women and men.

What do you think about this?

For a lot of people it is true - they get comfortable and "let theirselves go"

For both my husband and I its the opposite. We are both in better shape now than before we were married - and most importantly before we even met.

I hope it isn't true... To be honest when me and my boyfriend first met each other we were really overweight... but we both started losing together for about a year now (him a little more since he started before me). I'm hoping we went through our weight gain session together already... we try and motivate each other often to work harder at our bodies to reach our ultimate goals. Buttt... I guess I'll have to wait and see when/if we ever do get married, huh? LOL

I think it depends on the couple... I know that I gained weight when I got married. But I married a junk food junkie (that also hides his junk food) that complains everytime I make steamed broccoli. But I'm ready to turn that around...

Yes you can gain weight after you get married. I did, but now my hubby and I are both working on losing and we are doing it together. So it helps to have the support of your mate, its hard to do it without it. But no one should blame marriage as that is just another excuse among so many excuses of gaining weight.

Yes, You get comfortable, get into a routine, and start gaining weight. NOW The divorce diet is the best!! I looked FANTASTIC by the time my divorce was finalized! :P

I would bet having children is a much bigger factor than just getting married. Once you have kids everything revolves around them, not yourselves anymore.

^^^^ This - definitely!! I/We were good until we had a houseful of busy children that require 110% of our attention and time. I know lots of people say you have to make time for yourself, make time for exercise, make yourself a priority, but it really is easier said than done. In my house I am the main source of reliable income (my hubby farms - seasonal and not always reliable source of cash lol). I am away for work M - F from 7am to 6pm. During the winter we have 2 kids in hockey in two different towns and next year it will be 3 kids. During the summer there is baseball, swimming and busy with the farm. Not to mention the after school activities they are involved in, the dr visits, the dentist visits and so on and so on. Our prioirty with our "spare time" is to spend it as an entire family - as not very often are all 5 of us in the same place at the same time. That being said, we try to make those occasions something where we can all get physical......like skating, snowboarding, swimming, hiking or whatever. But it is very difficult to make exerices a daily priority I can commit to, so I am left to fit it in whenver I can.
I think (hope) that most people don't actually have the conscious thought in their mind of "I got him/her........it doesn't really matter anymore. I have no one to impress". If that is indeed the case......not caring, that is really too bad. I want my husband to look at me with that "want" every single day (being able to act on it after we collapse into to bed for the day.......well that's a whole other thing lol) and when I don't feel like I'm looking so hot anymore, it is more motivation to get back at it. I think for a lot of us we tend to lose "ourselves" in out families and before we know what has really happened we are 20 pounds up.

double post

The statement is TRUE (Married twice so far and I'm 28 lol) BUT it also applies if your not married and live together. It's not because you've stopped taking care of yourself it's because - when your single (for a lot of people this is not all) you strive to improve yourself and make yourself phsyically more apealing. (Your own interpretation of what attractive is anyway) This is quite often done unknowingly, a person may not realise or think that they are doing certain things in order to find a partner BUT 99% of times when you meet someone and it's a long term relationship and you live together you no longer need to do the things you used to.

Also you can pick up bad habits from partners (including eating paterns)

Sadly enough, I've gained like 30 pounds since I got married and I am determined not to gain another ounce.
I think when you try to put 2 people's eating habits, foods they like, times they eat, snacks, etc. together then what you do for the other person may not work for you.
In my case, I got married -week long honeymoon (vacation means lbs.) and moved to a new state-new home, no job, no friends =nothing to do=snack and gain weight. I also then took a job, different from my old one, and am now at a desk most of the day=gain weight. I took a big pay cut so stress + no more gym =more weight gain.
PLUS I'm happy in my marriage! They don't put 'fat and happy' together for no reason!
Good luck newlyweds!!

I think the reason people gain weight once they are married is because of the downward shift in activity levels... At least for me...it was because I was no longer going out 3 to 4 times a week dancing and hitting the clubs. I wasn't out and about doing sports, etc, all the things you do to meet new people, for me, slowed way down after marriage.

I would bet having children is a much bigger factor than just getting married. Once you have kids everything revolves around them, not yourselves anymore.

And yes, children are a factor. I found that it was harder for me to lose weight after having a child. My metabolism changed. Secondly, when your kids become active in their various activities and you also work 40 hours per week, it doesn't leave a lot of time for planning healthy meals and continuing to get them to their various activities--unless you are superchef (which I am not). We have had to limit our one child to just one activity and I have to plan ahead of time for days when I won't be home to cook in order for us to have a healthy meal. I don't know how people with more than one child manage it at all. On the really busy days now I try to have something going in the slow cooker.

There are a lot of reasons for it... I didn't gain much weight after getting married because I was already overweight. But he did... especially some sympathetic pregnancy gains. lol I like to cook, and before we had kids we also tended to eat out a lot. It's easier to stay home and watch TV together than to make the effort to plan an active date... and TV comes with food... everything comes with food...

But in general married people have better longevity, so overall it's still good for you.

Single men have mortality rates that are 250% higher than married men. Single women have mortality rates that are 50% higher than married women (Ross et all, 1990).

I gotta say, probably the fact that after marriage most couple stop complimenting each other, might have a psychological effect that contributes to gain weight and not caring anymore. In other words, Self-esteem goes down and weight goes up.

^^^ this - is absolutely a factor. And, as others have said, it depends on each other's habits, kids, stress, schedules. I don't think you can strictly pin it to just marriage in general.

i agree.....its called "getting comfortable".....you eat good, you have someone that supposedly loves you as you are, so its easy to get lazy.....

It happened to me too, but I am pretty sure it didn't happen because I didn't care. We were both guilty of making the choice to go out to dinner all of the time, especially after we had our son. Just too much convenience food and both of us were working full time with an hour commute each way. Didn't have a lot of time to think let alone exercise. So a year ago I decided to take control of it and he was supportive...and now he's working out too. Awesome. Now I believe staying fit and eating healthy is one of the best things you can do for your marrige for so many reasons, especially if you have kids Our 5 year old likes to exercise and has run a mile race already (less than 14 minutes which I thought was great for his size). He makes healthy food choices when given options of healthy and unhealthy foods. I call that a win-win!