Faith is the second participant enrolled in the Halo Healthy Weight Challenge on THE EXPERT VET of the RADIO PET LADY NETWORK. Faith is eating a specially designed meal plan of Halo Healthy Weight natural dog food and extra veggies to aid her in shedding unwanted pounds.
It is no secret that weight loss can be challenging! Using the Halo diet plan our target for Faith was to lose between 0.6 and 1.3 pounds each week (which is 1-2% of her starting body weight).
I received the following disheartened email from Faith’s mom after her Week 1 weigh-in:
“Just back from the vet. 66.2 pounds. A gain of a tenth: ( How is this possible?? She has only eaten what was on her diary. There was no cheating and she has no access to other food from the other dogs.”
My response to Faith’s mom and to all dog owners who start a new plan and struggle when getting started:
“This isn’t uncommon for the first weigh-in. Remember Faith’s last weight was 5 weeks ago and she weighed 66.1 pounds at that time. Up to this time, Faith has been on a steady weight gain path for several months so it is very likely that she had gained weight during the last 5 weeks before starting her Halo Challenge. Her starting weight was likely to be above the 66.2 pound mark. It is also true that weight loss is often NOT appreciated during the first two week of any new program. Stay the course with her calorie intake and see what next week brings on the scale. Do not be discouraged!! You ARE feeding her 40% less calories than you were previously. The weight loss will happen!”
This week, Faith’s mom has realized that she doesn’t love green beans so we made some veggie adjustments and have another zucchini lover!
Stay tuned for next week’s update on Faith!
Guest post by Dr. Donna Spector, The Expert Vet
This blog post originally appeared at: http://blog.halopets.com/2014/09/22/healthy-weight-challenge-faiths-faces-a-challenge-during-week-1/
Halo is a sponsor on Radio Pet Lady Network, by our invitation.
