Get rid of dad belly and dad bod in 8 weeks

As a father, you have lots of excuses to skip exercise. And you end up with a belly. Get rid of dad belly and dad bod in 8 weeks. Insta-Daddy Paul knows this and got fit again – in just 8 weeks. Download his program and follow it. 

ou used to be strong and slim, but now you’re in top shape and only find excuses. These usually include: firstly, the kids, secondly, the job, and thirdly, both. The result is usually a dad-belly, in modern German: dad-bod, short for daddy-body – a body with fat pads that result from laziness or lack of time. Men’s Health reader and Instagram daddy Paul Dumitrescu alias @daddy.channel did n’t want to put up with that any longer. Together with our coach and fitness expert Nico Airone , known from the Men’s Health personal trainer team, the 44-year-old senior sales employee from Hamburg trained for 8 weeks – with success.

From January 13th, 2025 to January 19th, 2025 you will receive this program as the training plan of the week at a reduced price of only 9.90 euros instead of 14.90 euros. So what are you waiting for?

How is the dad bod created?

Paul Papa-Plauze’s story began around 11 years ago when his first son was on the way: He gained weight, which is completely normal for men in that situation. This was confirmed by a study at St. George’s University in London: According to British scientists, men gain an average of 4 kilos during their partner’s pregnancy. This phenomenon even has a name: Couvade syndrome. The extra kilos remained stubbornly, even after the birth. Paul: “Who manages to go to the gym regularly with a child, a wife and a job? ‘I don’t have time for sport’ was my standard excuse.” The Cologne native was in top shape before starting a family.

Why is it so difficult to get fit again after a break from training?

So Paul started training, but irregularly and without a proper plan. The will was there, but the motivation didn’t last. Paul: “It’s a shame that you forget yourself so quickly as a father. At some point you’ve achieved everything, you earn good money in an exciting job, you have a great wife and cute children, everyone is healthy – and anyway: you only live once. So why not just enjoy everything?” And there were the excuses again! It took a few more weeks and months until Paul got a wake-up call in the summer: when he lifted overhead he noticed a pulling sensation in his lower back – a lumbago was on the way, if not something worse. Paul looked for advice and support.

How did Paul manage to lose weight and get fit again?

Together with coach Nico, Paul completely changed his training and diet. From then on, he ate a lot of vegetables, as well as meat and other high-quality protein sources. “Fortunately, the family was completely on board. My wife Caro ate the same as me, and the two boys also got a few carbohydrates, mostly pasta.” In addition to the new diet, training was also a priority – Paul wanted to do at least 4 sessions per week. To do this, he only had to sacrifice time one evening a week that he would otherwise have spent with his family: Paul went to Nico’s weekly fat-burning course in a nearby gym, the Zanshin Dojo in Hamburg. He did the rest of his workouts in the morning before the children woke up. If you have to get up at 5 a.m., you’re not going to do a 2-hour endurance session. So Paul concentrated on tough sessions of a maximum of 45 minutes.

After just 2 weeks, Paul noticed a significant improvement in his quality of life. “I slept much more deeply and better, got up at five in the morning without an alarm clock and no longer needed a nap after a big lunch ,” he reports.

What was Paul’s training plan?

The sessions lasted a maximum of 45 minutes, including warm-up. Once a week, Paul also had to complete a sprint session, which only lasted about half an hour. The focus of his entire training plan was on the large muscle groups. The focus was on the legs, which are the most important for burning fat anyway. Coach Nico: “We also trained Paul’s back intensively to improve his posture – the entire posterior chain forms the basis for this, i.e. the back of the thighs, glutes and lower back.”

What was the training method?

Paul works full time and has a family. So Nico tried to write him short but very intense full-body workouts that he could do in the morning to help him achieve his goals of losing fat and building muscle mass. Paul trained in a very time-efficient way, using the 3-7 method. You do 3 repetitions of an exercise, then take a 15-second break, then 4 repetitions, another 15-second break, and so on, until you finally reach 7 repetitions. The weight stays the same. Then there is a longer break until the next exercise, which is then performed according to the same pattern. These relatively short breaks between repetitions ensure that you are working intensively while also saving time.

What was Paul’s diet like?

The plan was primarily based on a paleo diet. Nico: “We didn’t pay any attention to calories, but instead sketched out meal plates in advance: half of the plates always consisted of low-starch vegetables, the other half of high-quality protein, mostly animal protein, because this is best processed by the body. For the times after training, the plate was then divided into thirds and a carbohydrate source was added, such as rice or sweet potatoes.”

How did Paul overcome setbacks and motivate himself?

At first, the scales showed hardly any changes. Of course, that doesn’t exactly motivate you to keep going. “Nico said that it takes time to see anything. I knew that too, but it helps to hear it from someone else.” Nico was often a support for Paul during this time, even if he sometimes cursed the coach for the hard training.

Training went well, but his efforts were not really reflected on the scales: he had only lost one and a half kilos, and he had a new training plan and a much less nutritious breakfast – his second low point: “I only saw the negative aspects and was about to give up again,” says Paul. But his wife saw things differently and pointed out the positive changes. That and the statements from his children gave Paul the energy to keep going. The father of two sons says: “The older one in particular is proud. His father is fully in training, looks young and muscular. According to him, I’m the coolest dad of all. What more could you want?” The following four weeks went as smoothly for Paul as he had always wanted his belly to be. “I started with around 100 kilos, and ended up with 94.” That may not sound like much at first, but it is a very good result. After all, Paul not only lost fat mass, but also built up muscle mass – and that weighs more than fat.

Conclusion: Losing weight is child’s play

“For me, this change is worth its weight in gold, physically and mentally. And after 8 weeks I can say: If you are motivated, you will always find time to do the training.” Paul’s example shows that losing weight is actually child’s play. Get rid of dad belly and dad bod in 8 weeks