Living Together Increases the Likelihood of Obesity

University of North Carolina researchers followed the weight and relationship status of nearly 7,000 individuals, and made some interesting findings that they published in the journal Obesity. It seems that living with someone is an opener for weight gain.

The two researchers reported 2 years ago that married men and women are both more than twice as likely as non-married/non-cohabiting individuals to become obese. They have now extended their observations. The data come from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, in which almost 1,300 of the enrollees (‘the Couples Sample’) were traced through dating, cohabiting, and marriage for a number of years.

The likelihood of both members of a marriage becoming obese increases after the first 2 years of living together. In unmarried cohabitation, men are less likely than women to become obese. With women, the longer they live with someone the more likely they are to keep putting on weight.

Possible reasons for this effect are being investigated: mealtimes are more important for a couple than a single; gym membership may be dropped; and simply relaxing good intentions to ‘look ones best’ may be relevant.

There’s some good news in all this. It’s been shown that if one spouse participates in a weight-loss program, the other spouse tends to lose weight too. And if both members of a couple undertake a weight-loss program, both will probably lose weight, with the support person losing more than the initiating person. In general, when people live together or are married, they give mutual support for healthy behaviors, e.g. quitting smoking, exercising, or dieting. (Of course, if one falls off the wagon, the other is likely too, as well.)