May 28, 2015 01:19 AM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Earning a college degree before saying your I dos, could protect against obesity, according to a recent study.

Researchers found that people who earn their bachelor's degree before getting married are much less likely to become obese than those who graduate from college after getting married, Medical Daily reported.

"People who get married before they earn a degree from a four-year college are about 65 percent more likely to later become obese than people who get married after college," Richard Allen Miech, lead author of the study and a research professor at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, said in a statement. "While a college degree has long been shown to be associated with lower levels of obesity, the results of this study indicate that the health benefits of college do not accrue to people who get married before graduating."

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from nearly 14,000 individuals from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), which began tracking a nationally representative sample of youths in 1995 when they were in seventh through twelfth grades and 11 to 19 years old. They were also surveyed in 1996, 2001-2002, and finally in 2007-2008, when they were 28-years-old on average, Medical Xpress reported.

Researchers compared the body mass indexes (BMIs) of Add Health participants before and after they graduated from college, and also looked at the timing of their marriages.

"People who earn a college degree before getting married are more likely to navigate the changes associated with marriage without shortchanging their health," Miech said. "On average, the initial transition into married life is associated with weight gain, as individualistic exercise tends to drop off and food consumption increases. However, new spouses who graduated from college before getting married typically earn more money than those who did not and can invest in their health by purchasing such things as a gym subscription or healthier, more expensive foods."

Researchers said that people who earned a degree before marriage are more likely to develop "problem-solving skills that allow them to overcome obstacles that may prevent them from exercising and eating healthy as they adjust to married life."

The findings suggests that people who earn a college degree after marrying may have established exercise and diet habits that are more difficult to change later.

The findings are detailed in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

See Now: Covert Team Inside Newsweek Revealed as Key Players in False Human Trafficking Lawsuit