4 Easy Steps To Go From Dad Bod to Beach Bod

 For some of you reading this, do you remember when you thought 30 was old?  How about when you thought people over 40 were ancient?  Now for many who are at that age, they look back at all the years they allowed themselves to not take their health and fitness seriously.  They sat back, were sedentary, and leveraged their (at the time) fast metabolism to eat whatever they wanted and never seemed to gain an ounce.  Well, those days are gone.  And now what?  People hide behind this whole notion that a dad bod is a real thing.  No, it’s not.  It’s an excuse for complacency. 

 I have good news.  Today is your day.  Today is the day that you take back your life and you change your lifestyle choices and mindset.  Today is the start of transforming your dad body to a fab bod.

 Utilizing what’s laid out below, you have the ability to change your life, improve your health, and slow down the aging process to enjoy more of life – on your terms.  The road ahead isn’t going to be easy, but then again when was anything in life handed to you on a silver platter?  Your new life starts today.  Dad bod to fab bod.  Let’s go. 

1. Enough with the Excuses

 Life is full of choices and those choices are a result of your mindset.  Those who make up excuses why they don’t exercise or why they don’t pay attention to their nutrition simply aren’t making their health a priority.  And who am I to judge them?  But then again, no one wants to hear or feel bad for you when you get sick or your quality of life diminishes.  You made those choices.  Ultimately, poor choices will catch up with you and at that point, it’s too late and you’re going to be faced with an uphill battle.

 You need to change your mindset.  This whole dad bod movement is for the lazy.  It’s just another step in the march to accepting obesity in this country.  Don’t fall into that statistic.  That’s not really who you are.  Do you have a family?  How old is your kid(s)?  Do you want to see them get married and have kids of their own?  Then start focusing on what you need to do to maintain your health and get in better physical conditioning.

 And for the record, the dad bod is not a good look – you’re not fooling anyone except for those who also have accepted complacency in their lives. 

2. Find a Workout Routine You Enjoy

 For many people, it’s not that they don’t like exercising, it’s simply that they haven’t found a workout they enjoy.  And when you don’t enjoy something, you’re less likely to continue doing it and staying committed.  For that reason, find what you enjoy.

 As an example, many people hate running (I have my hand raised).  So why do it?  Find a form of cardio you enjoy.  Maybe you like taking walks with your wife or significant other?  Do it and use that as part of your cardio routine.  The key is to find what you enjoy or can at least tolerate.  If you hate it, you’ll end up eventually quitting. 

 There are many different workout programs and protocols out there to help transform a dad bod into a fab bod.  You could do a circuit, you could do CrossFit, you could do a bro-split, you could do push/pull, you could do upper/lower days, the list goes on and on.  The key takeaway from this is to try them all.  Find what you enjoy and stick to it.  You may notice in very little time that your dad bod is starting to morph and what once jiggled is now solid with definition.  Age is just a number and you have the ability to be fit and healthy at every age. 

3. Slowly Make Changes to Your Nutrition

 A common misconception with nutrition is that you need to make drastic changes and that you need to eliminate entire macronutrients from your nutrition.  You can think about the ketogenic diet where carbohydrates are eliminated.  Regardless if you jump on a diet that eliminates carbohydrates or fats, for the majority of people out there, it’s not going to work.  Why?  Because it’s not sustainable. 

 Can you tell me you’ll never eat pizza again?  You’ll never grab a spoonful of ice cream ever again?  Pies and cakes will never be touched by your lips for as long as you live?  Come on now.  That’s exactly why fad diets down work.  They aren’t sustainable and they don’t fit 99.9% of the lifestyles out there.  The key is to consume fewer calories than you need each day to maintain your weight (put yourself into a caloric deficit).  If your maintenance calories are 2,000 each day, start by lowering that number down to 1,750 and see how your body responds.  You may need to decrease another 250 each day but start slow.

 You can begin this process by either removing an unhealthy option or making substitutions each week.  The first week maybe you go from regular soda (a dad bod favorite) to diet soda.  Or regular soda to a diet tea (water would be your best option though).  Then maybe the next week you stop eating out multiple times each week and choose only one day each week that you treat yourself by getting something from a restaurant.

 It’s about making slow, deliberate, and consistent changes so you are always improving.  Jumping into this with both feet is where many people go wrong and fail.  Just like Rome wasn’t built in a day, your dad bod wasn’t either.  It’s going to take time to undo the poor decisions you’ve made nutritionally as well as from your sedentary lifestyle.

       4. Supplement Where Necessary

 The first thing we need to get out of the way when talking about health, fitness, and a dad bod is that supplements do not replace quality nutrition and whole foods.  Supplements are exactly as the word states – a supplement.  Many people who look in the mirror and start labeling their physique as a dad bod may be looking for a quick fix.  Let me be the first to tell you, there is no quick fix.

 While fat burners are advantageous, they aren’t going to slim down your dad bod unless you put in the work.  If you refuse to change your habits, you can’t expect any type of results to last from the use of supplements.  As they say, you can’t out-train a poor diet. 

 So, where do supplements come into play?  They help fill in the gaps.  It’s difficult to get in all the nutrients our bodies need because most people don’t consume a wide enough variety of foods.  Therefore, a multivitamin would become invaluable. 

 If you find you aren’t eating enough protein to help not only maintain your lean muscle mass while dieting but build upon it, consider supplementing with a protein shake.  A protein shake should also be a must post-workout to help improve your recovery and provide your muscles with the nutrients they need to rebuild and grow.  The more lean muscle tissue you have on your body, the faster your metabolism can be.  The faster the metabolism, the more calories you can burn – even while at rest.

 Take these strategies listed above and slowly start implementing them into your lifestyle.  Make one change until it becomes second nature.  Then make another… and another… and another.  Before you know it, your dad bod will be a fab bod and you’ll find just about any reason to take your shirt off again.