but interestingly enough this is NEVER interpreted as evidence of harm or of bad behavior of any kind by the woman but rather is seen as evidence of mens laziness and of their coddling by women. I realize that the two situations have NOTHING in common and that any appearance of similarity is ENTIRELY superfical and misleading.

Getting married adds the pounds too - for exactly the same reasons.

Guess if you want to scare women into behaving "properly", telling them they can get fat being married too would not work.

Is it possible that people in committed relationships merely tend to take less care of themselves physically, because the chief motivator for their fitness was the desire to attract a mate? People tend to put on weight when living with a partner, because they tend to lose much of their motivation for staying in shape in the first place.

I've seen lots of people, more women than men, who seem to let themselves go once they've gotten married or moved in with a partner, and it didn't have anything to do with some horrible influence their man exerted. It had to do with them being lazy and shiftless.

Thank gosh for researchers telling us what we already know. But leave it to Broadsheet to blame it all on men.

The reason that women get fat once you live together is NOT that men serve them sausage and ice cream all day and turn them into porkers. As the article noted women are usually in charge of the food anyway.

The primary reason is that women who have a mate don't maintain the same level of attractiveness to keep him as they did to find him. So, they stop watching their weight, cut their long hair, stop wearing sexy shoes, etc.

This is much more noticeable in women than men b/c women get men based on looks. Men get women based on money, status, power, and behavior. So when women let themselves go it is much more noticeable.

There might also be something in there about storing energy for pregnancy. No doubt the regular smell of her man triggers some kind of crazy female hormonal thing which tells her to start adding weight, nagging about marriage, and complaining that your place is too small.

Finally, men eat larger portions, so when women eat with men there is more food to consume.

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Men - Regardless of the exact cause this is a great reason to keep several women around town instead of putting all your eggs in one basket. Or ovary. Or whatever.

But if you gotta shack up, your best bet may be to keep her in a shed out back, only get together for sex (to limit any long-term hormonal responses), and keep her on a strict diet of fruit, veges, and water. Added bonus: she can have as many cats as she wants and they won't shit on your rug.