The recipe for losing weight
Dogs do not overeat because they are greedy. They overeat because a bowl of 400 kcal looks exactly like a bowl of 250 kcal. This recipe fixes the look.
Why this bowl is built this way
The mistake in most weight-loss diets is cutting the food in half. The dog is then genuinely hungry, spends the day scavenging, and the household gives in within a week. The bowl has to get lighter in calories while staying roughly the same size in the stomach — which means more water-rich vegetables and less fat, not less food.
Protein has to go up, not down. A dog losing weight on a low-protein diet loses muscle along with fat, and muscle is the tissue that burns the calories. Keeping protein high while cutting fat is what separates a dog that gets slimmer from a dog that just gets smaller.
What goes in — by share of the bowl
Shares, not grams. The gram column is per kilogram of finished food, so it scales to any batch you cook. Your dog's actual portion comes from the calculator, because it depends on body weight and not on the recipe.
| Component | Share | Per 1 kg | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lean protein — chicken, turkey, white fish | 42% | 420 g | Skinless and poached. Protein stays high throughout the diet. |
| Vegetables with high water content — green beans, zucchini, pumpkin | 33% | 330 g | This is the volume that keeps the dog feeling fed. |
| Carbohydrate — sweet potato or oats | 15% | 150 g | Less than a maintenance bowl. Weigh it; do not eyeball it. |
| Added fat | 3% | 30 g | The first thing to cut. Fish oil stays as a small measured dose. |
| Veterinary completer | 7% | 70 g | Higher share, because the rest of the bowl got lighter in nutrients too. |
Method
- Weigh the dog, then weigh the food. Both. Every day for the food, every two weeks for the dog.
- Set the daily ration from the calculator at the dog's target weight, not its current weight.
- Feed the same weight of food in two meals, and put the vegetables in first so the bowl looks full.
- Remove the fat last, not the protein — but check the total daily calories, because fat is where they hide.
- Expect 1% to 2% of body weight per week. Faster than that is muscle leaving.
- Stop guessing after week two: if the weight has not moved, the ration is wrong, not the dog's metabolism.
What each part is doing
| Part | Job |
|---|---|
| High-water vegetables | Fills the stomach at a fraction of the calories. |
| Protein | Protects muscle while the fat goes. |
| Kitchen scale | The single most effective tool in this recipe. |
| Measured fish oil | Kept small but not dropped, so the coat does not suffer during the diet. |
How much to feed
Per day, for this type of dog. Two meals a day is standard for adults; puppies and dogs recovering from stomach trouble do better on three or four smaller ones.
| Dog weight | kcal / day | Food / day | Per meal (2×) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 kg (11 lb) | 351 | 270 g | 135 g |
| 10 kg (22 lb) | 590 | 454 g | 227 g |
| 20 kg (44 lb) | 993 | 764 g | 382 g |
| 30 kg (66 lb) | 1346 | 1035 g | 518 g |
| 40 kg (88 lb) | 1670 | 1285 g | 642 g |
Calculated at the dog's target weight, not its current weight. Use the calculator for the exact grams.
What to watch for
- Do not free-feed and do not leave the bowl down. A weight-loss diet measured once a day is defeated by a second bowl.
- Treats count. Three biscuits can be a fifth of a small dog's daily calories — subtract them from the ration and write it down.
- Sudden weight gain, or weight loss without a diet, is a medical sign, not a maths problem.