Getting married or living with a male partner has an effect on how much weight a woman gains over her life, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine’s February issue.
This weight gain among women who are in relationships with men may have something to do with changing social factors in their lives, said David Fredericks, a graduate student in the UCLA psychology department. For instance, spending time with a man who has a different diet may prompt women to change their own eating habits, he said.
Adjusting to the change in daily routines and activities of one’s partner may also have something to do with a gain in weight, he added.
The study, done in Australia throughout a 10-year period, included single women without children, partnered women without children, and partnered women with children. The study only looked at partnered women who were in relationships with men.
Over the 10 years, partnered women without children gained an average of about four pounds more than single, childless women, according to the study.
While Fredericks pointed out that the study only surveyed women and did not address the effects of long-term relationships on men’s weight, he said there are social and metabolic factors that may account for the fact that women specifically are affected.
When a man and a woman spend time together, there are possible reasons that the woman in the relationship is adopting the eating habits of her boyfriend or husband, Fredericks said.
Although society imposes strong messages about the importance of eating healthy, men are often not targeted by these messages, he said.
For example, commercials advertising meaty or fatty foods and large portions often target men, associating large portions and fatty foods with masculinity, he added.
Men also generally have a higher metabolic rate than women, meaning that they can consume more calories without having a significant effect on weight gain, said Dr. David Heber, director for the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition, in an e-mail.
There is an effect in psychology that shows that people who eat in groups prefer to finish eating all at the same time, Fredericks said. So if one person takes longer to eat, his or her partner may feel the need to eat more until the first person is done.
It could be that women in such long-term relationships may eat more when they are with male partners, especially if the couple is living together, Heber said.
Paying more attention to portion sizes when eating with a partner is one way to reduce the possibilities of weight gain, said Rita Marie, a dietician for UCLA’s Risk Factor Obesity Weight Loss Program.
Doing activities with a partner that are social as well as physically active can also help to prevent weight gain in long-term relationships, she added.
For instance, going out together for a hike is a more physically engaging and calorie-burning activity than going out for drinks or dinner, she said.
People can also alter their diet by reducing added sugar, fat and refined carbohydrates while increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables they eat, Heber said in an e-mail.
Other factors, such as the stress of coordinating schedules with a partner, may disrupt a person’s normal routines, including exercise and eating routines, Fredericks said.
Catrina Ellis, a third-year history and study of religion student, had to make some changes to her daily schedule when entering into a relationship with her boyfriend.
Ellis and her boyfriend started dating each other during fall of 2008. At first, they spent hours talking to each other over the phone and on the computer. She realized, however, that the time she spent with her boyfriend was cutting into her class and work schedule.
“One day, we talked for fourteen hours straight. … We quickly realized that we couldn’t continue that,” she said.
Spending late nights on the phone with her boyfriend was difficult when she had class or work early the next morning, she said.
Ellis made a new routine for herself when classes started again in winter quarter. Her boyfriend goes to college in Riverside, so she makes time to see him every other week, she said.
She also sends him text messages throughout the day and makes time to call him at least once a day, she added.
Students who are already used to having busy schedules may not have a difficult time with the transition into a relationship, Ellis said.
Making better food choices and staying active are pieces of advice that people of any age can follow, Marie said.
“I think that it’s important that people recognize that … we need to be careful of what we eat and we need to move,” she said.