I've Got a Gut Feeling I've Got A Dad Bod

So, I think I’ve got a dad bod. For those not in the know, a dad bod is described as a nice balance between a beer gut and working out. A dad bod says that you go to the gym occasionally (or in my case never) but you also enjoy eating eight slices of pizza at a time. Which when I sit and think about it, does describe a lot of dads that I know.

How do you know if you have a dad bod? Well, if you can’t see your feet when you’ve got your shirt off, you’re probably on your way to having a prize-winning dad bod. If like me you have a casual approach to exercise, by casual I mean never and you enjoy a pizza from time to time, you’ve probably got it.

If I’m being honest I am leaning slightly more towards the beer gut (or food in my case) then I am the working out an end of the scale and I sometimes regret that extra slice of pizza when I’m looking at myself in the mirror when I’m getting changed. I am ashamed of it? NO! Should I shame myself? NO! Should I change my entire life to become that dude you see in the swimming pool with a washboard stomach and rock hard pecks. HELL NO!!!

I didn’t always feel like this though. I use to be very self-conscious. I use to be self-conscious about the way I looked, the way I dressed and the way people saw me in general. I think as you get older you get to the stage where you start to care less and less about all that. Things happen to you in life that makes you see and feel things differently and I guess we’re going through a bit of that now. It probably started when I turned Thirty, I felt like I’d grown up. I’ve brushed off the self-doubt that you feel in your twenties and thought it myself ‘I’m happy just as I am.’ Technically I’m in good health, I never feel out of breath or feel like I don’t do anything, I’m just far too busy to get all fitness model for it.

Is it society that still makes some men feel like it’s something to be ashamed of? There is still huge pressure on both men and women to look a certain way. It shapes the way we feel about our appearance and the things we do to try and ‘improve’ ourselves. Which often leads things like low self-esteem, anxiety and in extreme cases eating disorders. For example, some men will watch films with ripped male actors and will no doubt be thinking to themselves “I need to be more like him.”.

If you’re a dad, you’re already awesome in my eyes and you have literally nobody to answer to when it comes to not being as shredded as our society would like. I mean, who’s going to criticize a man who can’t find time to hit the gym when he’s clearly busy raising his children? NO ONE! There’s no shame in having a dad bod or being comfortable in your own skin. Remember Dads rule.