Post-Marriage or Divorce – Change in Waistline?

It is believed that whenever there is a big change in your life, it affects your weight first. Also, this weight gain may pose to be a health risk as well. Health experts say that this sudden gain in weight after a marriage or divorce may be because, as age advances, people become more settled in certain eating and exercising habits.

In the case of men, it is believed that they get a health boost outside marriage, perhaps because their spouses monitor their behaviour and they lose this benefit after divorce.

Newly-married women are at greatest risk of “large” weight gains. Some gains may “pose a health risk”, say the authors from Ohio State University.

A study reveals that beginning and ending your marriage can take a toll on your increasing waistline. It ‘s a fact that women tend to gain weight after marriage, but researchers have found out recently that men are more likely to put on weight after divorce.

According to BBC News, “There is an increased risk of piling on the pounds in the two years after a marriage starts or ends, according to their study of 10,071 people.

The study followed people from 1986 to 2008 and monitored changes in body mass index (BMI) – a weight/height ratio measurement – and marital status.  The researchers compared the BMI of people who married or divorced with those who were already married or stayed single.

Life-changing

Even after adjusting the data for each person’s health, education, employment, poverty and pregnancy – there was still an increased risk of weight gain associated with marriage and divorce.

In women, marriage increased the risk of a small increase in weight (up to a three point increase in BMI) by 33%. There was a 48% higher risk of large weight gains (more than a three point BMI increase).

Newly-divorced women had a 22% increased risk of small weight gain.

Men were 28% more likely to have small increases in weight after marriage and 21% after divorce.

The report concludes: “All marital transitions act as a weight shock, encouraging small weight gains regardless of the destination marital state.”

Lead author, Dmitry Tumin, said: “To some extent, marriages for women promote weight gains that may be large enough to pose a health risk.”

Helen Riley at the British Nutrition Foundation charity said: “These are significant changes in someone’s life. It can change their living situation and the types of food they eat”.  Different people deal with it in different ways and it can be positive for some people.