Mental Health

Moving in With Your Boyfriend Can Make You Fat: Study

By Drishya Nair | Update Date: Oct 25, 2012 08:50 AM EDT

So you are all excited about your relationship moving to the next level, now that you have finally decided to move in together. But think again! Forget being worried about picking up his dirty laundry, this step might actually make you fat! At least that's what a new study says.

The study reveals that while moving in together makes the girl plumper, it takes away inches from the man's waist line. How? It is because when couples live together, they often tend to take equal portions of food, which, as a result, makes women put on weight.

According to the study findings, one-third of women admitted to eating more after moving in with their partner, whereas a third of men said they tended to reduce their food intake. Men also said that after moving in with their girlfriend, they tended to eat food which was more "womanly", like salads and yogurt.

Also, according to nutritionists, couples who cook together often do not consider each other's different dietary needs and also dish out equal portions of the same meals.

Another revelation of the study was that due to stereotypical thinking, men and women often ended up wrongly feeding each other. For example, 90 percent of women in the survey said that they were most likely to buy meat when shopping for their partner.

However, a 'one-size-fits all approach' can be damaging to both partners' health, nutritionist Fiona Hunter was quoted as saying by Mail Online.

"Merging your diet with that of your partner and not being considerate of each other's specific nutritional needs has implications beyond the waistline. Men need more of the different B vitamins than women but their knowledge of these vitamins, and where to get them, is also very low," she said.

For the study, the researchers at Centrum Multivitamins observed 1,300 men and women, and found that the overall nutritional awareness among men and women in the UK was poor.

Apparently, only half of the women recognized that folic acid was significant during pregnancy and only a few men could tell which food contained vital vitamins.

 "I think the majority of us struggle to really understand what's nutritionally best for ourselves and our partners. As our survey suggests, we tend to take the path of least resistance, men especially. This can mean we're often not getting what we really need for our gender," Helene Manga of Centrum added.

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