I’ve seen it one too many times: my most in-shape friends get boyfriends and in the blink of an eye, they look like they could be Shamu’s twin sister. One of my friends recently gained 20 lbs within a few months of having a boyfriend.
Then again, she was studying abroad in Italy and downing Penne alla Vodka like it was a full-time job, but we’ll overlook that because now there’s science to back up our theory: a new survey has revealed that long-term relationships are the number one reason for weight gain (as if we didn’t know that already.)
Naturally, my friend dropped the weight faster than Kate Middleton post-pregnancy once she lost the boyfriend and the Penne alla Vodka. She is far from being the only one to pack on the pounds in her relationship, though. 62 percent of those surveyed gained a significant amount of weight after entering a committed relationship.
Those surveyed said that the main cause of the weight-gain was matching what they ate to that of their partner because eating is an activity couples do together. Forget long-term relationship, I can gain weight after dating someone for a few weeks. All guys want to do is blaze and order Five Guys, and you definitely don’t want to miss out on all the fun.
I know first handedly that women also gain weight when they have a boyfriend because they get comfortable. Why should we work hard to maintain our figure when we don’t feel the need to impress anyone, right? Wrong. Your "significant other" liked you for who you were when he met you. He probably was attracted to your figure and your motivation to stay in-shape.
True, if the person loves you, then he will love you even if you gain a few pounds. However, why do we feel like we don’t need to impress our partners? Don’t you want to remind them how lucky they are all the time? Why do we worry so much about impressing strangers but not our own boyfriends?
Even more pathetic than the previous statistic, a whopping two-thirds of the couples surveyed said that they put on the weight together. At least they motivated each other, right? Although that’s not exactly the motivation I’m looking for in a relationship. Its like, “babe, we’re going to achieve it together. We’re gonna become obese whales, I promise, we just have to believe in our power to eat a sh*t ton of food and always support each other to do so.”
Nobody is happy with gaining weight. When you lose confidence in yourself and your body image, you become insecure, and insecurity is toxic to any relationship. Couples should motivate each other to exercise and pursue a healthy lifestyle. Healthy couples are happy couples. Fat couples are just disgusting. Let’s be real, nobody wants to see that.
Just ask Rob Kardashian....
Photo credit: WENN
