D is for Diet, and a bonus

Photo from Dieting with my Dog

Pawing Through the Alphabet 
(**Frankie keep reading...I won't let you down.)

Today,
D is for Diet

Many of you already know that Kelly and I have been dieting together. I don't want to be redundant, and I won't tell you here about good nutrition or exercise. What I want to talk about is the struggle--the frustrating, continual challenge--of keeping up a habit like dieting. Just because my book, Dieting with my Dog, is out and at the end of the book Kelly and I reached our goals (I lost 41 lbs and Kelly lost 6 lbs!) doesn't mean we can stop dieting.

I don't think I'm giving away anything when I post this section from near the end of my book. I'm looking around my daughter's old bedroom, which I'd refused to change since she'd gone away to college.

     "What are you doing in here?" (my husband) asked.
     "Picturing this room a little different," I replied.
     "You mean, a change?" Mike grinned.
     I ran my hand across the dresser again. "Could be." No way around it; things changed. The trick was to accept, even welcome it. Like losing weight, it was a lifetime challenge.

Yup, losing weight is a lifetime challenge. I've succumbed to oreo truffles and cheesecake over the holidays. Some days Kelly and I couldn't convince each other to get outside in the bitter cold to take our walk. Many times we abandoned the good habits we established in favor of a yummy treat or a lazy snuggle together on the couch. And a few pounds found their way back for both of us.

I know that if I want to keep myself--and my dog--in nice shape, and most importantly healthy, I have to keep in practice all those good habits that we started when we set out on our journey: Turning down extra sweets. Resisting feeding Kelly table scraps. Keeping up with exercise even when we're feeling lazy. Measuring Kelly's food and being accountable for how much I'm eating. And all that isn't always easy.

So I'm here to encourage you all who have strayed a bit from your diets, or have a dog who needs to shed a few pounds, or who find it difficult to get out and walk the dog when the sun is hiding...you can do it! Join us on our Facebook page and we'll support each other.
Just take a step today. If you will, we will too.

Now...for the bonus.

D is also for Dachshund!

Kelly is part long haired dachshund--see the resemblance (especially those ears)? And very proud of it. And is also very very lucky to have so many dachshund bloggy buddies: 
Frankie Furter and Ernie
Puddles, Albert and Whitney (but mostly Puddles, right?!)
Amber and Max
Frankie the Walk 'n Roll Dog
Dachies with Moxie
So today we can also celebrate dachshunds!