8 Ways to Keep in Shape After You Get Married

If you think that just because you’re married now you no longer have to care about your weight, think again! Remaining slim and trim is more than just a question of being attractive to a potential partner, it’s also a question of remaining healthy for the rest of your life.

When people get married they sometimes tend to become complacent and in many cases some habits your partner might have will start to rub off on you.

If you don’t want to look back in four-five years at your wedding picture and not recognize the smiling and happy couple, here are 8 tips to avoid getting weight after you’ve said “I do”:

1. Learn how to cook healthy meals
   There are so many healthy recipes on the Web that you don’t even have to spend any money on a new cookbook to start cooking healthy meals. If you stock your fridge with healthy foods and prepare healthy recipes, you and your partner will remain a healthy couple. If neither you nor your partner is comfortable in the kitchen, why not take this opportunity to sign up for a basic cooking class?

• Eat at the kitchen table
  British diet guru Paul McKenna has been advocating sitting down and eating. So many North Americans eat on the run and that’s a recipe for overeating because when your mind is preoccupied by something else, you are not aware of how much food you’re eating. 

• Save your waist line by bringing your lunch
  Bringing your lunch not only helps you be more in control of the foods you eat, but it’s a great way of saving money. When you pack your lunch you actually avoid having to wait in line at an eatery and you can use that time to take your lunch to a nearby park for a relaxing lunch. 

• Be careful of how many bottles of wine you drink
  Enjoying a drink or two on weekends with your partner is such a relaxing way to spend some time together. But you might want to be mindful of how much wine you actually drink because alcoholic beverages are packed with calories and you can easily lose track of how much you drink … especially if you’re watching a sports event or a great movie. Since a five-ounce glass of your favorite alcoholic beverage contains about 120 calories, you’re looking at over 240 calories a night (for two drinks). If you do that five nights a week, that’s an extra 1,200 calories per week!

• Exercise together as a couple
  Fitness is key to remaining fit and slim! If you find it too hard to exercise on your own, get your partner involved and that way you can keep each other accountable. It can be as simple as going for a long walk and sharing the events of your day. If you get into the habit of including fitness in your relationship, you’ll be an active and healthy couple. 

• Find an exercise you actually like
  Don’t feel obliged to do an exercise that your partner likes, but you hate. Working out together is ideal if both of you enjoy the same fitness activity. If golf is not your thing, but your partner could spend an entire day on the golf course, find another activity that would get you that excited and when both of you get together at the end of the day you’ll have great stories to share about your respective fitness passions. 

• Discover new exercises
  If you’ve been doing the same-old-same-old exercise, it’s time to go out there and find a new one. There are far too many exercises for me to list them here, but if you want to try something new, try to get a trial class and you can find out if you’ve found a good match and it won’t cost you that much to try out something new.

• Keep the romance alive
  Avoid turning your feeling of frustration towards sex and your relationship into a food binging fest. If you are having problems in your relationship, you might want to make it a priority to work on increasing communication and sharing your feelings. Bottling your feelings and turning to food for comfort might make you feel good for that minute, but then you’ll be left with the guilt of overeating.

Written on 11/25/2009 by Krizia. Krizia (aka MissK) is an international author of an acclaimed food guide. Krizia’s approach to healthy eating is about keeping it simple, approachable and REAL! In June 2009, two months after launching Eat Smart Age Smart, Krizia was awarded with the nomination of ‘Top 200 Health Blogger’ in the Healthy Eating category by Well Sphere.

Photo Credit: Ed Yourdon