Beware of fattening up after marriage

LOVE is an emotion that can make you feel warm and mushy inside, but it can also transfer this softness to your hips and gut, especially when you settle down into long-term bliss.

The level of comfort you experience with your partner may cause you to bypass healthy eating habits and skip workouts. However, according to consultant general, laparoscopic and obesity surgeon, Dr Alfred Dawes, weight gain can have adverse effects on your personal and love life.

Here are some ways in which ‘happy weight’ or relationship weight can affect your love life.

1. Depression

According to Dr Dawes, the partner who gains the happy weight may slowly develop low self-esteem and become conscious of people commenting on how much weight they’ve gained. “In fact, many persons opt for bariatric surgery not because of health concerns, but because of the negative emotional and social effects of weight gain,” he said.

2. Less intimacy

Dr Dawes said people who fall into the happy weight category are sometimes seen as less sexually attractive to their partners and it affects intimacy in the relationship.

3. Unreasonable accusations

“Partners are often accused of being greedy or not doing enough to lose the excess weight,” Dr Dawes said. He explained that while excess eating can contribute to weight gain, may times birth control tablets and injections are also associated with weight gain.

4. Financial strain

“I have seen instances where the weight gain affects the health and career of the individual and adds financial stress to the relationship, leading to recurrent arguments or separation,” Dr Dawes explained.

“Overweight people are more likely to have medical illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure than normal-weight persons. They spend more on their health and have more sick days and decreased productivity. They may be passed over for promotions or fail to attract clients because of this.”

5. Separation

When a partner gains weight and is seen as less attractive, the possibility of a break-up is high. “One of my patients explained that after she gained weight her partner told her that he was no longer attracted to her and if she could only go back to the weight she was at when he first met her, things could work out,” Dr Dawes said.

— Kimberley Hibbert