What No One Told Me Before I Got Married

After reading the latest scientific study on marriage and weight gain, I decided to dust off an old blog post that's been hiding in my "drafts" file, too embarrassed to crawl out and share itself with the world. I wrote the entry a year ago (September 2010 -- eight months after my wedding) but wasn't ready to publicly express my feelings. Today I'm feeling much better, so I think I'm ready to pull out this old "diary entry" and share a bit.


Husband and I were engaged for just a few months before we moved across the country and were married. During all that time of packing boxes, quitting my job, booking caterers/photographers/venues/flowers, and having the general pre-wedding craziness, there was also talk about what life was going to be like AFTER the wedding.

I was going to adjust to a new home, a new career path, a new life with a new man, and even a new name. I felt as if I were entering the Witness Protection Program. It seemed ridiculous to feel sorry for myself when all of my changes were really good changes. But still, change is change. It takes time to get settled and I knew the major life alterations would soon hit me hard. I knew I would eventually freak out about my instant bulk of life changes. My groom was probably going to have to deal with my insanity once the dust from our fairy tale wedding settled.
I predicted I would have some sort of identity crisis around six weeks after our wedding.
I did. I just didn't expect that crisis to last several months.

I still don't really know my new name. I'm still not quite sure about my new career path. I still don't understand the constant sunny weather of Los Angeles (oh Fall, how I miss you!). But what I did not expect is the biggest change of all -- being BIG.

Similar to the Freshman 15, I've been granted the growing Post-Wedding Waistline. This expanded way of living is new to me. I quickly went from being the tiny girl who pranced around on her wedding day to a bigger model. I cry about how my pants no longer fit. I donate all my old cute clothes, assuming my days of being the skinny girl are over.
Whenever I admit this weight gain to my married friends, they get it. "Oh I know," they say, "that's totally how it was for me!"
Well then why didn't you warn me?? I could have invested in plenty of pants with elastic waistbands before?

I've heard all the reasons. Apparently this is my "happy weight" since I can now "let it all go." There are even studies that say couples who are married or living together tend to be more chubby than their single friends.

I guess this makes sense. There are plenty of times in my life where a breakup always ended up being an unexpected diet plan. Now that I'm paired up, I'm happily enjoying my husband's skills in the kitchen (I never cooked when I was single) and adopting new eating habits (mine plus his, so maybe I'm eating twice as much).

My sweet husband adapted so easily to our new life together. And he's been oh-so-sweet and patient with my adjusting. And now, we're are blissfully inviting some healthier habits into our home. Oh how I will miss daily desserts.