Candlelit dinners and Netflix/pizza nights make for great dates with the new person in your life, but while your new love may last, your pre-boyfriend slim figure might not. New love is time-and mind-consuming, and when you’re blowing off gym time for snuggle time and trading in your Lean Cuisines for decadent dinners, you’re blowing off your health. And weight gain doesn’t just happen in new relationships; married women fall prey to this phenomenon, too. Find out why women in love gain weight and how you can keep that girlish figure you began with. Plus: Test your calorie IQ…

 

Physical attraction plays a huge part in your relationship compatibility – it’s one of the reasons why you were attracted as a whole to each other in the first place. And you probably put a lot of effort into your looks when you first started dating. But once you start celebrating month or year anniversaries, chances are that you’re so comfortable in your relationship that impressing your partner isn’t always your first priority anymore. 

Months of watching the numbers on your scale climb may turn into years, and before you know it, you’re married and heavier than ever before. A study conducted by Cornell University found that newlyweds gain more weight on average than single people or widowers or divorcees, usually within the first two years of getting married. It’s also no surprise that many women in love find that they are getting fat steadily throughout the marriage. So what does this all tell us? We shouldn’t bother getting married if we want to stay slim? Of course not! In order to avoid packing on the relationship weight, you have to know why this seemingly unexplained weight gain can be explained – so let us count the ways:

 

1. Bye-Bye Motivation

When you’re single and looking for love, you probably take more care of your appearance by eating healthier and exercising more – you want to impress future love matches after all. You may cook healthy meals at home for yourself and you have more time and interest in running or going to the gym. Once you finally hook up and fall in love, you don’t feel as motivated to look good because you’ve already hooked him. Love has a way of making you feel special, no matter how much weight you gain, especially if your boyfriend doesn’t acknowledge your body’s changes. And once you’re married, other responsibilities become more important – your kids, home, money, work, expenses – and looking good becomes second priority.

2. He’s Rubbing Off On Me

Your friends and family can certainly tempt you to stray from healthy eating habits, and your partner is no different. Besides, eating with someone is always more fun, and you don’t feel as guilty about indulging in fatty foods because someone else is too. A lot of men aren’t the healthiest eaters to begin with, and you may start to inherit your guy’s pizza and beer diet as a way to bond or because it’s an easy solution to dinner. If your boyfriend isn’t regularly active, it might be difficult for you to get up for that run when he’s pulling you back on the couch to cuddle. It’s always more of a challenge to remain healthy in the face of temptation. 

 

3. I Don’t Have Time to Exercise Anymore!

You love him, you want him, you have to have him – every single moment of the day. New couples tend to spend a lot of time together, forgoing the activities they did when they were single. Your alone time becomes your couple time, especially if you have a busy schedule with work or other priorities. Visits to the gym and those solo after-work walks around the neighborhood get put on the back burner in favor of spending time with your partner. Women are also the caretakers in the relationships, so they’re more prone to put their needs, healthy and otherwise, last on the list. If you’re married and busy with kids and other responsibilities, you don’t have the time or the energy to even think about exercise!

4. Stress

What’s to stress about when you’re in a loving, fun relationship? Good, stress, known as eustress, can actually fuel your relationship weight gain. Even happy, euphoric feelings can make you turn to the fridge in almost a celebration mentality. However, you’re sure to experience the bad kind of stress when your relationship hits some bumps in the road, and one of the most common ways people deal with stress is to try and eat it away, which you know backfires.

 

If you want to avoid getting fat in your relationship, practice these tips, starting from the very first moment you lay eyes on each other:

 

Go On Fitness Dates

When your honey suggests a Sunday matinee and early dinner, counter offer with an outdoor hike and a picnic packed with fresh fruits, hummus and other low-fat foods. Exercising together is one of the most motivating tools for weight loss, and also one of the most effective.

 

Tell Your Partner to Stop Tempting You

It may be cute when your mate dangles a Twix bar over your mouth and proceeds to devour it without gaining a millimeter in his waist, but if you can’t resist temptation, simply ask your guy to stop tempting you. Out of sight, out of mind just may help in your fight against relationship weight.

Don’t Match Bite for Bite

You resolve to order the salad at dinner, but your boyfriend goes for the large pizza and finagles you into eating half of it. If you’re going to give in to him, at least go 60/40. A common mistake women typically make is splitting a meal down the middle, when in fact, you’ll be the one to gain more weight than he will. Men have a higher caloric intake and can eat more without gaining weight. So just because your appetite matches his doesn’t mean your portions should.

 

For more tips on how to maintain a healthy weight in a relationship or what do if you’re unhappy with your partner’s weight, read: What to do When Your Spouse is Overweight.

 

As the woman in your relationship, you have more influence over your couple habits than your guy does. That’s because women tend to do more of the grocery shopping and cooking, and tend to incorporate fresher, healthier foods into their diet in general. So for all you women in love out there, take the power back and set the tone for a healthy and happy relationship.

 

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