Being overweight is neither good for you nor your dog, that is a fact. In fact, our canine friends suffer the same kinds of illnesses from excess weight as we do as humans. You’ve noticed that your fur baby seems to have the same problems you do when walking up stairs or trying to play fetch as you once did. You’ve both tipped the scales at a dangerously unhealthy weight so why not go on a diet together? You can easily become diet buddies and no one needs to know the secret of your success!
Smaller Portions More Often
Most dog owners feel that feeding their dogs once a day is sufficient and this has been traditionally accepted.
It may be sufficient for some, but what happens when you feel you need to make up for those other two meals your BFF didn’t get but you so eagerly enjoyed?
This is when you heap on the extra portions you feel your dog ‘should have’ gotten for lunch or breakfast.
Now it’s time to go to bed and the same thing happens to your dog as it does to you when you go to sleep on a full stomach.
The food isn’t digested properly and those pounds start adding up.
Why not cut down on your own portions throughout the day while adding meals to your pup’s diet?
Give tiny portions throughout the day adding up to less than that one oversized meal used to be.
Now your dog will have more energy and become less lethargic.
You will notice the same changes in yourself. However, don’t fall into the trap of giving regular meal-size portions to yourself or your canine buddy.
Stick to small portions so that you are actually cutting back on the amount you eat.
Get Up and Get Going
It is recommended that you begin to slowly increase the amount of exercise you get over time.
Slowly doesn’t mean that you get up from the couch to change the channel manually on the television instead of using the remote.
What it means is that you should begin extending your daily walks.
If you walked your dog around the block once, try adding a little distance each day. At the same time, you can begin picking up your pace.
The object is to begin working up a sweat.
You might also want to find ways to increase the amount of fluids your body is releasing as it sweats.
Also, make sure you wear appropriate athletic wear like that listed on the Kewlioo website.
Their men’s sauna suit is designed to offer support to your core as you begin exercising more but also to literally cause the body to sweat more like it would in a sauna.
It is no secret that you can literally sweat off the pounds in a sauna, so why not recreate that effect with a sauna suit?
Healthier Foods for Both Human and Dog
Here you might want to check with your vet to see just what foods are right for your dog.
It is important to know such things as what percentage of the food your dog eats should be from fat and what portion from protein and other nutrients.
Talk to your vet about your concern for your dog’s increasingly wide tummy and that you’d like to be your dog’s diet buddy.
No one knows canine health better than a veterinary doctor, so this is where you’ll set a target weight for your dog to coincide with your own target weight you are striving towards.
Also, just as you should get a checkup prior to starting a diet, so too should your dog.
A well-dog checkup is always recommended before making any changes in your dog’s routine.
After you’ve both been pronounced healthy enough to begin a diet regimen, there’s nothing holding you back.
It’s now or never, so what are you waiting for?