How We Helped Marshall Lose Weight

Do you see that there? I mean, seriously, how could you miss it? It’s an elephant. In the room.

No, I don’t have children. But I do have dogs. So instead of directly addressing the topic of childhood obesity head-on, let me provide you take on dogbesity.

As it currently stands, about 1 in 5 children in the US are obese (which is substantially better than dogs at 57%). While this is a significantly lower rate than US adults (about 39%), we can probably extrapolate and assume that an equal number of children might be classified as overweight, bringing the total number to 40-50%.

So, then, how do we solve this issue?

You might say that kids just need to “get outside more”, that we need to engage them in more sports, or that they need to stop it with all the TikTok, but the answer is much less straightforward.

And as an adult without children, far be it for me to tell folks how to raise their kids. Instead, let me paint a picture through the lens of my lovable dog-son, Marshall, who (as of yesterday) has lost almost 10% of his bodyweight in the past year. Here’s what we do:

We work to stay active every day.

It doesn’t always need to be some sort of super-duper workout; a few walks and unstructured play outside will do the trick.

We eat slow.

A slow feeder does the trick for Marshall, but probably not for your kids. This is why family meal times are important: conversation slows down eating.

We keep a regular sleep schedule.

Keeping a regular sleep schedule ensures that Marshall is well-rested and full of energy the next day. When he doesn’t sleep well, he’s a slug who just wants to lay around the house.

We try to make healthy food choices.

Even including the occasional puppuccino or piece of cheese, over 95% of the food they eat comes from regular ol’ dog food. I think the lesson here is that we can all make room for those “20%” foods while still aggregating most of our food from healthier, more sustainable choices.

We limit screen time.

And when I say we, I mean myself and Kara. Screen time for us means downtime for them so limiting our Netflix and Instagram binges helps all of us.

The truth is this: our dogs will always follow our lead. So one of the best things we can do is take care of ourselves.

And taking care of ourselves together, as a family, benefits all of us.