The Book

Focusing on you so you are there for them.

A practical guide to fatherhood, masculinity, and becoming the man your family deserves — from a regular dad who figured it out.

DADBOD by Joe Wheeler

About the Book

I am not a Navy SEAL.
I am you.

I’m a basic, normal guy with a job, a wife, and three kids. Over eleven years and three pregnancies, I gained forty-five pounds of sympathy weight. My dadbod crept up while everything around me said it was fine — even sexy. It wasn’t fine. And I think you know that too.

“Having a dadbod does not mean you failed. Getting rid of it does not mean you’ll fail at being a dad.”

DADBOD is a retrospective of fatherhood and masculinity — a lens into the modern-day dad. Not a child-rearing book. Not a Navy SEAL memoir. A practical guide for the rest of us trying to keep the kids alive, the marriage alive, and ourselves alive.

Each chapter ends with a MANtra: a concrete commitment and three specific actions to start becoming the man you actually want to be.

It took me a lifetime to get to this point. I wrote it so you don’t have to wait that long.

Get the Book → Audiobook

New — The 30-Day Program

The book became
a program.

The DADBOD Diet Plan, all 10 MANtras as daily challenges, a community of dads doing the same work, and a live group session with Joe after Day 30. One module a day. 30 days. Everything reversible.

Explore the Program → Start Today
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Less than 50 cents a day to get your life back.

The 10
MANtras.

Each chapter of the book ends with a MANtra — a personal commitment followed by three specific, actionable items. Small enough to start today. Powerful enough to change everything over time.

01
Everything is reversible.
Chapter 1 — The Current State of Things
02
I will be productive and useful.
Chapter 2 — How’d We Get Here?
03
Be the man you aspire to be today.
Chapter 3 — Mental Health
04
I respect myself.
Chapter 4 — Respect + Adolescence = Masculinity
05
Adolescence + Masculinity = Fatherhood.
Chapter 5 — Adolescence + Masculinity = Fatherhood
06
I am my own man.
Chapter 6 — The Relationship With My Parents
07
Live every day like you mean it.
Chapter 7 — Physical Well-Being
08
I will take care of myself, but not at the expense of my family.
Chapter 8 — Be More Than Just a Middle-Age Trope
09
I have control over my health and wellness.
Chapter 9 — Men’s Health
10
I will set aside preconceived notions about dieting.
Chapter 10 — The DADBOD Diet
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