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Comment by pricees | Hacker News Reader

I was hoping this would explain my weight gain but I suppose I have to accept that replacing daily workouts with 3 bowls of ice cream and magic shell may be the culprit.

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I’ve piled on the weight since our second was born. I attribute it to the reasons mentioned here and also that I’ve not been cycling to work for the last several months. We bought a new home and don’t currently have a place to store my bike so it’s been languishing in my office. So I take the bus because owning two cars is prohibitively expensive here in Europe. The bus is slower than car and bike so I’m rushing out without breakfast and eating junk when I get to work. On the bust home I’ll often snack on more junk.

All that changes today as we’re finally getting a garden shed and I’ll be back in the saddle.

I am trying out to change my behaviour right, so I fast from 20:00 in the evening to 12:00 during the day and try to eat properly between 12 and 20.

So far it's much easier to cut out junk food because I think the whole morning about what I need to eat during lunch. I also need to figure out my relationship with the feeling of hunger, which the fast gives me the possibility to do.

Ended up being full after eating 3/4 of a hamburger last day. I generally eat two with ease.

always interesting to see the differences in commute times per vehicle. Where I am now, it's just over 7 miles to work, cycling is generally faster than the bus, bus is much faster than car (bus lane for > 50% of the journey).

It’s been interesting as my commute changed from 7km to 18km to 22km in the last year.

The 7km commute was a no brainer by bike. It took a leisurely 20 minutes where as the car would be much the same with lots of tedious traffic. Bus wasn’t an option on this route.

When I changed job my commute was 18km across the city. The car route involved a toll on a congested motorway or through stop start city congestion. The bus route required two buses with various degrees of waiting time made worse on the way home because of the one specific bus I needed that always appears unreliable. The car would take at least one hour bus would take up to two hours and the bike about 50 minutes.

Now that we’ve moved home I’m even further away but there’s a direct express bus that takes just 70 minutes. The car route is better, no toll and better connected, but is still an hour in traffic and the bike is about an hour.

Cycling is great because you arrive to work energised, but it’s tough to do everyday and still have energy for the kids at the weekend, so I’ll buy an ebike and cheat.

lots of ebikes around nowadays. I only get annoyed at them when they pass me going up the harder hills. And that's because I'm jealous of them, not actually annoyed!

our bike club members assure me that an ebike isn't all easy sailing. I believe them! With how heavy the ebikes can be, you can't just be sailing along on the battery, not putting in any effort, and expect to go very far.

My parents use ebike to ride 30km with ease. It's a game changer.

Good for you. Sheds for the win!

When my son was born, he didn't sleep well, so I didn't either. My wife has a career and I was an equal partner in his care. It didn't help that I was working 80+ hours a week on something that was key to the success of the small company I worked for. Add in stress eating, and cutting out exercise due to perceived lack of time, and I gained 10-15lbs a year until my son was 4 or 5.

My son is 13 now, and its only in the last few years that I've really started to take care of myself. I've started exercising, stopped eating junk, and tried to make time for sleep. The result is I've lost 60lbs over the last few years, and am in better shape than I've been since highschool. However, I still don't sleep as well as I did before he was born.

My advice to new dads is: Take care of yourselves. Eat right. Don't cut out exercise to save time.

Honestly idk how it’s possible to afford the extra hour and a half for gym 3 days a week as a dad with a toddler

Honestly, you won’t. But until your kid is in full time school a 20-30 minute workout even everyday is eminently doable. Run around the local park, pull ups on a bar in the door way, press-ups, lots of exercises you can do to stave off muscular and skeletal atrophy which is what most of us at desk jobs literally suffer from due to chronic inactivity.

I totally agree. I had an elliptical machine in a nook outside my home office that I walked by every day. I wish I'd have just given up 30 minutes a few times a week rather than eating a bowl of ice cream. Maybe I would have only gained 20lbs and not 60.

I would definitely recommend going for calisthenic training with an emphasis on isometrics around young kids, rather than weights(equipment and prep time) or intensive cardio(too much time-on-task). Holding a bridge, squat-and-reach, or a downward dog for 30 seconds while the kid crawls around is feasible, and a few rounds of that daily will do a huge amount of good.

You really don't need a gym. Get a pull up bar and some gymnast rings and just do what you can when the child naps. Even better add a bike trainer for cardio since you can't leave the house to run anymore either.

Caring for a toddler means being shackled to a creature that is entirely dependant on you, but there are still ways you can work in some self care while taking care of them.

Lack of sleep, eating what u can when u can, no time to spend on yourself/physical activities

I gained 40 pounds through my wife's pregnancy and post.

I am just starting to shed some weight now

- 5 months old baby

My son is 10 months old. In the last month I've been able to start jogging, playing football (soccer), and I'm hoping in the next couple of weeks to restart Gymnastics and Olympic lifting training.

I don't know how much weight I've put on, but I certainly don't enjoy how I feel and look now.

Being able to exercise again has been a major milestone for me.

I find lack of sleep severely impacts my ability to stick to a diet, as well, as I find it far harder to resist temptations when I'm not rested. Combining reduced willpower with reduced amount of time to make proper meals is not great.

I also see this pattern. I've maintained at least some level of exercise throughout raising three kids, but somehow I have a strong desire to eat, and the willpower required to shed the weight is really all-consuming. When my last (of 3) goes to college next week I wonder if anything will change.

That's a big change, all the best for the next phase of your life!

Getting into a more regular exercise routine might be a good thing. Weightlifting works well for myself, alas it does nothing to curb the appetite. :) But it's a great way to relax the mind and get a break from everything. It helps produce testosterone as well, supposedly.

Yeah, weightlifting is the problem- it makes me hungry. I now do a four-day split: two days weights; two days core-conditioning. I've been pretty good about regular exercise all my life- with large (months) excepted for big change-of-life things like moving, having a kid, and so on. At the time if felt like I was falling behind if I wasn't exercising, but looking back it was only a small perturbation to my overall habits.

So if you find yourself likewise falling off the wagon, cut yourself some slack. You're playing the long game.

Now if I would just cut my serving sizes in half! :D

I'm in better shape than ever, and it’s thanks to free childcare at the YMCA. Getting a break from the children is the most motivation I've had to drag myself to the gym.

When children get a few years older you can also put them in YMCA swim lessons and use that time to exercise yourself.

Hey, me too. Was certain it would be about getting fat. Thing for me is, I was not exercising before, same weight for 10 years and I’m not sleep deprived at all with our 3 months old. But I do eat out more, and have a tendency to not really care what I eat - food has become fuel. I’m kind of suprised by the whole thing. Not sure what to do because I wasnt doing anything before :)

Just wanted to say thanks for bringing this up, since becoming a dad my bulk has moved downward from my shoulders and arms to my belly and arse.

It's a cascade of less sleep and time which means less exercise and a worse diet.

I gained around 15kg, less sport more food, my daughter is now 1 year and I lost 18kg the last 5 months through diet and sport. That said it takes some discipline, you'll have to get used to a shedule together with your partner. All my private computer time is now past 20h when my daughter is asleep, training time is after work switching each day with my gf. Dont worry you'll get alon

Cut out sugar, bread, and liquids with empty calories. Eat meat, fruits, and veggies -- even frozen ones. You'll drop weight very fast switching to high meat and veg, and dump the carbs/sugars.

For those of you who are skinny and want to bulk up and don't mind eating somewhat bad food: Eat lots of sugary candy and junkfood like potatoe chips. I find it's the easiest way to get fat.

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