Blame your hubby for your being fat!

Thursday, 24 July , 2008, 02:49


Melbourne: Tried everything but can’t seem to get rid of your post-marriage love handles? Well, don’t question your determination for the failed plan, for the real culprit behind all weight worries is your hubby.

Yes, you heard it right. According to health experts, a husband is more of a hindrance than help in a wife's battle with the bulge.

"For some women, marriage definitely can be fattening," the Courier Mail quoted Dr Brian Steadman, a leading British authority on nutrition, as saying.

"It's hard enough for them to stick to good eating habits when they're single, but they can find it impossible after they're married.

"For a start, they've got to prepare food for two people, and it gets worse when children come along. Suddenly, she is constantly thinking about food - buying it, cooking it, fixing snacks and meals at different times of the day.

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“And if the husband doesn't need to diet, then with all the best intentions in the world, the poor woman is going to find it very tough preparing big wholesome meals for the family and low-calorie snacks for herself,” he added.

Dr Richard B Stuart, an American authority on slimming and nutrition, and former psychological director of Weight Watchers International, the author of Act Thin, Stay Thin, agrees.

"If a woman can't stay on a diet, it could easily be her husband's fault," he said.

"In fact, a husband might subconsciously be encouraging his wife to remain fat, and make it harder for her to lose weight,” he added.

Dr B Stuart has given some reasons as to why this could be so: if he feels in any way insecure in his relationship, then he reasons that a plump wife is less likely to leave him or make other men jealous, if he has a low sex drive then having a fat wife is a very good excuse for lack of interest or potency.

If he's the kind who isn't prepared to put a lot of effort into the marriage, then it will be much easier for him to keep her "fat" than "happy", Dr B Stuart said.

If his wife is a failure as a dieter, it "allows" him to have his workaholic schedule or an affair and there are many other ways that a husband, perhaps unwittingly, can hinder his wife's ambitions to keep her weight down, the health expert added.