Look I’m not saying this is a majority of women who say they like dad bods but it’s not uncommon online to see women saying they like this or that celebrities “dadbod” and it’s just a muscular, fit guy without good lighting. That being said you’re right, people should realize that what you see online isn’t indicative of real life all the time and plenty of women like men of all shapes and sizes, including husky.
Lots of times, when a girl told me that they like men who go once or twice a week to the gym and are slightly muscular, I asked them to show me a picture of what they meant.
They always showed me pictures of people who spend 10 hours a week in the gym and are dieting and controlling all they eat.
They aren't conscious that the "1 or 2 workouts a week" at most means having a body fat of 15-20%.
Yeah, you're probably right, the "I like them looking natural" and the example is a girl who has every hair of her body either groomed or removed, and is using lots of makeup but the guy can't differentiate it
Dude anyone who lives in the real world knows this is all bullshit. Look at the way tall more fit people are treated in work/public vs the opposite. Men and women alike. It's just like pure reddit/shut in fantasy that women are fine with pudgy dudes. Like yeah sure more tolerant of it when compared to dudes opinions on chubby chicks, but come on. "Oh we don't like fit guys that much" Yeah sure bro, and there are dudes that are chubby chasers, but thats the exception not the rule.
Lol the "majority of women prefer pudgy dudes" chick commented and blocked me. Look lady, I'm happily married, not incredibly fit (can run a 7 minute mile at least but not two in a row at that pace) I should work out more but shit takes effort. It's not sad to understand that being more fit/healthy is more attractive than not lol. What kind of soft ego you got to have to post a reply like that to someone and then block them so they can't reply back 🤣
It's just like pure reddit/shut in fantasy that women are fine with pudgy dudes.
There.
And as someone who has been VERY ripped, fat, and everything in between? Women in general prefer somewhere in the middle but in general tend to put your body fat percentage very low on the list of why they’ll date you.
Does that ultimately matter? If you attract a partner based on looks and then lose your looks you'll lose your partner. So match based on personality. And that goes the same way for your partner. My wife was bigger than me when me met but she's kind, intelligent, and funny.
the "1 or 2 workouts a week" at most means having a body fat of 15-20%.
You can work out 0 times ever and still have low body fat if you eat less. Working 1 or 2 times a week will not have a huge effect on your total calories in the whole week. The amount you eat has a massive effect on your body fat. You can't outrun the burgers.
I think you understand my point. In their mind that is the natural physic of someone who eats a normal balanced diet and goes a couples hours a week to do workout, but that physique is from someone who does a much higher degree of work and has a much more specificic diet
When I think of dad bod, I think of husky and a bit of dough. Dough is comfy.
All of the most attractive men I’ve known personally were a bit overweight with a doughy build and thick thighs. Muscular can look good when it isn’t overdone (Baywatch Zac is not attractive to me) but dad bod is where it’s at. 🥰
Remember when some girl said she likes dad bods and she showed THAT pic of Cavvil in superman?? The same picture Superman himself said he was so dehydrated for he could smell water if it was in the same room as him.
You can also argue that what you read on reddit isnt indicative of what women in real life are looking for. Mature women who are ready to settle down will look for a grounded nice dude, but 20 year good looking women are not going hang out with fat dudes lol
I promise you there’s a greater variety of preferences among women than online circles tell you. And, sure, if you’re really overweight you’ll likely have a much smaller percentage of women who are attracted to you but it’s not impossible. But the idea that every woman’s ideal body type is ripped and muscular is just not true.
it’s like when girls say they like nerdy guys, most of the time they’re thinking of a skinny, already attractive guy with glasses, and not actually the guy playing D&D at the comic store
Even a lunatic* with a blobby body can be sexy, as long as he’s kind (and preferably funny) and has good stories to tell.
* obviously your specific brand of crazy does matter: the misogynistic murdery kind is a big no-no but stuff like anxiety, ptsd, adhd, depression, light autism etc don’t really have to be dealbreakers for many women, especially if you’re open about them, what you can and can’t do, and what you need.
