It is hardly surprising to find that women do not mind overweight men as long as they wallets are bulging as well as their waistlines.
But now a study has found a formula for how much more money a man needs to earn for each extra pound he puts on if he wants to keep wooing the same kind of women.
Columbia University economist Pierre-Andre Chiappori found that for every 10 per cent increase in body mass index, single men must increase their salary by 2 per cent to keep dating partners of the same level.
So a six-foot man weighing 180 pounds (12st 12lbs) and earning $100,000 would need to get a $2,000 pay rise if he put on 20 pounds, unless he wanted to date less attractive women, reported the New York Post.
The study found that if a woman can offset weight gains by becoming more educated.
According to the paper ‘Fatter Attraction’, single people use physical and socio-economic attractiveness as the principle criteria when looking for people to date.