[dominick]

I'm sure this happens a lot in relationships and I've never known what is the best way to deal with it. I've been in a relationship for about 3 years. My SO has a great figure but has put on some pounds (5-10) lately. She has a good, but not great, diet (based on what I know of nutrition) and exercises moderately a couple of times a week.

I'm not sure whether this is an issue that I should bring up as I'm concerned about making her self-conscious. I also know that my idea of an ideal body image is probably warped by a lot of my previous conditioning. So perhaps this is more of an internal issue to me (ie maybe it's merely an opportunity for to grow more into unconditional love rather than internally feeling that I might have a hard time loving someone who is overweight).

On the other hand, I try my best to eat very healthy and work out a lot and am in very good shape. I've always had an expectation that my partner would be the same way so when that's not the case it is frustrating. If I did something unhealthy like smoke I would expect to be called out on it. Yet it seems with food our attachments are so personal and it tends to be a taboo topic in many relationships. I also think part of this is a genuinely unselfish desire for her to be as healthy as possible.

I'm not really sure how to approach this. If she were 50 lbs. overweight it would probably be easier to bring it up. But since she's not it's more challenging. Any thoughts?