Day 60: Cutting the cheese.

I've been noticing something about Sissy. You remember Sissy, don't you? She's my SUPER-AMAZING-INTELLIGENT-MAJESTIC Boston Terrier. And she's getting fat. You may remember that she had some pretty serious health problems about six weeks ago  and at that time she lost a pound or so. Since then, she found those pounds and added ANOTHER pound. When you weigh 12 pounds, to begin with, and gain a pound, you've increased your body weight by 10%. Think about that! Today I took Sissy to the Pet Medical Center to visit Dr. Hill (he's GREAT and pictured on the left). It was time for her vaccinations, trimming her nails, and to discuss her... WEIGHT. I was chatting away (I know it's hard to believe) and I told Dr. Hill and his assistant about yesterday's video blog. Dr. Hill said "you might want to watch the cheese..." WHAT? Every dog I've ever had is in love with cheese, right??? Then Dr. Hill grabbed a chart about animals and food and it BLEW MY MIND. Here's the chart (my wonderful husband scanned it for me):

One ounce of cheese, for a dog, is equal to 2.5 cheeseburgers. I believe Sissy happily ate her weight in cheese last night. And one hot dog is the equivalent of THREE cheeseburgers! How many times have you fed your dog a hot dog, thinking you were giving them an extra-special treat? This information was SUCH an eye-opener for me. And it makes sense- I am usually aware of how many calories I'm consuming with my 200 pound body. Now pass the same food along to a little 12 pound body... that's a BIG difference.

Thanks to my visit with Dr. Hill today, I'm making some changes to Sissy's diet and exercise. We're going to cut out the table scraps for Sissy. And the cheese. (sorry, Sissy... I'm feeling your pain. Really.) And we're going to be taking Sissy on daily walks. Sissy loves to go for a walk and I've been bad, in the past, about taking her. But walks are good for dogs. And children. And mommies. (daddies, too, but sometimes daddies enjoy a few minutes of silence after a long, hard day...) 

IN CONCLUSION: We're going to be more aware of what EVERYONE is eating, in the Hempel house, including Sissy! And taking a walk after dinner is a good thing in so many ways... It's 20 minutes of quality time spent with the people/fur-people we love that results in better health. Why wouldn't you want to do that?? 

Today was a great day that included visiting our favorite vet, an hour of cardio, and hanging out with some of my best gym-friends! Hope your day was just as good! See you tomorrow!