When I was younger, I couldn’t even break 100 pounds.
Skinny, high-metabolism, all bones and energy. I could eat like hell and never gain an inch. People envied it. Felt like a superpower.
Now at 45?
I’m broad-shouldered, barrel-framed, built like I lift—even when I don’t. And somehow, that belly still showed up uninvited. No welcome mat. Just slow, stubborn expansion.
I’m not out of shape. I’m not lazy.
But I hit a wall this year that I didn’t see coming—and I want to say this for the record: the dad bod isn’t funny anymore.
It’s a warning.
The Day I Had to Stop
A few weeks back, I went on leave.
Not for rest. Not for travel.
Just to survive the stress I was carrying.
- Migraines so brutal I couldn’t open my eyes
- Stage 2 hypertension that came out of nowhere
- A belly that no longer just “looked off”—it felt like a risk
- And beneath all that, a rising anxiety that I couldn’t muscle through anymore
I didn’t collapse because of weakness. I collapsed because I’d carried everything too long without maintenance.
The Dad Bod Isn’t a Joke—It’s a System Failure
People throw around the term like it’s cute.
Like we’re just soft guys in comfy t-shirts who gave up on abs.
But the reality is this:
Stress becomes inflammation.
Inflammation becomes fatigue.
Fatigue becomes cortisol.
Cortisol builds the belly.
And the cycle keeps spinning—until your body makes you pay attention.
This isn’t about vanity.
It’s about the early signs of collapse that we’ve been taught to ignore.
What I’m Not Doing
- I’m not counting macros.
- I’m not going keto.
- I’m not trying to impress anyone on social media.
- And I’m not pretending this can be fixed by “hitting the gym” for two weeks.
None of that works long-term when you’ve got a full-time job, family, bills, and a brain fried from years of grind.
What Actually Helped (And Didn’t Break Me Further)
- Walks – 2 to 4 kilometers a day. Not for steps. For sanity.
- Lunges, dips, planks – Nothing fancy. Just tension and form.
- Stretching tight zones – Especially hip flexors, shoulders, and neck.
- More meat than rice – Every meal starts with protein. No tracking.
- Movement that earns sweat – Cleaning, lifting, fixing. I don’t “exercise,” I move because my body demands it.
I don’t sit still because I can’t afford to.
Even if it’s just vacuuming or carrying groceries—motion clears the static.
You can fix your macros and still feel wrecked. Burnout strips your B vitamins. A clean B-complex and magnesium stack can rebuild your floor faster than another cheat day.
This Wasn’t Just a Physical Crash
Everything I listed? It wasn’t random. It was the output of a broken system—one that finally pushed back.
When the migraines hit hard, I started breaking it down. Turns out, they weren’t just pain—they were signals of systemic overload, not just screen fatigue or skipped meals.
This isn’t just physical.
The collapse started upstream — in my head — when the mental overload from hybrid QA/PM work started stacking up. I broke that part down here:
🧠 Sprint Anxiety in Hybrid Scrum/PM Roles
The kind of burnout that hides behind backlogs, deadlines, and “just one more sprint.”
Now the consequences are showing up in my body — through cold sweat, fatigue, and a blood pressure system on the edge of snapping.
The caffeine I leaned on? Just a short-term fix that created long-term crashes, exactly how I described in this breakdown on tactical caffeine use.
Water alone wasn’t cutting it either. I wasn’t dehydrated—I was electrolyte-depleted. And when your stress response is active, your body burns through minerals like it’s bracing for war.
Some of the hypertension was predictable but I ignored it. Here’s how stress quietly stacks pressure while you still think you’re managing things.
And yeah, I drank plenty of water. But hydration isn’t just volume, it’s timing, minerals, and retention. Nobody talks about that.
A lot of the damage came from work itself. I’ve written before about how remote setups wreck your posture and drain your focus.
Sleep? A joke. But this protocol helped once I stopped pretending “power naps” would undo years of tech-induced burnout.
This isn’t hindsight wisdom.
It’s me clawing my way back, while still under load.
You Don’t Need Abs. You Need Stability.
I’m not trying to look good shirtless.
I’m trying to outlive the version of me that ignored the warning signs.
I’ve got a wife. I’ve got a daughter. I’ve got systems to build and lessons to pass on.
And none of that gets done if I’m wiped out, spaced out, or in the ER from a preventable crash.
Start Simple. Then Lock It In.
- Walk.
- Stretch.
- Eat like protein matters.
- Move like your sweat is your reset.
Not for six weeks.
Forever.
Because the dad bod isn’t your fate, it’s your early warning system.
And it’s time we start listening.
Midlife Operator • Burnout-Proof Body Strategist
Built like a tank, crashed like a system under load. Founded HealthyForge.com after stress, migraines, and hypertension forced a hard reset. Rebuilding from the ground up with movement, not mantras.
Tactical wellness for people who don’t have time to collapse.
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