Women who are currently in love worry less about their weight compared to single women, a new study suggests.
Researchers involved in the study said that a woman's attitude towards her body owes more to how happy she is with her life than how much weight shows on the scale. Their research involved more than 250 women between the age of 20 and 45, two thirds of which were either living with their partners or were already married. The participants were asked to answer a series of questions about their relationship, which includes their emotional, sexual and intellectual satisfaction. Other than this, the participants were also asked to answer how many interests they had in common with husband or partner.
Responses showed that women in happy relationships were also happiest with their weight even if they don't necessarily consider it as ideal. The same women are also less self-conscious and had higher self-esteem. Researcher Sabina Vatter, of Tallinn University said: "These findings suggest that our satisfaction with body size, shape and weight has more to do with how happy we are in important areas of our lives, like our romantic relationships, than it does with what the bathroom scales say."
Vatter also said that "women who are happy in their relationship may simply pay less attention to their weight. In contrast, those in a bad relationship may be under pressure from their partner to change the way they look." She added: "Women should not be too obsessed with what they weigh. There is a lot more to women than their weight. The most important thing is to eat healthily and do regular exercise. Exercise also increases women's self-confidence because they feel they are doing something good for their bodies."
