Let’s Get it On! Your New Year’s Resolution may help your partner too!
Let’s Get it On! Your New Year’s Resolution may help your partner too!
By Jed Foster, MA, LMFT
It’s time to reclaim your health. You’re ready. You’re diving in. You’re going to exercise more. You’re going
to make healthy choices about what you eat. It may be tough to get started, but the feedback you’re getting
from your body, your mind, and your soul will help sustain the changes you’ve committed to making once
you get rolling. And here’s the good news: these changes you’re making can benefit your partner too! A 2018
study published in the journal Obesity shows that cohabiting partners influence and enhance each other’s
weight loss. The study, which followed 128 couples for 6 months, showed that the partners of proactive
weight loss participants lost at least 3% of their total weight whether they were proactively engaged in a
weight loss program or not. The authors call this a “ripple effect” that works both ways…meaning that weight
loss failures can be shared as well.
At Comprehensive Gastrointestinal Health, I frequently talk with patients about the “invisible forces”
involved in systemic feedback loops, which is exactly what this “ripple effect” is. We talk about creating a
“new normal” that includes new behaviors geared toward promoting and sustaining change. The changes
don’t occur within a vacuum, they occur within each person’s family system, and the effects can be felt by
everyone. For example, if one half of a couple embarks on the lifestyle changes necessary for successful
weight loss, those changes can’t help but effect the other half of the couple and any children they may have.
This is why I talk to patients about recruiting allies at home – and even at work – so that more people in their
system are aware of their goals. This awareness can help prime the system and make it less resistant to the
changes. It can be as simple as a spouse no longer suggesting a peek at the dessert menu after a dinner date.
Call Comprehensive Gastrointestinal Health today to hear more about our multidisciplinary approach to
weight management and get 2020 off to a healthy start! We have a redesigned program that is evidence-based
and robust in support and encouragement. Call 224-407-4400 or visit our website
at www.compgihealth.com to request an appointment.
Click the link to read more about the 2018 study.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-spouses-dieting/weight-loss-spreads-within-couples-in-ripple-effect-idUSKCN1GQ2HX