What is a “dad bod”?

The Dad Bod is a body type that affects many men today – anywhere between the ages of 16 and up. A Dad Bod doesn’t necessarily equal obesity. It equals more of an untoned body, and is unfortunately, somewhat of a fad.

Contrary to what the name may imply, the Dad Bod affects young men as well as middle aged. These men could take the route of getting in shape, but they see this fad right now working okay for other guys, which isn’t being necessarily fit.

The Dad Bod doesn’t mean that you’re overweight or fat. A good example of someone who has a Dad Bod would be someone who does lift weights, but you never see their progress because they’ll have beer and pizza in the same day.

This doesn’t necessarily make them weaker, but they do have excess fat that, if cut down, would make them look much stronger. They may have a slight pudge in their stomach, and slimmer arms and legs, which are soft and untoned.

The Dad Bod is bad because it promotes an unhealthy lifestyle. Whether or not the man is terribly obese, the habits will eventually cause worse weight gain and the underlying, invisible conditions like diabetes will remain a concern.

The worst part about the Dad Bod is that it promotes averageness. It tries to push the idea that being par is good and encouraged. Dad Bod people aren’t overweight, nor are they super buff.

They’re ordinary. Many have attempted to equate the Dad Bod to Leonardo DiCaprio, now that he has one, or Chris Hemsworth, who the media claims looks better with a Dad Bod than as his ripped character, Thor.

You can tell if you have a Dad Bod pretty easily. You’ll have a little beer belly, an untoned chest, but you’re not weak. You might lift weights occasionally, and you’re strong like a dad, but it just doesn’t show.

The diet that comes with a Dad Bod may include beer, pizza, burgers, chips, sweets, etc. It’s essentially the body type equivalent of mashed potatoes versus a crinkle cut fry. One’s soft and lumpy, the other ripped and crisp.

The Dad Bod has become a fad today for various reasons. Most of the women who like it say that it represents someone more “natural” and they like the pressure for themselves to be fit off of them.

Although, this also makes no sense, because a truly natural human would not be drinking beer – he would drink water. And instead of pizza, he’d eat lean meat. The Dad Bod seems to represent comfort to some people, but it’s not worth the lack of health benefits that come with it.

What do you think?

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29 thoughts on “What is a “dad bod”?

  1. I, quite honestly, donโ€™t mind a Dad bod. But, thatโ€™s probably because I enjoy a man unencumbered by societal expectations, a renegade…You know, a man who eats the pizza and enjoys his life. But, then again, my husband does all that and is still extremely fit and muscular.

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  2. My dad had a dad bod, but my husband does not. You are so right because my dad was a runner and always active but that gut, which was hard but protruding, never went away as he aged. He was strong but the excessive butter, candy bars and glass of beer at night was definitely the reason he just couldn’t ever tone his body after a certain age. Thanks for visiting my blog and I will be sure to follow yours now! ~Anne

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  3. Never thought about the dad bod equating to average. It makes me think of laziness as well.

    Those two words are something I work against every day. How we treat ourselves and what we do is a good reflection of other areas in our life. I am right there with you in the fact that I am trying to get away from average and unhealthy.

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  4. โ€œ…Itโ€™s essentially the body type equivalent of mashed potatoes versus a crinkle cut fry. Oneโ€™s soft and lumpy, the other ripped and crisp.โ€ Thatโ€™s such a hilarious analogy, love it! Well, since Iโ€™m a girl I would say the female equivalent would be the busygirl bod: not fat, but not athletic either. Sitting long hours in front of the screen in the office, choosing the elevator instead of the stairs and then being too tired to work out. Rather have pizza and wine for dinner than wholegrain risotto and home-made lemon soda. Inertia clearly is THE disease of our time and the world we live in. Hard to fight, but worthwhile taking the challenge once you get yourself off that couch. Great blog post, well written!

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  5. Those claiming to “like” the dad bod are justifying a lack of personal responsibility that applies to lifestyle choices. One does not have to be a bodybuilder to achieve a healthy body mass. A healthy body (and MIND) requires balancing lifestyle needs with lifestyle wants. It requires some knowledge, but is certainly achievable for the average person.

    If people were forced to pay “out of pocket” for health imbalances/diseases/conditions resulting from intentionally poor lifestyles, I wonder if this financial incentive would help people reconsider the choices they make!

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  6. Agreed on the natural diet being water and meat, though not necessarily lean meat. (I mean, REAL natural diet, if man was wild and unmodernized). We’d eat slabs of fat when we could find it. The trick is, though we would eat almost anything (being omnivores) the frequency of a high-protein and/or fat-laden meal would be far less than every day at 6 o’clock. Like many wild animals, we might go days without animal meat, eating vegetation, insects, and the like.
    Eating when required, and not triggered by a clock, is a more natural way to eat, too.

    Paz

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  7. I remember the first time I looked in the mirror and realized I had the Dad Bob. It was scary how much of my father I saw in my image in the mirror. My wife and I then began a lot of research on what was the best way to lose the Dad Bod. After 2 years of a no sugar, low carb and many salads later, I am thrilled to say that my Dad Bod has faded by 25 pounds. I have more energy and now more enthusiastic doing more things like managing two blogs: https://myfinancialaidcounselor.com and https://freelancecopywriteravailable.blogspot.com/. It sure feels nice not to be carrying the extra weight and looking younger.

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  8. I’d never heard of the phrase ‘dad bod’ before but I totally agree that it represents comfort for some. I know as well that some older guys I know who try to get or stay in shape can be ridiculed for it. They are seen as ‘shallow’ – go figure. Dad bod vs. buff bod – I know which I prefer. ๐Ÿ™‚

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