The 20% Adds Up

I took Boots to the vet earlier this week for his annual exam and vaccinations (which he had a terrifying reaction to that involved him frantically running into walls, seizing, and ripping off a toenail that landed us back in the clinic later that day, but he’s okay now!). For the most part, he’s a really healthy and active dog, but he’s been steadily gaining weight for a while now, so the vet and I were discussing the potential causes, and she said the most likely culprit was his food – not the type or brand, but the amount.

Now, mind you, Boots has never been a voracious eater. But just in case he was eating more than I thought, I have been monitoring his food intake for the last 6 months and he eats the minimum suggested serving size listed on the bag for his healthy weight range (which is why I have been so baffled!). That’s when she told me that she always recommends that you feed your dog 20% less than the bag recommends. She says they tend to exaggerate serving sizes to sell more food, “And that extra 20% can quickly add up to some pretty big changes.”

We ended up diving into a whole conversation about activity level and diet in both animals and people, because just think about how often you have an extra 20%. Just eating out at restaurants can be dangerous territory because of their over-sized portions. Think about how easy it is to grab 10 extra M&Ms, 4 extra Cheetos, a couple extra bites of cake, and half a slice of pizza on top of the recommended serving size. Let’s say you’re aiming for 1,500 calories a day and you’re regularly eating 20% more (300 extra calories a day), that adds up to 9,000 excess calories a month, leading to 109,500 extra calories in a year, or just over 31 pounds.

Yeah. The 20% adds up fast.

But, don’t give up hope yet! Because the thing is, that 20% rule can also work in your favor. If you drink an extra bottle of water, add just a few minutes to your workouts, or throw a handful of spinach into your morning smoothie…all of those changes add up just as fast! When you’re just starting to incorporate running into your walks, adding just a few seconds of running in at a time starts training your body and next thing you know, you’re running a 5k.

Slow, steady, consistent changes are the way to go.

Our bodies want to be healthy, so when you exercise it and feed it right, it starts to crave those things more and more until before you know it, you’ve built a healthy lifestyle for yourself.

So, how are you going to use your 20% this week?