Why men gain weight after becoming dads
If your once slim man has lost his physique since becoming a dad, you’re not alone! Post-baby weight gain also happens to men.
While it is common for mothers to gain weight after giving birth, but a new study has found that post-baby weight gain also happens to men.
Led by Dr Craig F Garfield of Northwestern University in the US, the study involved examining data collected from more than 10 000 men over a period of 20 years. The information was gathered through the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.
Most of the men involved in the study were tracked between their teenage years and their mid-thirties. It was found that the body mass index score of men with children was more likely to be 8% higher than that of men without children.
For instance, a man who is 1.7m tall and weighs about 79kg can expect to gain approximately 2kg after the birth of a child. However, no matter how slight the weight gain, a number of studies suggest that this is concerning because overweight parents are more likely to raise children who struggle with their own weight. One study revealed that the children of an obese father were 15 times more likely to be obese as well.
Dr Garfield suggests that fathers should be offered nutritional counselling and mental health education. It can be difficult to follow a healthy lifestyle when you are always on the run, but there are ways to make it work.
Here are a few healthy eating tips dads can follow to keep their weight in check:
Pre-packed, on-the-go lunches
Mornings can be quite chaotic, so pack lunches for yourself and your children the night before. Easy ideas include a tuna sandwich with Weigh-Less reduced oil dressing; a sweet-chili chicken, lettuce, and carrot wrap, or ham and fat-free cottage cheese Low-GI roll. Click here for more easy sandwich-filling ideas.
Double up on suppers
Make double portions of dinners as you are preparing them and freeze the leftovers for another night. This will come in handy when you’ve had a chaotic day and don’t have time to prepare a nutritious meal from scratch. Spaghetti Bolognese, butterbean and tomato salad, quick and easy chicken-a-la-king, baked chicken and fish, and roasted potatoes are all great dinner ideas. Visit www.weighless.co.za for more recipes.
Important healthy eating habits
- Make sure you and your children have a good breakfast every morning – it’s the most important meal of the day. Stick to high-fibre cereals, like Weigh-Less muesli, and add yogurt.
- Remember to pack lunches the previous night. Tuck shops don’t always have many healthy options available and your children will need all the nutrition they can get to help them concentrate throughout their school day.
- Drink your eight glasses of water a day.
- Include snacks in your family’s lunch boxes. Melrose cheese portions, flavoured milk, biltong sticks, fruit, unflavoured pretzels, avocado, peanut butter, crackers, rice cakes, and cereal bars are all great snack ideas.
