Becoming a dad? Expect to gain 3 to 5 pounds, study suggests

Whether or not they lived with their kids, becoming a father was linked to around a four pound increase in weight over the study period, while remaining child-free was associated with a 1.4 pound weight loss for a six-foot-tall man. The researchers focused on their body mass index.

“Dad bod”-the pudgy-around-the-middle build that has been trending lately and critiqued for being another marker of male privilege-is a real thing, science has proved”.

For a 6-foot-tall dad living with his kids, that works out to be an average gain of 4.4 pounds. While resident fathers often experience a BMI increase prior to fatherhood, non-resident fathers usually decrease in average BMI during this same period.

After becoming a first-time dad, a typical 6-foot-tall man who lives with his child will gain an average of about 4½ pounds, the study suggested. Studies have shown that a majority of women are heavier one year after giving birth – and as many as a third of new moms who were normal weight before getting pregnant become overweight or obese after having a child.

“Fatherhood can affect the health of young men, above the already-known effect of marriage”, said Craig Garfield, the lead author of the study and an associate professor of pediatrics.

Certain control factors were taken into account that might contribute to weight gain, including age, education, daily activity, income, race, screen time and marriage status. The higher the BMI, the higher the risk of developing conditions such as diabetes, heart problems or cancer. “Your family becomes the priority”, Garfield said.

Eating habits may shift as the house fills with cookies, ice cream and other snack food.

Garfield said big changes in a man’s lifestyle and health habits are the leading causes of weight gain.

“We all know dads who clean their kids’ plates after every meal”, Garfield noted.

The researchers suggest because many dads don’t have personal physicians, pediatricians can be good sources for advice about fatherhood health. A dad himself, Garfield said his weakness is finishing his kids’ leftover cheese pizza.

“We now realize the transition to fatherhood is an important developmental life stage for men’s health”. Furthermore, the 6-foot-tall dad who did not live with his child gained about 3.3 pounds, according to the study, accounting for an approximate 2.6 percent rise in BMI for fathers who lived with their children and a 2 percent BMI increase for those who did not. So the well-known “Dad belly” is actually a very accurate description about what happens to most men once they have children.