The Couple’s Weight Loss Plan
It takes two to tango, especially if you’re doing the weight-loss pas de deux, say researchers at the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. They did a survey of almost 400 individuals and uncovered the reasons couples find weight loss challenging — and what partners can do to support each other’s efforts.
First, the researchers identified some obstacles that you may face when you tell your sweetie that you are going to try to change your lifestyle:
— When just one person is battling to lose weight, he or she needs to have the support of the partner. That can be tough to get if your partner also needs to lose weight (very common in couples) but isn’t ready to confront the reality of his or her health crisis. All kinds of unintentional but sabotaging actions can arise, from bringing home a bucket of fried chicken to refusing to take an after-dinner walk with you.
— Lack of demonstrated support for your solo efforts also can make your partner’s suggestions on how to upgrade diet, get more physical activity and improve overall behavior sting like criticism, and can both be hurtful and derail your weight-loss efforts.
The Texas researchers went further:
They concluded that couples need to talk with one another to clear the air. Tell your partner that you need support and that you are not asking him or her to join you (although you’d welcome it!).
One secret benefit: A study in the journal Obesity found that when one spouse joins a weight-loss program, the other spouse often loses weight too. Among the 130 people and their spouses that they followed, fully 32 percent of “non-participating” partners lost at least 3 percent of their body weight within six months.