weight lossLadies, have you ever asked your partner whether you look fat in an outfit, only to give him the silent treatment for the next 24 hours when he can't come up with the "right" answer? This is why America has an obesity problem. Somehow it's become more acceptable to lie to our loved ones to make them feel good than it is to love them enough to spill the truth.

We'd probably be better off if we acted more like Jay Wornick and wife Angela. The upstate New York couple showed up on Good Morning America this week to explain the bet that forced Jay to drop nearly 200 pounds in less than a year.

Married for seven years to the father of her kids, Angela is working toward a degree in nursing and said something had to change for her 366-pound husband. Her answer was a challenge to see who could drop the most weight. He won.

And then Jay sat on TV and told the world:

I'm madly in love with this woman, we're going to be together forever.

Isn't that the point of getting married? To want to be with someone for the rest of your lives, and to ensure those lives are long ones? Telling someone they're dangerously overweight isn't being unkind -- if you do it right. You don't call your honey a fat tub of lard. But saying, "Hey, hon, your fast food fascination is worrying me a little. Why don't we do something together?" is pretty darn loving. It's helping them stay alive longer so you can love them longer!

By losing weight, Jay Wornick realizes he has improved his chances of spending more time with the wife he adores and their three kids too. How refreshing! Instead of being hurt by his wife noticing he was eating a disgusting amount of food, he was empowered to change for her.

Sometimes the best way to show you love someone is to remind them that you care about your time together. I told my husband shortly after we were married that I really wished he'd quit smoking. I didn't want the threat of lung cancer hanging over our heads and winding down our relationship clocks. I said it because I loved him, and I said it nicely. I didn't lead with "Your breath stinks, and you're making my coat smell."

And you know what? When he quit, cold turkey, it might have been one of the most romantic gestures of our newlywed phase. I saw it as a sign that he cared about us enough to suffer through the nicotine withdrawals!

Has your honey ever told you that you could lose a few pounds? How did you take it?


Image via bark/Flickr