"As of yesterday, I lost 35 pounds," said Jason Rubin. "It's been about six weeks now."
Kevin McHenry also lost 36 pounds in a month and a half, regulating blood sugar, lowering cholesterol, and he finally has energy to play with his son.
"Last night we played baseball we were racing each other," said McHenry. "He loves it."
Both men follow "Buff Dad," a program created by an expert who also learned the hard way.
"I was a dietitian, a personal trainer," said Mike Levinson. "We had our first son; I gained a lot of weight."
Fifty pounds in nine months, to be exact.
"We would go and get fried chicken and hamburgers. And she'd eat it and I wanted to eat it, so I did," said Levinson.
So expert Mike Levinson turned his life around, sharing his knowledge with other guys struggling with the changes of fatherhood.
"After you have children, I was overwhelmed," said Levinson. "I didn't have any motivation; I was up all hours of the night feeding him."
"I felt I no longer needed to keep the physique that I had prior to marriage because there was nobody else looking at me other than my wife," said Rubin.
The solution? Working strength and cardiovascular training in small bouts whenever possible.
"This whole plan on Buff Dad is basic total body," said Levinson. "Isolating the muscle groups, there's like 10 muscle groups. Three days a week takes 30 minutes."
Along with a meal plan involving lean protein, whole grains and good-tasting produce eaten throughout the day, which helped McHenry watch his portions.
"Just a hundred calories a day, which we can do in one bite," said McHenry. "Would make you add a pound a month, which is 12 pounds a year and after four years that's 48 pounds."
No gym needed -- just inexpensive weights, tubing, and stability balls.
"Doing something fun is really where it's all about," said Levinson. "And if someone can see the results and have fun doing it, they will stick to it, lose the weight and become a 'buff dad.'"
Buff Dad
By Mike Levinson, R.D.
mike@buffdads.com
$16.95 paperback
Click here for the HCI Online Bookstore.
