Does this husband make me look fat??

A reason I love my husband.  He brings me this:

A reason I hate my husband.  He brings me this:

He is evil and wonderful all rolled into one.  I think I'll keep him anyway.  

But this does bring up an important question: can a spouse bring us down in the health/zipping up our pants department?  

I was thinking about this when I stumbled across an article that came out today.  It was talking about the ways men and women are effected by marriage and divorce.  It seems to be that both events cause weight gain, however, women gain more weight when they get married and men gain more weight when they get divorced.  Additionally, women are more likely to be obese if they have lived with a man for over 5 years.  Apparently, cohabitation can be risky to the waistline, more so for women than men.

Do I buy this?  Do I really think marriage can effect your weight?  Yes, yes I do.  Why?  Well this is me 6 years after I got married:

To be fair, I was 9 months pregnant with our second kid.  Yeah, I think I gained roughly the amount of weight you should gain with triplets...plus 10 pounds.

Along these line, the article did site pregnancy along with the stress of running a household as two reasons women gain weight while married...and I totally agree with those two reasons.  But I don't think that is the whole story, at least not in our house.  While I can't speak for all the married ladies, I can say an issue at the Schmidt's is this:

I brought broccoli into our marriage and he brought Doritos.  It isn't that he loves junk food and I don't.  No, I love it too!  That is why I don't buy it!  When I lived on my own I subscribed to the theory of "you can't eat it if you don't have it."  My food supply was very produce and whole grain oriented.   My husband, however, subscribes to the "you can't eat it if you don't have it, so make sure you have it" theory.  And to make matters worse, he is one of "those guys" who can eat whatever he wants without ever gaining weight.  I am not one of "those guys."  Even working out diligently, I am not one of "those guys."   And there is the problem....a problem I think might be more common than not.


When temptation is around every corner and in every cupboard, sometimes it is tough to keep your calories in check.  Although this article suggested if I ditch my husband I'd lose some weight, there's not a chance I'm doing that!  Marriage (although it can make you chunky) has a lot of positives including, but not limited to, improving longevity and happiness.  Also, I kinda like him.


I really don't think that marriage is not fat sentence.  Just like genes can influence weight, so can environments...and you don't have to be a victim of either.  My husband bringing junk food into the house is not going to change...I have tried really hard for 8 1/2 years.  I even had him read this to the kids just hoping it would seep into his subconscious:

It didn't work.  Although I am faced with more temptations living with him, ultimately I am in charge of what I eat.  But Kevin, next time you get ice cream, I am begging you, get Rocky Road because I hate Rocky Road.