New Dads and Low T: The Facts

by Chris Shugart

How to Avoid Dad Bod

Testosterone significantly drops when you become a father. Here's why and how to fix it.

Brad is a high-testosterone single male. His hormone status gives him some advantages in the dating world.

Compared to his lower-T rivals, his physique is better, he's more extraverted and confident, he takes more risks (he isn't afraid to approach women, increasing his odds), and he's more likely to be status-driven and competitive, so he probably has a decent career. He may even be more dominant and assertive, innately attractive to females.

In the dating and mating world, Brad's probably going to win a wife and make babies. And that's when Mother Nature kicks him square in the balls and tanks his testosterone.

Evolution vs. Environment

In the world of hormone research, there's a common debate. It's accepted that men experience a drop in testosterone after they become fathers, but why?

  • One side takes an evolutionary approach. Once a man "pair bonds" with a woman and puts a baby inside her, there's no need for all that testosterone. Reduced T makes him better at childcare and less likely to stray. He's a loyal husband and a better caregiver, but he also develops a softer, pudgier dad bod due to the testosterone drop.
  • The other side points to environmental and social factors. New dads don't get as much sleep, and they have more stress and less time to eat correctly and exercise. Priorities shift. They may experience a drop in T levels, but that's mainly because they're approaching 30 or over 30, and this dip is expected.

Who's right? Well, most likely, it's a combination of all these factors (plus a few others), but one study gives us some insights.

The Study: Dads Have 26% Less T

Lee Gettler, an anthropologist and director of the Hormones, Health, and Human Behavior Lab at Notre Dame, studied over 600 men in their 20s, some single and childless, and some married with newborns. Here's what he found:

  • Men with high T are indeed more likely to become "partnered fathers" i.e. married dads. In sciency terms, high T predicted subsequent mating success.
  • Married dads experienced a big drop in waking and evening testosterone (-26% and -34% respectively). Single nonfathers about the same age did not see this decline.
  • Dads reporting three hours or more of daily childcare had lower T than dads not involved in care.

How to Avoid Being a Low-T Dad

Don't procreate. If you do, don't take care of them. (Just jokes, folks.) If you want to be a dad without the dad bod, then fight back with supplements and drugs.

On the drug front, it's wise to know your baseline testosterone levels before you impregnate your spouse. (Some experts think that the testosterone decline begins as soon as your partner gets preggers.) After all, your T levels may be 26% lower, but might still fall into the normal range. Armed with a baseline T test, your doc may be more willing to prescribe TRT to get you back up to YOUR normal range.

Supplementally, if your diet goes from protein shakes to leftover dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, first take care of the basics and take a magnesium supplement.

Magnesium plays a role in testosterone synthesis and appears to "free up" more testosterone from binding proteins, increasing levels of free (bioavailable) testosterone by up to 24%. Just used the chelated form of magnesium, as found in Elitepro Vital Minerals (Buy at Amazon).

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If you need to pull out the big guns, look into Longjack. If you use the right form (LJ100), Longjack stimulates your body's natural testosterone production. Omega-Man High Absorption Longjack (Buy at Amazon) contains the LJ100 form.

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Reference

  1. Gettler. "Longitudinal evidence that fatherhood decreases testosterone in human males." Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2011 Sep 27;108(39):16194-9.
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Very interesting article thanks Chris!
Just going/been through the same issues myself and now that my son is 19 months old and sleeping most of the night, I feel I’m just getting back on track. The lack of sleep, learning how to look after a baby, less intimacy, potential postnatal depression and all the rest of the sledgehammers that hit you definitely lead to the sudden growth of the dad bod!
Things that have helped me were an increased focus on protein, getting someone to workout with me in the early morning for motivation, aforementioned supplements and a real solid wakeup of what it means to be a husband and father. TBH the last point is what has made the most difference as the improvement it has made in our relationship has helped everything else to fall into place.

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Great to hear! That first year can be rough.

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I am living it right now with an almost 7 months old. He still wakes up a few times a night as he wants his pacifier back and he’s not able to do it himself yet. Takes me or my girlfriend a minute and he is back to sleep.

A few tips that have help me.
1- When you get up at night to feed or change a diaper, drink a protein shake. It has help me a lot with my now inconsistent diet and it takes 1 minute.

2- Adapt! I can’t train afterwork now as I have a baby to take care of and if I wanted to train in the morning, I’d have to sacrifice some precious sleep. So I train at lunch, which is my least favorite time to train. Also, I train more often (30-40 minutes, 5-6 times a week instead of 1 hour session 3-4 times a week). Easier to fit.

Another way to adapt for me has been to go to sleep really early in the evening depending on sleep the night before. Sometimes I go to bed at 8PM if I need to. My mood and my physical well being benifts from this.

3- Magnesium will help with testosterone but also helps with sleep. When I get up to give my son his pacifier back, I get back to sleep easily thanks to this supplement.

4- Meal preping is more important now than ever. Before having a kid, I liked to cook fresh meal every night. Now I prep some food during the weekend so most evening, me and my girlfriend just have to microwave a plate. I even prepare large omelet in the oven with lots of vegetables, ground turkey and spices so I have a high protein breakfast. I had never reheat eggs before and it is not bad at all.

There is probably a ton of other tricks I have develop over the last months to fight the dad bod. but those are the ones that came to my mind when I saw that post.

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Good tips! Thanks!

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