Happily Married?

A recent study concludes that young and happily married newlyweds are more likely to gain weight than their young and unhappily married counterparts. For each unit increase in satisfaction, on average, males and females both gained one tenth of a BMI unit every 6 months- or about one pound a year. According to Dr. Andrea Meltzer, lead author of the study, “These findings challenge the idea that quality relationships always benefit health, suggesting instead that spouses in satisfying relationships relax their efforts to maintain their weight because they are no longer motivated to attract a mate. Interventions to prevent weight gain in early marriage may therefore benefit from encouraging spouses to think about their weight in terms of health rather than appearance.”

Health Psychology, April 2013