Irish Dad bods

NRH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123938266#Comment_123938266

Obesity itself causes a testosterone decline.

External factors are a massive in our environment. Endocrine disruption is hitting men from several vectors.

Main reason for obesity is availability of food and, yeah, processed foods full of sugar.

Sugar is the enemy and is absolutely everywhere nowadays

NRH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123938257#Comment_123938257

Diet is the main reason, along with a more sedentary lifestyle.

The addition of sugar everywhere is killing the western world

almostover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123937720#Comment_123937720

My GAA team had a dietician in one season and the first sentence out of his mouth was 'you can't out train a bad diet'. Wise words.

It's far easier to eat the calories than it is to burn them off. Diet is the cornerstone of good health. Exercise is important too, no doubt. But maintaining a healthy weight is much easier with a good diet.

NRH

To be 100% honest the "You can't out train a bad diet" line can be bullshit.

A "bad" diet, from a calorie POV, is one with too much for your current activity levels. I've seen many people lose weight by continuing their existing diet but start training. Their diet had them at a few hundred calories over, per day.

That's enough for significant weight gain over months/years but easily outpaced by moderate training.

If your calorific keeps you at target weight then that's the amout of calories you need.

What you can't do is reduce training (or increase intake) without getting fatter, if you don't balance the equation.

If you're doing heavy training and mixing resistance/cardio and not shifting weight then you probably have an eating disorder. Either psychological where eating is soothing/masking or a metabolic where your body is actively sabotaging you and overriding your will power.

We, as a society, have been conditioned to only accept eating disorders where people waste away.

GLP1 medication showing that regulation of food feedback pathways is critical for so many people who are otherwise "fit" and active

I also shows how "easy" some people have it where you put 2 inactive people together but one is obese

Will power is not real. You body's internal mechanisms will ALWAYS take control, long term. It's why people yo-yo in weight, you can't rewrite your body's natural plan. It'll, generally, have a weight (and daily calorie intake) baked in. Couple that with historic availability of junk sugars and here we are.

Understanding how our own bodies can completely sabotage us is critical to getting control of this epidemic.

The amazing thing to see, in the results, of the medications are seeing many people not just reducing volume intake but start to shun easy sugars throughout the day and healthier options chosen.

They're not cheating pills (shots), they're actually levelling the playing field for people

Greyfox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123937960#Comment_123937960

If you exercise though you are more likely to eat healthy food whereas if you are plonked in front of Netflix for the evening your more likely to want to grab an unhealthy snack. Diet is more important but you need to do both to see results

topdecko

main issue is stress. Cortisol the problem. we are overstimulated, over caffeinated, lacking sleep and just about keeping the show on the road. this causes us to eat at bad times, to eat bad food( calorie dense, comforting food etc)

The narrative of placing the blame on the individual and telling us all to buck up our act is plainly not working. You can view it as personal weakness and continue shaping our society as it is or you can address the fundamental issues which are staring us in face. Look at the gauntlet one has to navigate on leaving any shop in the land these days - 90c for a banana - 1e for a pack of biscuits/ 4 bars etc.

if you exercise more you are likely to eat more. Exercise has little to do with weight - it will make you healthier/ HR lower/ better BP but unless doing 7 + hours strenuous exercise per week then it will not impact weight. Weight is what you eat - and there is too much tasty food about and so we eat it. Simples

Mister Vain

Genetics plays a part too. I can eat like a motherfooker and gain very little weight. I have always been fairly slim.

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123939126#Comment_123939126

A healthy diet alone is more than enough to see results. A healthy diet means having no unhealthy snacks in the house if you get a craving and a healthy diet means you will feel full anyway so cravings will be rare.

BrianD3

The Vermont prisoner experiment from the 1960s shows that this issue is much more complex and nuanced than calories in/calories out.

I know several people that eat better than me yet are morbidly obese. I also know some lads who were always skinny and ate very well, went out running etc. They still do yet now in middle age the dad bod process is well underway.

