DoctorOz: "Happy Pounds" - How Love Affects Your Weight

The new freshman 15, we're calling them Happy Pounds. Otherwise known as Love Chub, or as actress Lauren Conrad from The Hills coined it, the dreaded boyfriend lair. They all know what they are. Who here has gained some happy pounds? Show of hands up there. Who's in a relationship that maybe got a little comfortable and enjoyed themselves with it? Go ahead. Hi, yes, I've definitely gained some love pounds. You have? Yes, maybe 20, 25. Is it his fault? Well, I wouldn't say his fault. Well, it's not about fault. Actually, there's lots of interesting things about love pounds. Go ahead up there. Yeah, I think that once you're in a good mood with a good person that you definitely like to eat. And my husband and I like to eat. Yeah. Well, it happens to all of us. It's fun. Here's the thing. Why do we pack on the pounds when we're happy? Those relationships do tend to change us. So we checked in with some very special newlyweds to find out. Reggie and I met when I was asked to speak at a natural hair and health expo. When I saw him there, I thought, oh, Officer Reggie. When I saw Kim, I made a little bit of eye contact and it was just like that little something in the back of my head that said, that's the one. We haven't even known each other a year. We went to have dinner at the Olive Garden and Reggie excused himself. A few minutes later, the maitre d' came and started singing to me. And the next thing I know, Reggie's down on one knee and asking me to marry him. I didn't even have a ring because it was spur of the moment. We got married. It was an extravaganza. When I saw Kim coming down the aisle, I cried. New relationships, new marriage, you get off track. You're happy, you're eating more and it's kind of hard to find balance. He does not ever say, you're gaining weight. Here's what he'll say. You're sitting behind the computer too long. It's time for us to get up and move. When we do things like hike or even cooking together, it gives us a chance to have like more of a bonding. And I'm happy that I found someone who loves me as I am. For the first time with her new husband, new Reggie. Come on out, Kim and Reggie. Hey. Oh my goodness, Kim. This is Reggie. Reggie, you have very good taste in women. Congratulations. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And condolences at the same time. Thank you, thank you. Keep me in your company. You literally just got married. We just got married. You must be on your way to your honeymoon or something. We just had honeymoon part one and now we're off to honeymoon part two. We came, we stopped in New York just for you. Well, thank you very much. Reggie, this is how you can tell that you're right in a relationship. When they interrupt their honeymoon for you. Yeah, that's right. So what's the best part about being married to Reggie? The best part is having great companionship that is your soulmate. So it's not just the guy around the house, it's the guy that I'm supposed to be with for the rest of my life. And it's great companionship. Now, while you guys are waiting backstage, I had a very honest conversation with a few members of our audience who say that when they're in happy relationships, they feel comfortable, they're celebrating and they sometimes eat a bit more. Why does that happen? You know what it is? I think you're comfortable. I think you're happy. I think that food is a celebration, especially in our society. You eat when you're happy. You eat because you're happy and you eat to get happy. All at once. All at the same time. And in our case, we dated long distance. And so once we were together on a regular basis, we spent a lot of time dating and going to restaurants and having dessert. And more dessert. I looked into this and I didn't realize it, but it turns out that when you're happy eating, it's also a type of emotional eating. The difference is folks who are happy and emotionally eat, well, they overindulge while they're having a good time. Whereas unhappy bingers tend to do it when they're alone. They shut themselves away. They isolate themselves. So it's very different, but it's still part of the emotional eating spectrum. So the question then becomes, what do you do about it? So when we talk about weight gain, a lot of the angst that women have has to do with the people they love and how they see them. So Reggie, what do you say to Kim when she mentions some of the happy pounds she's gaining with you? And maybe because of you. First of all, what I always say to her is, I didn't marry you for your weight. I married you for who you are. And I think, and I think so many people fall in love with the image instead of the image. And when we learn how to fall in love with a person for who they are on the inside, everything else comes with it. You know. See? Yeah. You know, you're more eloquent than most guys, but it is what most men feel. You don't believe me, but I'm telling you, ask the men in your life. You may worry about your happy pounds, but the men in your life don't. They're probably happy just the way you are. We actually married you because of who you are. That's right. At least the smart ones of us did figure that out. So we're so worried about it and trying to lose weight to look good for him. And the truth is like, I like you just like you are. Yeah. Today we're embracing happy pounds. Newlyweds Kim Coles and Reggie McIver are back. And we've got some couples here in the audience who have firsthand experience with a partner who has gained some happy pounds. We're gonna start with Courtney and Joseph. They've been together for three years. This is a picture of them. This is the before version. Take a look at this if you don't mind. Dashingly handsome. That's when you first met. So Courtney, may I ask about happy pounds in your case? Happy pounds were happy pounds until I noticed that they were happy pounds and things got a little bit too snug on me. That's when I was like, something is wrong. And then I realized, oh, I was happy. Really? I'm having a good time. I'm eating, I'm enjoying myself. And did Joseph join you on this happy pounds adventure? Absolutely. He's paid for it. Yeah. I certainly have, I certainly have. I'm a slave to junk food and I adore junk food with a passion to the point where I've taught myself how to make it. So I will consume cakes, ice cream, cookies and donuts like it's nothing. So I gotta ask you a sort of awkward question, but as I brought up earlier, what do you think of your wife's new body with the happy pounds? Oh, I have no problem with all that chocolate. I'm with it. Your chocolate. All that chocolate, I love it. So Kim, you and Reggie have been dealing with this. If there's newlyweds, it's gonna come up more and more in your lives. What advice do you have to give? Well, you know, Reggie has this wonderful conversation around not losing, if I mention something about wanting to lose weight, he says, no, let's just be healthy and let's do it together. Right, Reg? Yeah, that's all right. And we do things together as a couple. Before I was a weightlifter and Kim did her own thing. But now that we're together, we found out an act such as hiking. You can always catch it in the mountains and the hills and doing things like that. And that tends to help a lot more when you can enjoy doing something together. That's what makes you happy. It makes you happy. And then I don't think it's about losing weight. It's about being healthy or in my case, taking the pressure off my knees or just, it's a different conversation. I saw you when you walked in, you're very curvaceous and what man wouldn't be happy with all that chocolate? Good answer. I'm happy to hear that. That's it. But I think also a woman who's happy with herself too, if you believe it, Reggie always said this to me, that if you love yourself, then you're gonna love me too. Or you say it better than me. The world is gonna treat you how you treat yourself. Absolutely. And if you love you, then... Yes. Yes, yes, yes. You should never accept nothing less from anybody else. If they can't love you better than what you love yourself, then you don't need them. That's right. All right. You got a philosopher here. You married a philosopher. I did a good job. We actually wanted to find out more about this. We put up a poll on our website and we asked, do five to 10 pounds change how attracted you are to your partner? More than half of all of you said no. I agree.