Weight-loss surgery results in singles finding love, while existing relationships more likely to fail, study finds
The study found that people who underwent bariatric surgery were 28 per cent more likely to separate from their partner after the procedure than a comparison group who didn’t have surgery
Surgical reduction of the stomach may do more than change signals of hunger and appetite, improve metabolic function and induce substantial weight loss. New research suggests it may change some hearts as well.
A Swedish study has found that obese people who had a spouse or live-in partner and then underwent weight-loss surgery were 28 per cent more likely to become separated or divorced compared with those in a comparison group who didn’t have surgery.
Patients who were single before surgery, however, were roughly twice as likely to begin a new relationship afterward, as were obese patients who just got weight-loss advice.
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Those findings, measured four years after patients underwent bariatric surgery, were magnified in people who lost the most weight. They offer new evidence that while substantial weight loss can buoy an obese person’s self-confidence and rekindle his or her drive to find romance, it can also disturb the foundations of existing partnerships.
It’s a dynamic familiar to David Sarwer, who directs the Centre for Obesity Research and Education at Temple University’s College of Public Health in the US.
Many people intuitively believe that weight loss will improve a romantic relationship, says Sarwer, who has studied the impacts of weight-loss surgery for two decades. They think, “The person who lost the weight will be thrilled and the partner will be pleased with the change in appearance as well,” adds Sarwer, who was not involved in the study.