My definition of a Dad Bod would be skinny fat. BMI may not be too bad. If he is average height, he'd be around 12-14 stone. No chest, no arse, jawline hidden by fat, skinny legs, very little strength. These individuals would likely gain great benefit from a proper weight training programme, regardless of whether they changed their diet or not. Problem is, wiil they get "permission" from "their better half" to go to the gym

Dad bod is a bad place to be in for a man. At least properly fat men can look imposing if they have good strength (e.g from working in construction) and can beat the **** out of other men. Women also generally love big, rough gorillas who can ravage them in bed and batter weaker men in a fight.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123939239#Comment_123939239

totally, my mothers siblings, the women all big or biggish as was her own mother ( very big woman ) , all the fellas in the family like beanpoles, her father he could eat but his physique was like that of a long distance runner.…

I used to drink with a lad. Was away on all the football trips with him and I’ve never known any human with such an insatiable appetite. Used to love the buffets in Manchesters Chinatown district, go up and eat as much as you want, and fair **** he would, never known anything or anybody like like it…had to be genetics…loved his Guinness too. Five night a week man down the local.

tabby aspreme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123939404#Comment_123939404

More of your mantra, women bad weights good

Famous Seamus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123938020#Comment_123938020

TBH I see a lot more overweight women than men around, of all ages but particularly young. I feel that many younger people have a very poor relationship with food, often given to them by their parents. Regular mealtimes seem to be a thing of the past. This morning I was out for a walk and stopped for a coffee around 11.15 (just a coffee), while waiting in the queue I noticed a woman of about 40 with two young kids (about 4 and 6) who were wolfing into huge sandwiches, one of the kids nearly chocked he was eating so fast so I guessed this was his first food of the day, not a great habit to be giving the kid. Is this supposed to be a treat? Or was the mother too lazy to give them something healthy at home?

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123935365#Comment_123935365

You've hit the nail on the head. Between going to work, doing my share of the housework and parenting, extra education to help with my career, there simply aren't enough hours in the day to fit it all in. This is for both of us

Before children, exercise was a daily activity. There is simply so much expected of parents these days that something has to give.

NRH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123939360#Comment_123939360

very true but if your hormone loops are broken there's literally no will in the world which can counter it.

A healthy diet is everything but we're seeing more and more that people are literally wired to betray their best interests

tom1ie

You want to get rid of fat?
Get yourself into a calorific deficit.
You want to maintain as much muscle as possible while losing fat?
Eat as much protein as you can while staying in a calorific deficit.

You want to build muscle?
Eat as much protein as possible, stay in a slight calorific surplus and strain your muscles via weight lifting- body weight and then add extra weight.

Mullinabreena

Fair points from a few posters — I wasn’t trying to have a go at anyone personally.

The thread came from what I saw and some national data that surprised me, that’s all. I know how easy it is for weight to creep up, especially once you’ve kids and life gets busy.

My point wasn’t about judging appearances — more about how hard it is to stay fit enough to keep up with them, and how little most of us understand food and metabolism.

If the tone of the OP came across wrong, that wasn’t the intention. happy with my current BMI , but it’s just a normal one and nothing to brag about. Snide comments are to be expected in AH

At one stage I was actually quite unhealthy myself. I was just inside the obese BMI range. Then I went too far the other way with a low BMI and very low body fat, which wasn’t healthy either. I was fanatical about running back then.

Education around food, nutrition, and learning how my own body works was the real turning point. But we’re all different. What works for one person won’t for another.

As a few have said, BMI isn’t perfect but it’s a decent indicator for the general population. For middle-aged men especially, I think the belly-button waist measurement is probably the best quick gauge of where your health’s at.

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058427255/irish-dad-bods

Didn't read the whole thing, but a BMI of 22 is fine. You shouldn't feel the need to lose any more weight just cause you have a bit of a dad bod.

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123939404#Comment_123939404

 Women also generally love big, rough gorillas who can ravage them in bed and batter weaker men in a fight.

Aren’t you the guy who previously bragged about never showering and how women love it when a guy leaves skid marks on the bed sheets?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’re probably not the best judge of what women find attractive.

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940171#Comment_123940171

I think anyone with a "Dad bod" is completely aware of it and are unlikely to be particularly thrilled with it. You noticed this at Centerparcs during term time so the majority of parents there will have been with small children. The truth is so much more is expected of modern fathers that most simply do not have the time to give their health and fitness the priority that it should be. You can't commute, work, be an active parent and find time for your own exercise without burdening your partner.

The days of coming home from work to a cooked dinner and a tidy house where you can **** off to do your own thing afterwards are long over. Its about time people recognised this is what parenting for men looks like today and not be constantly vilifying them

I'm doing an evening course that takes two to three hours every night and its an enormous burden. Its not particularly challenging but finding the time is much more difficult than the content.

Greyfox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123939360#Comment_123939360

A healthy diet is difficult, more difficult than the exercise part due to the fact that most people have an emotional attachment to food. Your right though about not keeping unhealthy snacks in the house

tayto lover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123935247#Comment_123935247

I'd say we are a lot happier.

BrianD3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940268#Comment_123940268

A few minutes of deadlifting at home would be a far better use of your scarce time than posting on boards.ie.

I have suggested this to many dad bod types and there is always an excuse.

