Swedish study on relationships after WLS

This is nothing we didn't already know, but here you go...

After weight-loss surgery, singles were more likely to start a relationship and couples were more likely to split

I can imagine those in unhealthy relationships would want to split! This surgery is life changing, and who would want to be brought down by a nasty relationship. I'm blessed to have the best husband ever, and would never even consider it! I can certainly understand why it would happen though!

This has been a frequent topic of discussion here over the years. The common wisdom among members here is the same the study found:

"Divorces and separations were higher among patients who judged the quality of their family relationships to be poorer at the time of surgery."

I wonder if there are studies about married couples who go through the weight loss process together?

DH and I met and got married, both obese. He had RNY last May, and I just had mine in Feb. It would be interesting to read any studies. It might age a small enough subset to have too much interest.

There was a lovely couple in my pre-surgery class group -- they were having theirs two weeks apart! I bet those of your that go through this together end up being very strong!

I'm curious about this too.. my husband is scheduled for his RNY May 7th, and we have both been obese since we met 10 years ago...we've both ballooned up quite a bit over those years too.
I am hopeful that the surgery will only help our relationship...giving us each more confidence and the ability to do more things together as an active couple.

I would love to see some more research into the "why". I see a lot of speculation in these articles, which tends to fall into these buckets (from my non-scientific research):

• WLS Patient has newfound confidence, giving them the courage to leave
• The weight loss causes big jealousy issues
• WLS Patient loses weight, looks better, and feels they have more/better options now

There is an assumption that the WLS and resulting weight loss are the motivating factors, but I wonder if it has more to do with the type of person that undergoes WLS as opposed to the procedure/results themselves? A person willing to undergo WLS is quite possibly more willing to take big/extreme/radical/major (pick your term) steps to make improvements in their quality of life than the average person.

Perhaps the vast majority of these people would have gotten divorced anyway just because of the types of people that they are?

I have no idea, just a thought. One that pops into my head every time this topic comes up, and I've yet to see it put forth as a hypothesis.....

Good article, thanks for sharing

I think the common denominator here on the boards is when we are obese we think no one will ever love us and we latch on to the first person that comes along rather we are in love or not. We "settle" and when we start losing the weight those cracks in the relationship become gigantic and most don't survive!

Not every obese person fits that pattern.