Research supports that most people are more able to lose weight if they adapt a total lifestyle change and have an exercise buddy. That’s one of the reasons couples can be so successful if they work together to help each other become more active and eat healthy. Women use food to manage emotions such as anger, boredom, loneliness, and anxiety more than men do. Therefore, if women can talk to their partner about how they are feeling, many times this alone will help them curb their munching. Men have more tendencies toward drinking and watching TV than women. If women are able to encourage their partner to go for a walk or a bike ride with them, this helps him cut calories and become healthier. Working together can also lead to a closer connection with each other. You have a shared vision; rather than worry about your partner sabotaging you, they are going to be motivating you.

Before you begin, it is important to understand a few basics about men’s and women’s bodies in relationship to losing weight:

1. Men lose faster. They have more muscle mass, faster metabolism and more water. Therefore, the same exercise and diet will be reflected differently on the scales. Women lose slower, and the body fluctuates more due to menstruation as well as our higher fat content.
   
2. Women get hungrier than men with strenuous exercise. Women’s bodies are designed to give birth, so what we burn we feel the need to restore.
   
3. Both men and women can be addicted to trigger foods, but it is more common with women. If your partner understands this, you can ban specific foods from your home.
   

How to begin a couple’s exercise program:

1. Choose an exercise you both want to do. It should be done at a level that you can continue to talk to each other, thus enhancing your emotional connection, as well improving your cardiovascular health.
   
2. Choose the number of times each week you will engage in this activity and the time. If you are a morning person and your partner is an evening person, maybe you can go together on the weekends and separately during the week.
   
3. Don’t compare your weight loss with your partner. What is important is you are encouraging each other. Congratulate each other more on their clothing size as they lose weight and how they appear. Are they more energetic? Do they seem happier? These are the things to notice.
   
4. Take turns cooking healthy. Make dinners at home special. This will save you money as well as save you unwanted calories.
   
5. If you feel a binge coming on, alert your partner that you need additional support to stay on track. Many times just telling someone else will stop the binge in its track.
   
6. Supervise yourself only. Don’t become the sergeant to your spouse. The goal is to get healthier and whittle away the waist, not your marriage.
   
7. Prepare for more intimacy. Women especially desire sex more when they feel better about their bodies. Sometimes losing one or two inches from her waist can turn a woman into a sex goddess.
   
8. Be consistent. It takes about 30 days to make a behavior a habit. Everyone has the money and means to live a healthier lifestyle.
   
9. With weight loss, as with everything else, you get better results when you encourage rather than shame.
   
10. The more couples engage in activities, the happier they report their marriage. The more couples share a vision, the happier they report being. Losing weight with your partner achieves both of these.
    

A few more tips to remember…..

1. Reward yourself: Every time one of you hits a goal, reward yourselves together. The reward must be something uneatable.
   
2. Split restaurant meals: Whenever you dine together, cut your calories in half by splitting meals.
   
3. Make sure sex is part of your exercise. Sex burns calories and reinforces the team spirit.
   
4. Don’t make dining a date: Make your date nights “movement nights”. Take a walk, golf, bowl, or shoot pool.
   
5. Focus on health not weight. If you focus on getting healthier you can embrace your life style with more determination than if you focus on being able to fit into a particular suit.
   

Teams are formed with like minded people. When you and your partner agree together that your team will be the best team, weight loss and healthy living are sure to be achievable goals. –Mary Jo Rapini

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I SO wish I could get my husband to exercise with me!