Is Love Making You Fat?

Love is an exhilarating feeling, but all that bliss can weigh you down in the most literal sense.

- Chirag Mohanty Samal

Shraddha Pandey was a wiry 23-year-old brand consultant who never had to bother about her weight. Her friends envied her washboard abs, which were honed by the nightly runs she never missed and squash thrice a week. Pandey’s luck with her weight, however, ran out when Pranav came into her life. They fell in love, moved in together, and begun planning their wedding. Among all the excitement in her life, Pandey discovered that she had put on eight kilos in five months. It came as a huge shock as she never knew what it felt like to be on the wrong side of the weighing scale.

Pandey, however, is not alone. There are many others who have perceived a weight gain after getting into happy and steady relationships. A 2013 research commissioned by Diet Chef, a UK-based website, revealed that around 66 per cent of couples thought they had put on weight together. The fact was further corroborated by a 2013 study, 'Marital Satisfaction Predicts Weight Gain in Early Marriage', which was published by The American Psychological Association. Couples who experienced happy, healthy partnerships, did notice an increase in weight.

What’s odd is that the weight gain is not due to depression or stress. This is the happy kind of weight that doesn’t catch your attention until a few months. Dr Bhavna Barmi, senior consultant psychologist, Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, New Delhi, says, “Any emotion is contrary to our cognition. And love is such a powerful emotion that our rationale comes down. Unintentionally, we fuel our own weight gain.” Here are a few reasons why love makes you plumper, with ways to reverse the process.

SWEET LOVE