WHAT dad bod?

Earned my letterman's jacket in school running both sprints and cross country 5k's, graduated rail thin at 150 lb.

Between adult size kicking in during college, plus joining the military, I was a very fit 160 lb.

But work started taking time away from exercise, night shifts proved a disaster for my menu (TONS of sodas and tater tots), and raising a young family obliterated sleep. By the time I got out of the military, I was 220 lb and not in any kind of fighting shape.



When I couldn't immediately find a job to feed my family, stress started to mount. To avoid taking it out on my kids, I joined a gym to take it out on myself. Running wasn't an option between bad joints, 70 lbs of flab I didn't have as a teen, and being out of shape. So on a lark I tried lifting weights, discovered I simply loved it. Between the weights and joining MFP to count calories, I dropped 25 lbs and started to like the way I looked in the mirror.

Fast forward 14 years, and an injury forced me to stop lifting for a few months to heal. But I was in better shape now, so I could take up cardio to stay active, and really hammered to see how low I could go before I resumed lifting. The answer: another 15 lbs to 179.



Not bad for a 45-yo father of four, eh?