De-Glorifying the Dad Bod

On March 30, 2015, Mackenzie Pearson wrote “Why Girls Love The DadBod,” and it sparked a strange flame war across the online world. On one side, you had people who hailed it as the new “average” that people should aspire to, so as not to have “excellence” issues. For others, it was the nadir of self-imagery, that people would be content with just, well, a dad bod.

I personally have the equivalent of a dad bod myself, being a former Judo varsity player in college, who then went on to have utterly no regular physical fitness regimen until late last year, when my 40-year-old body decided to surprise me with Type-2 diabetes. Since then, I've removed thirty pounds from my then-200-pound 5'3” frame, and have since been more or less on a regular exercise regimen. I've gained about five to ten pounds back, but this time as healthy muscle mass.

Even with all that, 175 pounds at my height still makes me look the better part of chubby and dad-bod-ish.

So, it makes sense that I should be happy that my sort of body type is becoming sexy, right?

Well, not really.

My issue with this whole Dad Bod thing is that I am all for it being touted as natural, but I am not all for it being used as an excuse for slacking off from basic fitness. In my case, I have to be a bit more careful with my exercise routine, as my health concerns can be a problem. But for people who have the time and resources to have a better-then-average physique, then I say, go for it!

For those who know that they only have enough time to remain reasonably healthy and have a pleasant-looking Dad Bod, all I can say is: I feel you guys.

But that does not mean we should be content with the Dad Bod. If anything, it should be a reminder that while we shouldn't shame people for being out of shape, there is always the challenge of becoming better than what you are now.

If you guys are wondering, my current physical trainer, good friend, and taskmaster is Jay Lopez, and he runs RX Strength, over at the Athlete's Lab in Liberty Center, Shaw Boulevard.

Photo:

"Hiking in Scotland 0," by Ed and Eddie (Flickr.com)
* as an aside comment, the guy in the photo I used for this article is a good example of a dad bod. Holy crap, he's HIKING IN SCOTLAND.

Getting off the Sugar High

Around August of last year, my vision started to blur on a regular basis, and I had started becoming more thirsty and more hungry. At first, I thought it was just me reacting to the humidity of the weather at the time (a protracted summer, with the incoming rainy season mixing it up with each other).

However, it was advice from a few friends that got me to go to a doctor, and to no one's surprise, it turned out I was sick – with diabetes.

When my doctor first told me, I was in a state of shock. After all, everyone who isn't sick with a perennial condition never thinks that it could happen to them, until it does. So this, I guess, is the start of my narrative about becoming a more fit person.

In the beginning, I thought I would be able to live with no medicines for diabetes, once I became more fit. However, I've had to adjust my expectations, since being that fit will take time – I may not be able to reach that goal, but it sure as hell won't be for a lack of trying.

Photograph a few weeks before I was diagnosed with diabetes, by Carlo Casas

Part 1: The Angry Coach

What made my diabetes diagnosis more dismaying was that for the past year before I was diagnosed, a good friend of mine, Jay Lopez (who is based in the Athlete's Lab gym, for his Rx Strength fitness brand), had already offered to get me fit again.

Since I didn't want to spend the rest of my life bingeing (practically) on meds, or worse, insulin shots, I decided to take the other prescription for diabetes: getting fit, and having an active lifestyle.

It was then that I approached Coach Jay, and the rest, they say, is history. After a rather spirited sermon about how I should have taken his offer before I was diagnosed with diabetes, he started me on a fitness and exercise odyssey that I am still on right now.

And with that, I end the first part of this long narrative. Stay tuned for the next!

After a few months of training with Coach Jay. Apparently, there were also musical benefits to losing weight and becoming more fit - more on that in the future! Original photo by Fade Longboy, cropped for this article.

Lead photo: "The Gift of Life," by Melissa Johnson, c/o Flickr.com

Getting back into shape - The beginning

Now, for the past few years, I hadn't really thought about my health. I figured, as long as I didn't feel anything too disturbing, that I was fine. The bad part was, I was still thinking this way even though I was already going around 200 to 2010 pounds in weight. I was on a stack of anti-hypertension meds, too.

And then it happened.