Can Getting Married Make You Fat?

Many people find that their waistlines begin to expand after getting married, especially women. They spend the months before the big day on a diet, shedding the pounds so that they look perfect in their wedding dress. As soon as the wedding is over it becomes more difficult to find the motivation to eat healthily and exercise regularly and so they slip back into their former routine, usually gaining weight as a result. You can't really blame marriage completely if you find yourself gaining weight, since it your actual behaviour that leads to weight gain, but it clearly has a role to play.

Marriage offers you a sense of security and you know that the person you are getting married to will love you no matter what your size, just as you will love him whether he is fat or thin. When you're in a happy relationship where you feel entirely comfortable with the person you are married to, it is easy to ignore your expanding waistline. Indeed, when you know you're gaining weight it can be tempting to avoid stepping on the scales altogether! You may pick up the bad habits your spouse has and you may be a bad influence on him as well.

You get into a routine and it's comfortable. It becomes easier to neglect your exercise routine and to eat convenience foods, especially if you decide to have children. When you fall pregnant you're going to gain weight and once you've given birth it can be hard to find the time to exercise and prepare home-cooked meals, so that you never actually lose the baby weight. It isn't just women who gain weight, though, as some men will also find themselves eating more than usual and not doing as much exercise during their wife's pregnancy, so that they also end up heavier.

The likelihood is that if you get married you're going to put on some weight at some point during the relationship, though it may not always be directly related to being married. As you get older your body changes and your metabolism slows down, so that it becomes harder to remain slim. This doesn't necessarily mean you'll become fat, though; it just means weight gain is more likely. Since marriage is meant to last a lifetime you're obviously going to be together a long time and as the years pass your weight may be less of a priority. There are plenty of people who would consider themselves fat and who are struggling to control their weight and not all of them are married. However, the relationships you have with other people – particularly your spouse – can influence the way you feel about yourself and the routine you develop, which may well cause you to pile on the pounds.