Transparency is extremely important to us, so we are letting you know that we may receive a commission on some of links you click on from this page. See our disclaimer.

We all know that the goal to lose weight is one of the top New Year's resolutions annually. For 2016, GoBankingRates' survey put it at number 3 (behind “Enjoy life to the fullest” and “Live a healthier lifestyle”). In 2015, the Nielsen survey put it at number 2 (behind “Stay fit and healthy”).

Now a new report reveals one way to make this resolution stick: Get your spouse involved.

MedPage writes that “Weight loss by one spouse, whether in a structured formal program or not, also frequently spread to spouses, according to results from a randomized trial.”

“Participants in the study were assigned to Weight Watchers or a self-guided weight loss intervention, but Amy Gorin, PhD, of the University of Connecticut, and colleagues found that BMI change trajectories were correlated for spouses in both study arms — such that when one member of a couple lost weight, usually so did the other.”

The University of Connecticut's Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP) states its mission: “InCHIP’s obesity research seeks multilevel approaches to evaluate and change the individual, social, and environmental factors contributing to our nation’s obesity epidemic.”

Gorin made a presentation at the recent Obesity Week conference. According to Helio, Gorin said: “We actually know quite a bit about different relationships and how weight might function within certain relationships. The relationship that has received the most research attention is the marital dyad. We know that spouses’ weights tend to be correlated at the start of marriage, and they tend to change in similar fashion over time, and that is typically toward weight gain. Weight gain within the first year of marriage and then throughout the marriage is very common.”

Indeed, MedPage writes: “Both participants and untreated spouses were associated with a significant percentage of weight loss at 3 months and 6 months, and baseline BMIs of participants and spouses were significantly correlated.”

Do you have to be married to gain the benefit? MedPage concludes: “In answer to an audience member's question about the study population, Gorin said that most participants had been ‘married for years,' but that further research could examine whether the same ripple effect occurs in newly formed relationships. She also pointed to meal-planning and meal-sharing habits as other factors that might influence weight loss among spouses.”