By IS WEIGHT GAIN WEIGHING DOWN YOUR MARRIAGE?
Weight Gain Can Make or Break Your Marriage
By Taylor Fuqua
As your marriage continues to grow and develop, you can expect that you and your spouse will change along with it. Some of these changes will be subtle and go unnoticed, but weight gain is a change that will be hard to miss. Weight gain can be a pretty touchy subject in marriage, and no one is prepared to have the conversation when they find themselves battling a possible health or weight gain issue with their spouse. It’s scary to think that you or your spouse may hold resentment towards one another overweight gain or lose attraction towards each other. It also can destroy your marriage if you let it.
When you or your spouse are facing a weight gain issue, there’s a lot more on the line than you think. Addressing this issue won’t be easy, but for both you and your spouse to have a happy, healthy marriage, change has to happen. Use these tips to restore your marriage when you find that weight gain is starting to weigh heavily on it.
Don’t point fingers or blame your spouse.
It’s easy to point fingers when you don’t have the answers to a problem, but that is only going to make matters worse. Weight gain is not easy to deal with, and no one should feel attacked or shamed about it. If you both have the end goal of wanting to save your marriage and address the problem, you need to work as a team. Humiliating someone over something they may have no control over is an easy way to get them to shut down and stir up resentment.
Set goals.
Once you and your spouse can sit down and discuss the recent weight gain, set some goals, and keep them in sight for you both to see during this journey. As you both work to create a healthier lifestyle, having your goals visible will provide you with the motivation you need to help each other. Doing this shows that you are both committed to the process.
Reassure your partner they are loved and supported.
Combating weight gain with love and encouragement will make your spouse feel supported through their journey. Whether it’s words of encouragement, making exercise a couple’s activity, or finding other activities that you can do together will strengthen your bond and help contribute to weight loss. Remind your spouse often how much you love them and reassure them you’re still attracted to them. They need to feel empowered by the one they love the most to execute real change. Save any criticisms you may have against them as this doesn’t contribute anything productive to the situation. Do your part to support your spouse by showing them you are just as much a part of this process as they are. Use this experience to explore healthier meals you can incorporate within your home and explore possible hobbies that you both will enjoy doing together.
Everyone has their way of dealing with weight gain/weight loss, so as you embark on this journey with your spouse, make sure you’re providing each other with the needed support. It’s essential to ask each other what is needed from one another.. Make sure you are regularly checking in to see how they are feeling about any progression and offer to help wherever it’s needed.
Find fun ways to track progress.
It can be intimidating to rely on numbers on a scale to track progress made during a weight loss journey; It can also be discouraging. Finding fun ways to measure progress beyond a scale will help you and your spouse get excited about your journey and motivated to keep working at it. Doing things such as seeing how many steps you can take in a day or having small competitions against each other will keep you motivated to achieve your goals. You could also create a vision board and take pictures of the progress you make. Having a visual representation of your progress will provide that extra motivation on days you may want to give up, and it will remind you just how far you’ve come. Having fun ways to track progress makes the weight loss journey easier to cope with and can shift your perspective to a more positive experience.
Seek help when needed.
Certain situations may require outside help, and that is entirely normal when dealing with weight gain. You or your spouse may need more support than you have to offer, and that’s not something to beat yourselves up over. There are plenty of people within the health and fitness community who have been trained to provide the knowledge and resources to help support weight loss. Reaching out to a health coach, personal trainer, or having a weight-loss community will bridge the gap in support.
Schedule an appointment with a healthcare professional that you can both attend to get the information and additional support. Whether it’s a nutritionist, therapist, or medical doctor, you must be equipped with the right tools to make the right changes in your lives to aid the weight loss journey.
How much you or your partner feels supported can make or break your success in weight loss. Weight gain isn’t an easy thing to face, and when you notice how it has changed your marriage dynamic, it’s something that can’t go untreated. The journey may not always be an easy one, but if you both are committed to being the best and healthier versions of yourselves, it will all be worth it.
Working together as a team is the only way you both will come out of this on top. All marriages have their changes or struggles, and when weight gain has become the source of those struggles, communicating with your spouse is vital to fixing it. You both need to feel safe within your relationship to express your feelings regarding the issue. Once you can hear and understand each other’s feelings, you will be able to push each other towards making the necessary healthy changes and living a healthier life together.
