Sunday, July 28, 2019

My dog has been a giant motivator for me to lose weight

My dog is one of the most important ""people"" in my life. She's been through high school, college, and grad school with me, and has moved with me countless times for jobs and internships. I love her to death.

We do dog agility together, which is a very physically demanding sport on the dog. Over the winter, unbeknownst to me, she put on a little too much winter weight. Our agility instructor recommended that she drop about 10 lbs (from 62). That would put her on the low end of healthy, which is where dogs should be if they do agility (so it's less taxing on their joints). It's taken about 6 months, taking it slow, but eventually I found that reducing the amount of kibble she gets, substituting in vegetables so she still feels full, and exercising her more has resulted in her steady weight loss. She did plateau for awhile, but I stuck with it, and she's back down to a very healthy weight.

This has completely changed my attitude to my own weight loss. When I cut her consumption, it wasn't because I thought she was fat and ugly, it's because I loved her and wanted her to be the healthiest she could be. If she didn't like the vegetables I gave her, I didn't force her to power through, I found other ones she did like (she'll eat poop, but not cucumbers. Okay.) When I took her for long walks and hikes, I made sure she was having fun and I viewed the time as relaxing outdoor bonding time, not as a punishment. Turning this same logic onto myself has totally changed the way I think about my weight loss. I love myself, I love my body, and I want to treat it with the same love and respect that I do for my dog. And that means no table scraps.

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