The movies, marketing and media often portray certain body types as more attractive. Many people who look okay would like to change something about the way they look, hence the relative popularity of plastic surgery, diets, exercise, skin treatments, supplements and hardcore drugs like steroids.
The Hollywood ideal often requires genetics, a willingness to misuse dangerous substances, diets and exercise routines more strict than most people would care for and considerable investments of time, work, money and narcissism. An ideal that makes most other people feel bad about themselves in some way has some obvious flaws. Prioritizing work and family is a more productive; people whose conversations are limited to discussing a restrictive diet or CrossFit routines (and I like CrossFit) may benefit from more depth.
Most men of any age find women in their 20s to be physically attractive. But there is something sexy about being a good parent or provider that transcends physical qualities and demonstrates qualities like sacrifice or empathy. Motherhood is sexy, but not because of the stretch marks.
IIRC, “Dad Bod” became popular in the media because a woman said, in essence, she found fatherhood attractive. Having 5% body fat usually means a very bland, strict and repetitive diet. Most people like to eat delicious food. Until recently, eating a salad was not considered very masculine. Naturally, since men are generally egotistical, the idea of a woman praising muffin tops and unathletic bodies appealed to many men; probably less than 20% of men aged forty go to the gym at all or engage in any type of regular, moderately intense exercise. The health benefits of exercise are very clear; an unrealistic, and even stupid, ideal does not need to be the main goal. And many men are attracted to larger or curvier women despite what most advertising might suggest.
Accordingly, women tend to find men closer in age (and slightly older until age 30 or so, then slightly younger) to be most attractive. Many women, but far from all, like some degree of muscle. But too much leanness and muscle is less popular; and in practice means a fairly extreme lifestyle. So why wouldn’t many women find “dad bods” sexy, or at least say they do? Particularly when too much attention is paid to problematic ideals which often seem outdated (although there is a lot of hypocrisy about preferences, there are some signs people are becoming more accepting, and cultural issues cycle over time).
Perhaps i wrote clumsily but all I meant was to challenge the notion that a moderate 2 hour a week exercise rountine was somehow excessive or only pursued by men (or people) who prioritized thei appearance over their family. Or that if you were a normal father, 2 hours a week was simply out of the qustion (for some fathers it might but it’s by no means an across the board reality).