A dress for the weight you will gain

Before his days on the Tonight Show, I heard Jay Leno’s standup comedy at a local university.  He quoted a statistic just released that married men live longer than single men but that single women live longer than married women.  He joked that men should present something like a dowry before asking for a woman’s hand in marriage and explain, “This is for the life I am going to suck out of you”.  This joke still cracks me up after all these years-years where I have remained interested in the relationship between marriage and health/longevity. 

The somewhat orthodox explanation of this relationship is that married men have healthier lifestyles than single men due to women’s nurturing natures.  Women also typically take on more of the work related to household and children, leaving less personal time for exercise.  The newest study with this theme is from Ohio State University which found that large, potentially risky, weight gains are more likely for women after marriage and for men after divorce.   

My week has “weighed” in on this premise, not in terms of divorce but physical separation.  My husband and daughters were overseas last week visiting family and I was home with our teenage son.  As we were eating dinner one night I was trying to explain to our son and account for the extra time I felt I had.  He thought cooking smaller quantities for meals saves time. I know that I definitely spent less time in the car and the kitchen and was more active, mixing social time with activities like tennis and walks. 

My husband, on the other hand, told me they had been eating a lot and he was looking forward to getting home to a routine that includes more physical activity.  Yesterday was their first day home which began with a morning run together and many activities, including a lot of cooking and, for me in particular, eating.  As “head chef” in our household, I do most of the sampling to taste.   I don’t remember ever being hungry yesterday and I was not even hungry when I woke this morning.  My daughters and husband so thoughtfully brought me a dress from my favorite little Parisian boutique.  Since this shop does not use traditional European sizes, our daughter chose the size based on how she knows our bodies compare.  The dress is a little too big for me so I hung it in my closet.  I figure that in a week or two it should fit just perfectly.