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Friday, October 23, 2015

Fit Dogs & Fit Families

Happy Fit Dog Friday!


Happy Friday furfriends!! This weekend we're finishing up our costumes, we'll have pictures to post soon! 

FitDog Friday

Exercise has always been a big part of my life, recently I realized my habits got out of whack thanks to my senior year and finishing up my degree. I used to do Muay Thai and American Style boxing 4-5 times a week, as well as Jujitsu. I miss those days but it's been hard reintegrating it into my schedule.

After graduating in June I didn't think much regarding my body because i'm a healthy person, we eat right, lots of veggies, home cooked meals, nothing store bought or processed. We were constantly hiking, lots of walking...

What I didn't realize until August was that I had reached a point of being at my heaviest. Slowly packing on more calories than I was burning. I'm a foodie what can I say!


It's a personal decision to be healthy, and in August although I was "healthy" so to speak, I decided something needed to be done about my weight. Well I can proudly say since August I've lost 10 pounds! I don't normally talk about this kind of thing, it's kind of personal. But you can too! If you want to of course.  

While we stress how important it is for our dogs to be healthy the same goes for us (the human counterpart of that equation), without being healthy myself their was no way I could hope to keep up with Dante and Ziva. I still eat right and i'm not worried about my cooking, but what I started doing was hitting a Zumba class three times a week and counting calories. I decreased my portion size and moved my wine indulgences to weekends only. Having two cheat days (Saturday and Sunday) really helped me to stay on track, then when Monday hits BOOM Zumba here I come! And you know what? I made my goal, i'm now working on just maintaining my new healthy eating habits and this time i'm not going to stop working out.

Same goes for my pups! Exercise and eating healthy are key components to a long and happy life.



 I keep our dogs on a rotating diet of kibble. What this means is every couple months I like to switch up what they are eating just to keep things new and fresh for them. 

Since every brand of dog food is slightly different, by rotating brands or even just proteins within the same brand - you are ensuring that your dog is getting a balance of differing components such as amino acids, vitamins, minerals, fats, and proteins. Some dogs *COUGH Ahem...Dante...That story HERE* become uninterested in their food over time. With rotation feedings you can help prevent this food boredom and they continue to look forward to eating. Currently Dante, Ziva, and Jack are all on Petcurean's GO! Salmon Sensitivity and Shine diet, and they love it! Even Dante my picky eater loves his kibbles.

Their is also evidence to suggest that if consistently fed the same food for their whole life both dogs and cats can develop allergies to certain ingredients. 

Personally though I could imagine getting bored if I had to eat the same thing day in and day out for my whole life.

I know SlimDoggy is wrapping up their Fall Fitness challenge, but if you missed it you should head on over and check out their posts! If you didn't participate you can still go back and start the challenge from the beginning! Either way I encourage you to take a look at your exercise and eating habits, stay fit and healthy this upcoming holiday season!

Now Go Play!




16 comments:

  1. Great post! I actually need to get back into being more active. We've had to take a break from the park we go to for various reasons and it's really not been good for any of us, the girls have been going on more on leash walks than I like them to have. Phoenix was showing some signs of being sore in her hip so we took a break from free running. I'm hoping to get back into our regular routine soon. Zoe is just like Dante so we've been doing the rotational diet, too. I think it's really helped!

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    1. I understand taking a break, I have to be careful with Ziva or else she'll overexercise and I worry about her joints. :-)
      I bet you'd love a group class like maybe zumba! It's soo much fun, I really look forward to going. That's the key, finding something you love to do and look forward to doing as opposed to feeling like it's a drag to go exercise.

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  2. Keep up the good work with staying fit!

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  3. I couldn't agree more - a healthy diet & daily, breed-specific exercise are the key components to healthy dogs! When we fed kibble, we also did a rotational diet in order to prevent boredom and allergies. Now that we're feeding raw, we still rotate the proteins and the pups couldn't be more excited about their meals :-)

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    1. Someday I keep thinking i'll switch our dogs to a raw diet, just haven't gotten there yet. :-) But I love doing the rotational feedings and adding fun stuff to their food!

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  4. It is a bummer that getting fit and staying in shape takes a lot of time and effort, but turning to flab and packing on pounds is easy. Glad you caught yourself in time and are back on the right track. At our house, we believe in a good diet with exercise, but cheating and being lazy sometimes is a good thing too. If you are too strict all the time, you won't stick with your plan.

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    1. Yup, you're right! I'll admit I have my naughty days where I break the rules but overall i've been sticking to it! I love to exercise so it was just about getting back into a routine and creating those habits again as opposed to being lazy. Really though I wasn't happy being lazy and I really did not enjoy realizing I had let things go a bit too long. LoL Just needed a good wakeup call and some motivation!

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  5. Congrats on your weight loss. I use the weekends for my indulgence too - has worked for me - until I start letting Friday count as the weekend ;) Thanks for joining the hop!

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    1. Thanks Slim! And yes...those Friday nights are hard! Sometimes i'll swap and have friday/saturday be my cheat day and turn sunday into a health food day.

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  6. Good job! Your dogs are in amazing condition.

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  7. Great job on the 10 pounds. I starting going to a Zumba class last year and I love it. I've been slacking off lately so you've inspired me to get back to it! We like a rotational diet too. Rocco's not at all picky so it makes it pretty easy.

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    1. Thank you! I hope you pick up your zumba again, it's such a fun way to get back in shape!

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  8. For me, having a day off seems to make me think 2 days off won't be the end of the world, then 3, etc, etc. I have to do something 7 days a week or else I really lose my motivation. I really slacked off this summer - I had less of a tolerance for the heat than normal - and Blueberry and I really got out of the habit of daily walks/hikes. So now, my goal is to get us back into fighting shape. We had a couple of weeks of really nice weather then it was hot again - a vicious cycle. Thankfully, the weather has officially "turned" and I don't have any more excuses. Unless being lazy counts...which in my book, does not. ;) Good job on the 10 pounds - I know how tough that can be and it probably doesn't seem like much to some people - but for those of us who are used to being on the leaner side - 10 pounds can really make a huge difference!

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    1. Thanks!
      I'm bad about excuses too....that's why a class has really helped me. :-) I hate exercising by myself, I don't count hiking though I love to do that anytime, but for us its a big production because we have to drive about 30-45 min to get to a good spot and time as well as daylight has become an issue. Darn these shorter days!

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