Wedding weight woes (From The Northern Echo)

Wedding weight woes

12:26pm Tuesday 30th August 2011 in Echo Woman

As a report reveals newly-married women are at greatest risk of piling on the pounds, Susan Griffin discovers it’s not just their waistlines brides should be worried about.

IT can’t have escaped anyone’s notice that we’re at the height of wedding season. For months, millions of brides-to-be will have been slaving away at exercise classes in order to look immaculate on their big day.

But what can they look forward to after the confetti’s been thrown over their freshly honed shoulders? According to new research, it’s piling the pounds back on – plus more.

A team at Ohio State University looked at more than 10,000 people in the US, from 1986 to 2000, and discovered women’s waistlines are likely to expand in the two years following marriage, which “may be large enough to pose a health risk”, warns the study’s author, Dmitry Tumin.

It’s no surprise that once the vows have been exchanged and champagne’s supped, the pressure on a woman to be perfect eases.

“When you’re getting married, you have an incentive, a goal, in knowing all eyes will be on you,” says fitness and diet expert Georgina Hemmings.

“Even if a woman has never managed to get to their ideal weight before, they’re likely to do so for their wedding, because the day is all about them.

“What astounds me is that they’ll lose weight and look amazing, but won’t keep it off after the big day.”

But what incentive is there to keep pounding away on the treadmill once you’re married, when it’s so much easier to think, ‘Job well done, now pass me the pizza’?

It’s that sentiment that makes us mere mortals differ from famous new brides like the Duchess of Cambridge and Kate Moss, who spend their lives under intense scrutiny.

“Unlike celebrities, the average woman isn’t in the public eye, so it’s very difficult to stick to a diet when there’s no incentive or focus,” says Hemmings. “A lot of women think, ‘Well, I’m married now and if my size didn’t really bother him before, why should it bother him now?’.”

Hemmings’s thoughts are echoed by Emma James, a therapist who specialises in body image and the author of Rebel Diet.

She agrees the focus on losing weight is solely aimed on that one day. “The goal stops once it’s been achieved, so the person reverts back to old embedded behaviours,” says James.

Added to that is the body’s physical response to planning the perfect wedding. “It can induce a stress response which increases adrenaline, speeds up metabolism and assists in reducing weight,” she continues.

“However, once the ‘crisis’ (read: wedding) is over, the stress response no longer needs to fire, so the metabolic rate slows down, and coupled with reverting to old behaviour, will mean a rapid addition of weight.”

According to statistics taken from this year’s National Slimming Survey, the average woman in the UK has gained 23lb since getting married.

“It’s common for newly-married couples, feeling content, to settle into a lifestyle of eating out and takeaways, while becoming less active,” says Carolyn Pallister, Slimming World’s dietician.

“When couples get married, they often change their lifestyle to fit with their partner. For women, that can often mean eating more as they increase their food portions to fit in with their partner.”

Hemmings recommends continuing setting goals, which go beyond the wedding date.

“It’s so easy to get in a comfortable way of living and think, ‘I’ll start the diet on Monday’, but never do,” she says.

“Think how good you felt and looked on your wedding day,” she continues. “This proves to a lot of women that they can be the weight they want to be if they stick to a routine and remain consistent.”