Eating for 2...and I don't mean the baby!

 I love to see married couples. I especially love to see couples express their love for each other in public. There’s a popular guy in Oklahoma named “Heady” that I truly admire in that he is always telling others about how beautiful, fine, and wonderful his wife is (shout out to www.helloheady.com). I love it! I love to see happily married couples. However, I have found at least one huge downfall in marriage (as if there could be a downfall!!!?!!). For many men and women, at least one downfall in marriage is……………….extreme weight gain.

For a lot of women, nothing puts the weight on them like living with a husband (and kids)! For men, nothing puts the weight on them like a wife who can cook. This is not only purely my observation, it is also supported with at least one research study that notes the prevalence of obesity in couples sharing a household (The, & Gordon-Larsen, 2007).

I have many female friends and family members who got married and gained at least 20 pounds. They then got pregnant and gained 30-40 pounds. Post-pregnancy, they lost 15 pounds, but gained 30 back! And 5 years later, they are still claiming it is baby weight. Let’s be real ladies. The weight you are carrying is probably your own. And your husband didn’t help it. Because as you gained it, so did he. And though you don’t remind him of his weight gain every day, he does not hesitate to remind you of yours.

So, as I am not into tearing down the act of marriage, but am more into giving people tools to build up relationships centered around healthy living, let me give you 5 tips on eating while married:

1.    He wants fried chicken.
      So fix it for him. Only make sure that you do not compliment it with high carbohydrate and starchy sides (potatoes, gravy, fried vegetables, etc.). To compliment the fried chicken, choose a nice salad (with just a bit of dressing) and 2 other brightly colored vegetables (maybe green beans and carrots). In this way, you lessen his and your calories that would have been added in with higher caloric sides.

2.    He wants meat at every meal.
       That’s fine. But YOU don’t necessarily have to have it at every meal. When you do eat meats, make sure they are lean cuts; and aim for fish, chicken or, turkey that is baked or broiled.

3.      You two eat out a lot…and you enjoy each other’s companionship more when you are out to eat.
     Great! But hold each other accountable and know your limits. If you are going to eat a steak, please, don’t get a loaded baked potato and 4 rolls with butter too. Instead, eat a salad and some colorful veggies with it. If you are going to eat pasta, please, don’t eat 4 breadsticks with it. And if at all possible, never eat your whole meal (that statement goes against everything you and I were taught as children). Eat half of the meal, and take home the rest for lunch the next day. And if all else fails, and you believe you have to have the most fattening and sugary meal on the menu, for goodness sake, don’t get a large dessert too!

4.    He doesn’t care about your dietary restrictions and just wants to eat food like his mama makes.

Honey, if you can cook as good or better than his momma, good for you! But if it is food that is heavily seasoned with salt, packed with sugar, or loaded with fat, here are your options: serve less of it on his plate, or modify the recipe by reducing the salt, sugar or fat.

5.    Lastly, you two eat healthy for the most part, but eat like “pigs” only on the weekends.

Good. I’m glad it is not habitual for you two. However, I would suggest that you all get a good 1.5-2 hour workout in on at least 1 weekend day in order to help balance out your “piggish” splurge J. The meals will be more enjoyable when you know you just burned 1000 calories from exercising.

These tips may seem to be more geared towards the ladies (stats show that women have more of the problem with overweight/obesity), but men should be able to pull from the tips also. That’s all I have for the day. Keep the love up, and the pounds down!

-Jenelle Robinson

Reference:

The, N. S., & Gordon-Larsen, P. (2007). Shared household environment and marriage, cohabitation, and dating: Living together increases the likelihood of obesity. FASEB Journal, 21(5), A324-A325.