Daisy is Losing It Too!

Those familiar with our family have most likely met our nearly nine year old black lab Daisy.  Daisy came to our family as a pup and in many ways, our girls have grown up with her.  And like a small child, we were pretty much responsible for both the good and bad things she learned.  Daisy was always active, had strong back legs and while she almost never nipped, could push someone over, if she jumped up on them.  Over the years, we simply fed her too much and of course supplemented the meals with treats.  Sound familiar?  One of the best kept secrets since I started IHC Medical Center's My Heart Challenge, is that at about the same time, our dog, Daisy has been on a diet too!  Daisy started struggling with getting up, walking any prolonged period of time and we were getting worried that something in her hips were failing and maybe her prognosis wouldn't be good.

Cathy took Daisy to the vet, where she was chastised on our behalf for over-feeding her and that the extra weight had put stress on her joints.  She was given one of those expensive dog foods, we were given a specific amount (talk about counting calories) and some pain pill to help her as she worked off the weight.  So at the same time I've been working on mine, Daisy along with the rest of the family has been losing her weight too!  In Daisy's recent trip to the vet, we were encouraged by the fact she has lost 13 pounds!  We've also noticed her walking better, back to jumping a little more and getting up and down better.  While we know her life expectancy isn't a really long time, we are hopeful to have a few more years together and want them to be as healthy as we can.  So while my weight loss is more public, my hat is off to Daisy for her progress as well!  As a side note, when you put less in, less comes out the other end!  The girls have noted a marked improvement in the cleanup area!

Last week Cathy and I had our picture walking together on the front section of the Salt Lake Tribune.  Any worries that my efforts would go unnoticed are now gone.  Thanks to EVERYONE who seems to have seen the article, so now once was substantial pressure to perform, now has become INCREDIBLE  pressure to perform.  I still have had my struggles however and have slipped back into a few bad habits, but I'm recovering.  Not to unlike many addictions, getting past it is not a one day occurrence and recognizing one's weakness and the way to get past it is important.  I have continued although not as quick as before, to loose 31 pounds in total, and I continue to push forward to my goal by July. 

If you didn't get a chance to read the story, feel free to read it in the Salt Lake Tribune.  Daisy, we're going to do it together!