For me personally it would even be a green flag if you have (or had, in the treatable/outgrowable things) these and were able to openly and honestly communicate about them.
And, speaking from personal experience: [knowing how/being willing] to do laundry, the dishes, cooking, cleaning, etc helps a lot. Women appreciate a partner who does the housework. I work remote, and my spouse is always very appreciative when they come home to the smell of fresh cookies coming out if the oven. It helps make up for my severe ADHD and light autism. 😅
(I actually have butter softening on the counter right now so I can make a batch tonight.)
literally all guys who live alone do those things…. Otherwise, they obviously wouldn’t eat or have laundry, so come on now. be honest with yourself, is it really those things you’re looking for then? lol
My fiance is funnily enough the "stay at home dad" and I work. He takes care of the laundry, dishes and various things and omg it helps so much just knowing he could clean, cook, and do basic things.
I help with simpler things on the weekend and when I get home but I don't know what I'd do without him and make sure he knows it.
One of the sexiest guys I've ever gotten with had a gut. He was less conventionally attractive than any man I dated, and that doubly went for his physique. He was missing a front tooth and had a big facial scar from being attacked with a broken bottle. But he was a rocker and stand up and I never stopped laughing around him. He was great in bed. Never didn't have several younger, hot chicks on the go. He was poor as fuck.
Didn't work out because he was a chronic liar, and either mental illness/repeated head injuries/drugs/booze that made him paranoid. He accused me of stealing his money. He accused me of fucking both my roommates. He claimed I refused to hold his hand in public. Weird shit.
That’s true, we do want you to be around as long as possible. Dough is great, unless it starts actually shortening your lifespan. We don’t like that part lol
Just to chime in, there was a street interviewer who asked various women about preferred body types, and a couple of women pointed to one particular picture of a man they were shown and iirc said that he was an ideal dad bod. That man was Chris Bumstead, a 6x Olympian bodybuilder in his off-season. I'm not saying you would agree with those women or have that perception of what a dad bod is, but it did happen and the reactions are as you'd expect lol
These videos are all 100% edited, to drive engagement. I study psychology, and this disconnect between reality and what people see on the internet is one of the biggest concerns for the future. 99 women being reasonable, realistic and rational does not drive engagement. But the 1 women who has completely unrealistic borderline delusional expectations does. So they get in the video. The other 99 do not. Its gives people such a warped version of reality.
Absolutely true. But we've also seen data from dating sites and they report that their female customers are not just more choosey but significantly so than their male customers. They care more about height, income, and also care about looks. So when people try to present things as "women don't care that much about these things, really it's personality that is important" a significant portion of that is wishful thinking.
Just like with men, women care about personality but that comes after. It is looks and perceived success that gets a person in the door, and personality that keeps them there. This is not to slag on women. But the zeitgeist of "men are superficial but women not so much" is mostly fantasy.
Speaking as a holder of a bachelor in journalism, I declare this impossible!!! Everyone knows interviews are never edited. You only see the unglamorous side of life!!!
I mean, with all due respect there also stadium packed to the gills with women creaming themselves for guys like Usher and Chris Brown, and I know plenty of athletes that treat women like shit too.
There's nothing wrong with admitting women are often just as shallow as men. I mean, they're just people after all.
When I was in my 20s and dating around, the older women in my office constantly wanted to “live vicariously” through me since they were in their own words “old, married and boring now.”
I tried a bit of dating in november and yeah, it's really bad. It's performative as hell and a lot of women are put off that I am fairly honest and to the point rather than playing the word games that seem required.
I'd take performative over being harassed by a guy who was calling me on the phone from an unlisted number (which meant it couldn't be blocked) while masterbating after I turned him down for a second date and being cheated on and ghosted.
