If you're someone who regularly follows my blogs, it's easy to see which topics are really interesting to me. I have an easier time writing about things I can relate to, which is why I had a hard time deciding how to approach this topic. I think the research is interesting and I'm sure a lot of people have had a similar experience. I just don't happen to be one of them. I've weighed about the same amount for the past 15 years or so. Since having children, my weight is now distributed a little differently, but I'm around the same size as I was before I got married. I never felt pressure to be a certain size as a single woman. Being healthy and active has been a big part of my life for many years, married or not. But I know that I'm not the norm. Statistics show that both men and women tend to gain weight after they get married. According to a study in the Journal of Economics and Human Biology which compared 12,000 men and women ages 18 to mid-40s, "Compared with when they were single, the body mass index of married men increased by 1.5 percent above and beyond what they would normally gain as they aged, and that of women shot up 2 percent." Another study published in the journal Obesity found that married couples were three times more likely to be obese than singles. There could be a number of explanations for these results. People in the dating scene might feel more pressure to keep up certain appearances, versus those who are already "settled" in marriage. Married couples also tend to develop the same habits and engage in the same activities. If your spouse wants to sit and watch T.V. at the end of a long day, you might be more tempted to join them versus going for a jog around the neighborhood. Many women also start having children after they get married, so losing the baby weight becomes a struggle. So how do you fight the weight gain? Make workouts an opportunity for you and your spouse to spend time together and catch up on the day. Try cooking some healthy dishes together. Don't abandon those healthy habits you had before you got married. There's no reason to change just because you've got a ring on your finger. Did you gain weight when you got married? Why or why not? |
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