▷ Does being happily in love make you fat?

Being fat is usually associated with being sad and single. When you’re single, life seems to be all about you: your schedule, your time, your goals. But when you become smitten by that special someone, things change. You first catch each other’s eye, you go on a first date, and then you wonder how you ever lived without this person in your life.

Unfortunately, there’s evidence out there that throws a wrench in the notion that being in a happy relationship isn’t always beneficial to one’s health. New couples tend to go out more than established couples, which often means fewer healthy meals, and time spent sipping cocktails while gazing into each other’s eyes. While sweet and romantic, these new infatuations can also mean weight and fat gain, which increases your risk of other health problems.

But what happen to the married couples? Anyone who has been married knows all too well about the work you need to put in to looking good on your wedding day, including months of exercise and diet. However, one study found that, on average, married women gain 24 pounds in the first five years of marriage. Women who cohabitate, but aren’t married, only gain 18 pounds, while women who are in a relationship but living separately gain 15 pounds.

Men also gain weight, but there weren’t many differences between men who were married and men who were just living with a partner.

The researchers concluded that living together increases both men and women’s risk for becoming fat.

Here are some of the reasons why happy relationships make lovers gain fat

You don’t need to attract anyone new

Once you’ve persuaded someone into thinking that you’re worth such a large chunk of his or her time that you’re the only one with whom the person is allowed to be intimate, congratulations! You’re locked into a full-fledged relationship.

This means you’ll have to impress no one other than this person, with this pressure off your shoulders, pizza will start to look significantly more appealing, and desserts will, too. Also, the gym becomes an unnecessary burden that you may grace with your presence, only when you really want to — not when you need to.

Nobody new must see you naked

Unless you’re a sneaky little cheater, once you have entered a relationship, only one person will have the pleasure of seeing your naked body in all its glory.

You know that vulnerable, exciting, slightly fear-inducing, slightly butterfly-inducing feeling you get when someone new rips off your clothes for the first time? Yeah, that doesn’t happen anymore.

Your partner knows exactly what’s hiding under those clothes, and chances are, he or she will neither notice nor care if you gain a few pounds and fat.

Since sex will undoubtedly die down in frequency or get less exciting, you will feel free to pack on some pounds and gain fat.

You skip the gym

If your significant other is on the same page about the gym, great! This does not apply to you because you can motivate each other to workout.

If this isn’t the case and your boyfriend or girlfriend works out either way more than you, way less than you or not at all, it may pose a problem.

If you lead a busy life, like most people do, spending time with your boo may not always be as convenient as you would like.

Whenever you both have mutual free time, the pressure is on to spend it together. This can severely impede on your “me time,” under which category the gym undoubtedly falls.

Your partner influences yours eating behaviour in a negative way

Eating — at a restaurant or at home — is one of the most popular activities for couples to do together.

Once you enter that super comfortable stage in the relationship, you don’t care about getting into great shape, you don’t care about what you eat and you don’t care about what other people think of you; you’re truly content.

To summarize the reason why happy couples, gain weight and fat is because they are less motivated to maintain their weight when they don’t need to attract a new mate. So, if your partner has gained some weight, chances are high that they think you’re the one and they feel confident with you.

However, if you’re in a happy relationship, you have to take care of each other’s hearts, and we don’t just mean romantically. Here are some ways couples can take care of each other’s health.

Exercise Together

It can begin with a walk after dinner, and progress to running marathons together. Whatever it is, exercise can help fight off the dreaded relationship weight while spending time together.

Eat Out Less

When you dine out, you don’t have control over what goes into your food. Restaurants are havens for excess fat and salt, which can contribute to weight gain.