[SURVEY] Half Of Men Say They Would Leave A Partner Who Gained Weight

It's been a rough year for women struggling with their weight.

Almost 50 percent of men surveyed in a new poll of 70,000 people said they would leave a partner who gained weight , reports MSNBC . In contrast , only 20 percent of women said they would ditch a significant other for putting on extra pounds.

James Bassil , editor-in-chief of Ask Men , which co-sponsored the poll with Cosmopolitan.com , said the study showed that , "some romantic behaviors have proven to be timeless ones" including the notion that "size matters."

The survey results aren't the only recent data to indicate that men consider a woman's weight when evaluating a relationship . Last month , a study claimed that both husbands and wives were more satified with their marriages when the wife had a lower body mass index than the husband.

Defending her findings , Andrea Meltzer , lead author of the study , told ABC News , "It's relative weight that matters , not absolute weight. It's not that [women ] have to be small." The study didn't explore exactly how relative weight influences marital happiness.

Earlier this year , research suggested that a woman's weight may effect more than her relationship. A  University of Michigan study found that in Iceland , the higher a woman's weight  the less  likely she was to be employed . For men , higher weight was correlated with an increase in employment rates. MSNBC, which covered the study under the headline , "Those extra pounds can hurt you at work , ladies,"  reported another recent study , this one out of the University of Flordia , found that  women 25     pounds over the average weight can earn $13,847 less per year than average weight women.

But worryin g too much about weight can also hurt a woman's career , according to a survey conducted by Dove in May . Fifteen percent of the 445 women who partcipated said worry about their appearence had gotten in the way of their career advancement , and 20 percent said body conc erns affected their day-to-day lives. And yet another study laimed that better body image help women lose weight .

In other words , data tell women who are ov er weight , or think they are , that their body size can be problematic for their relationships and their careers . Yet worrying or feeling bad about it may hurt them at work and their chances of losing weight.

Men aren't without their own body anxiety , of course .The Ask Men/ Comopolitan. com survey found that 51 percent of men wished they had a larger  penis . However , unlike men , whose responses might reinforce women's insecurities about their bodies , Only 18 percent of women said they wished their partner were better endowed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/