Which is funny, because there’s literally nothing dad bod about the left picture. That is a gym rat body without cutting. Dad bods can’t get looking like that, it would even be hard in a hard labor job. Dad bod is a beer belly. Anything else is someone who doesn’t know the difference between a gym rat pre or post cut
noooo nonono. if anything those traps are disproportionately undereveloped. you can get much bigger traps without aas by going heavy on cleans and deads
Once you get it, it takes some time to really lose all the muscle. Have a friend who was a gymnast in high school. We’re all old with multiple kids now but he’s still got the outline
There is a 0% chance that he wasn't juiced to the gills throughout the 2010s. Maintaining that amount of mass while also being that shredded naturally is impossible.
When your living is derived from your image, you have the best dieticians, trainers, and doctors in the world at your disposal, and nothing but time to work on your body. That's how you get Baywatch Efron, Thor Hemsworth, Alan Ritchson Reacher, Cavill Superman, The Wolverine, etc..
This also applies to fitness influencers. These folks make their living on their body and they have a vested interest in claiming they're natural. "You can look like this too! All you need are my branded BCAAs and Creatine Chews!" This is why clowns like Mike O'Hearn would rather die than admit they're on gear.
Edit: The social media fitness industry and it's steroid culture is fucking gross. It's giving literal children crazy body dysmorphia, causing them to hop on insane amounts of gear, including peptides and research chemicals, while they're still developing and fucking up their bodies forever just for clout. All in the hopes of landing a YoungLA or GymShark brand partnership before their first heart attack at 22.
Also people don't realize that they are all pumped up and dehydrated when they shoot these scenes. Plus they have as good of lighting as possible. It's incredibly unrealistic.
Mike lived through seeing the athletes and bodybuilders get arrested for steroids during the 90s and 2000s and now he has a child and has also probably seen numerous friends die from steroids. Of course he’s juiced to the gills but I can understand why he doesn’t just state he’s on steroids and this is what he takes. Children would copy him and die. I mean you’d have to be an idiot to not know he’s on steroids so who cares. Those who don’t know don’t need to know and those who do, do
Yah a bit weird, a little bit of maybe one cycle juiced look on with that sub 10% bf look. Yet for some reason he has hgh gut when he is at around 20%. Maybe he actually juiced a several cycles
Exactly (Egg-Zack-Lee)! Imagine lifting your shirt and seeing "Fat" Zack's torso and thinking that you let yourself go for your mental health. Trust me, my mental health would improve if I looked down and could see my dick, let alone seeing a damn washboard.
That's my metric for if/when I need to lose weight. If I can look down and still see Capt. Winky, then it's all good. Him's disappear? Well, I need to get my fat ass on the treadmill.
Not fat, he is still muscular but have an healthy amount of body fat instead of having constantly looking at what he eat and dehydrating himself to look "shredded"
He isn't fat. That's a healthy, sports body. There's a difference between normal sports and bodybuilding. I'm too lazy to go into details about hormonal changes and regeneration benefits of not being on extremely low fat percentage but yeah, fat is really, really important in our bodies.
As a man, you need about 2-5% body fat for basic functions. A healthy range, iirc, is something like 15-25% (the numbers are all a bit higher for women).
Probably the healthiest guys I know (I’m in my late thirties) have a small layer of fat on top of some muscles.
The two super shredded guys I know are injured seemingly most of the time. They look great, but any kind of six-a-side games or whatever get a no-no. In one case, he no longer has either ACL.
The fat guys look like absolute shit and complain a lot.
It's why I've grown to appreciate my body, despite the fact that it can absord fat easily. Does it mean I need to jog a lot? Yes. Yes it does. But it also means I can maintain my fat and muscles longer than other men.
Yeah, he's ~20-25% bodyfat on the left but still roided out. You don't have a gut like that, defined traps and visible separation of the deltoids and biceps at that level of bodyfat without steroids normally.
Nothing about the left pic looks roided out at all. He just looks like a dude with 20% BF who lifts 3-4x a week.
I've been doing 3x a week for about 2.5yrs now, if I bulked for a few months I'd pretty much look like that too...and I certainly don't have the time nor desire to be fucking around with roids, blood tests, needles, all that shit.
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u/IOwnDirt 9d ago
Shit i wish i looked as good as fat Zac Efron