In one case, a fella was complaining about having a belly and no muscle and no time to go to a gym. I offered him a set of weights that I no longer needed. No thanks, excuse was the wife wouldn't like weights in the house and anyway "the kids would fall over them".

con___manx1

The government taxes booze and cigarettes through the roof but I think it's fizzy drinks chocolate that should be taxed more heavily. I mean one snickers bar is around 1.50 but 4 bars is 3 quid in a muti pack.

ThThis is why there are so many fat kids men women around because if this sort of ****. Tax the feck out of it. Muti packs. Make it more normal to buy one bar. Mske a big pack of crisps much more expensive thsn a small one and so on. Then pump all that tax money on junk food back into the health system.

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940315#Comment_123940315

Maybe you're right, maybe its all just excuses and its really because its laziness and not wanting to put in the effort. I'm sure there is a bit of that too. It is also undoubtedly true that men are more time poor than they ever were. Duties in the home are split and they carry as much of the mental and other workloads as their partner. There is still a belief that women still do everything in the home. Its not the case for me or any of the men I know.

Before my children came along, I'd swim 4 to 5 times a week. When I had one, that dropped to 3 times. It had to stop completely when we had the second as I couldn't go often enough to justify a membership.

You are right, my time is better spent away from boards. Maybe I will get a set of weights, or join the 24hr gym nearby.

Mullinabreena

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940268#Comment_123940268

I get where you’re coming from, everyone’s circumstances are different, and it’s not always easy to make time for fitness. But these phases in your life will pass.

For me, I’ve had a job for almost 10 years that requireda very long work week, I've done evening courses, and pull my weight at home. Most of my free time goes to the family, and any exercise I do is usually when they’re in bed. So I completely understand how hard it is to find balance, sometimes very hard.

That said, from what I’ve learned and read, diet makes the biggest difference when it comes to weight control. Exercise is great for overall health, fitness, and mindset, but what you eat and when you eat it usually has more impact on body fat.

Research seems to back that up too:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25257365/

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2828487

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4180002/

So yeah, I think you can’t out-train a bad diet, I remember gaining weight while running over 100km per week due to a very poor diet and when I ate. Exercise helps with health and maintenance, but diet is what really moves the needle for most people.

joeyboy11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123935316#Comment_123935316

I'll keep note of that book. I would highly recommend Why we eat (too much) by Dr Andrew Jenkinson. The best book I've ever read on nutrition and the hormones that drive obesity

joeyboy11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123937612#Comment_123937612

I wouldn't say it's bollocks at all. If your nutrition is good (let's say 3 balanced homemade meals a day with good fibre fats and protein) you would not be overweight even if you were sedentary. Nutrition is the main driver of becoming overweight.

joeyboy11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123939126#Comment_123939126

I've thought alot about this and came to that conclusion. When you exercise you are much more likely to make healthy food choices. Versus sitting down for the evening and snacking while wat hing TV.

BrianD3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940389#Comment_123940389

Swimming is great if you are injured, old, have loads of time, are competing in swimming. For time poor people, there are more effective forms of exercise. E.g the farmers carry. Great for heart, bones, back, posture, metabolism. Can be done at home if you have a flat area of tarmac/concrete to walk on outside your house. A 10 metre long area with room to turn would do it.

CelticRambler

Blame it on the children, sez he. That's about the lame-est excuse I've ever heard, but maybe there's a correlation with the "CentreParcs" population? There's no reason for a man having children to cause him to gain weight, and from what I've seen on my recent "back home" visits to Ireland, many of the children have as much of a dad bod as their fathers, so what's that all about?

When myself and MrsCR had our children, I didn't gain any weight and she lost weight (despite a family predisposition to becoming turnip shaped in middle age), and our children all remained skinny until the Covid lockdown. Mostly likely, this was entirely due to myself and the missus not radically changing our lifestyle just because we had children. If we went on a 10km walk, they went on a 10km walk; if they went to after-school activities, we went to after-school activities; if the family went on holidays, the whole family went on holidays and did holiday things. None of this dumping the "kids" into an on-site "kids camp" while we adults sat around drinking …

In any case, it's not an Irish thing. Over the last six months, I've had reason to spend more time than I'd like outside my usual stick-insect social group, i.e. in the real world - on the The Continent and in Ireland - and have been shocked by the number of butts and bellies wobbling their way around the shops and streets of Europe. Brought back traumatic memories of being hemmed in on a Boston sidewalk between two ginormous arses in front of me and a line of monster SUVs parked on the road.

Anyway, time to take my scrawny un-gymified body out to the shed and shift those 40kg sacs of lime. There's walls to be built.