Does falling in love make you gain weight?

My boyfriend and I were pumped to enter into cohabitation.  This wasn’t only living together for us, it was actually spending time together.  He had just come back from an eight month deployment to Iraq, where he served as a Marine Corps officer.  Prior to Iraq, we had an opposite coasts relationship.  I moved to San Diego from New York City for the last year of his contract to avoid the long distance.

We were really living the life.  We made fabulous dinners with a bottle of wine during the week, we frequented the most incredible Mexican restaurant a block away with insanely cheap happy hour, and delicious restaurants were abundant.

Neither one of us had ever had issues with our weight.  We were incredibly fit, ate healthy, and exercised daily.  Slowly but surely though, I started noticing that my favorite jeans were becoming harder to button.  Weird.  After a few more months, I just stopped wearing them, but in the back of my mind I would think, “Whoa my butt is creating more of a bubble than usual.  What is going on?”  I wasn’t going to the gym regularly anymore because of our new lifestyle.  Fortunately for him, he was at least able to exercise on base.  Gosh, why couldn’t my job require me to work out??

When I finally realized that I hadn’t worn that particular pair of jeans in months, it was time to do something about it.  I thought, “How could I possibly be gaining weight?  I never gain weight!”  My boyfriend wasn’t feeling so great either so we made a list of our weekly habits: at least three bottles of wine per week between the two of us, at least 3 margaritas per week, at least two (fried) fish tacos per week, the most amazing chicken fingers and french fries I have ever had in my life available at the bar up the street, and countless other drinking activities by the two of us or with friends.  Yikes.  That’s a lot of drinking and non-healthy eating.

We determined that we were overly excited to be together and were making up for lost time by inhaling delicousness.  The new year came and we cut down our lifestyle, only keeping our Margarita Fridays and the occasional dinner and drinks out.  (There was no way we were giving up the margaritas and fish tacos.)  We felt better and I eventually fit back into my jeans.  Apparently I had outdone myself.  Now I am very much aware of how much and what type of alcohol I consume and how it is affecting my bottom line.

I believe this weight gain happens in the honeymoon stage.  I saw it happen to my friend as well (before it happened to me).  Being the awesome friend I am, told her to her face she gained weight after she went up a dress size as we were in the store trying on clothes.  That didn’t go over very well but she (eventually) appreciated the honesty.  She had been living it up in the first six months of her new relationship.

I look back at pictures from that time and can see the difference.  No one else noticed but I did, and that was the most important part.  I didn’t feel good, I didn’t feel like myself, but I’m happy I figured it out and did something about it.  Lesson learned.

Have you ever experienced the “honeymoon stage weight gain?”  What did you to get rid of the weight?

Introduction: IITGI community, I am thrilled to be here.  My name is Diana and I went from a gym-everyday girl to a no-longer-a-member girl.  I love exercise but my routine has been seriously compromised due to many different factors that have turned into lame excuses.  I’m ready to talk about it.

Tagged as: advice wanted, emotional eating, exercise, in it to gym it, losing the poundage, love, relationships