# How long to feed green beans for?



## shortcake23 (Aug 15, 2008)

I just posted about Gabby being a poop machine, now I've got a question about Mia.

The vet and us agreed that Mia could afford to lose a few pounds, although it was NEEDED, but preferable.

About 3 or 4 weeks ago we reduced the amount of kibble we feed her (and treats) and added some green beans as filler. We used to feed Mia 2 cups/day of Acana Grasslands, but switched to 1.5 cups/day, plus half a can of green beans per meal.

She's lost a couple of pounds since we started her on that diet, and we would like if she would lose another 2-3 lbs...

Do we just keep feeding her that same amount of food and green beans once we've attained that goal???


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## 3 goldens (Sep 30, 2005)

I would say once she gets to desired weight, feed her normally, but keep an eye on her weight and if she puts on a pound or two, go back with the green beans. My KayCee had a weight problem starting when she had a luxating patela and then surgery at 16 moths, recovery time, other knee went bak and she had surgery on it 14 months later.


We finally resorted to Science Diet RD to get the weight off her. Once off and back on her regular food, I took her in once a month fo weright check and if she had put on some weight, it was diet time . At the time I did not know about the green beas, jus cut back on her food. But I thinking cutting back and adding the beans would be better--tehy won't feel so hungry.


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## shortcake23 (Aug 15, 2008)

So would we increase her food back to 2 cups/day (and no green beans)? 

Or no green beans, but stay at 1.5 cups/day (in which case I worry it's too little and she'd be hungry)?


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Do you know what the Calorie intake is for Mia?

Here's a formula you can use to determine the number of calories per day, this is based on the Calories per cup of the dog food you are feeding and DOES NOT include calories from treats.

Weight divided by 2.2=Metric Weight.
Metric Weight X 30+70=Number of Calories

I'm using my Remy's weight as an example- 73 lbs. 

First you need to determine the Metric Weight.

73 lbs. Divided by 2.2=33.18 Metric weight.

33.8(MW) X30 +70=1065.40 Calories per day.

Mine are both eating Purina Pro Plan for Sensitive Skin and Stomach, Calories per cup are:419 per cup.

I am feeding him 2-2.5 cups per day, he's getting 1047.50 calories from his dog food. He's also getting two dog bones per day which is putting him over the number of Calories he should have per day, but he is very active and gets lots of exercise-daily walks, play chuck it at least once a day, most days two times. He goes swimming 2-4 days a week during the summer months.

My Roxy is a former puppy mill momma, she will be 8 in Dec., she's not as active as Remy is, she does go out for daily walks and goes swimming in the summer. Her ideal weight is 63-64 lbs, she gets 1.5-2 cups of food per day and I have cut her treats back to a minimum. She could eat 24/7 if I'd let her, she's always wants to eat. I don't think it's because she's hungry more because she was not fed on a regular basis and did not get quality food either.


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## shortcake23 (Aug 15, 2008)

Is kcal the same as just saying calories? 

According to their site for Acana Grasslands (http://www.championpetfoods.com/acana/fetch-pdf.php?pdf=ACANA-gfd.pdf) it's 430 kcal per cup. 

At Mia's last weigh-in on May 4, she was down to 58 lbs, but the vet said she'd like to see her around 55 lbs, so I'll calculate with that weight:

55 divided by 2.2 = 25 (MW)
25 x 30 + 70 = 820 calories per day, so 410 per meal...

So 0.95 cups per meal (so rounding it up to 1 cup per meal)

But she also gets some treats... We DO walk her daily around 2-3 kilometres and she runs in the yard and the house a few times a day...

Does my calculations sound right?


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## TonyRay (Feb 5, 2008)

Our 2 girls tend to get over weight quick so green[un-salted beans]
have been part of there diet for years!!!! at least 4x a week.
We limit them to little less than 2 cups of kibble per day of which a handfull of beans are added. they love the beans...,
some people say it's too much protein and can bind them up.
They go regular as a clock....
[then again, our girls would eat drywall with no problems..
btw:
the 2 consistant brands we use are Canidae Platinum and Taste of the Wild. both because they are under 400 calories per cup..
[there was a voluntary recall of Diamond foods products of which Canidae and TOTW are made but those brands were not contaminated as most others were not also.


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## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

You might have hit a plateau and need to change things up. 

Canned pumpkin can also be filling and does not have very many calories.

My parent's golden was overweight. They switched to Chicken Soup for the Dog Soul-- Adult Light. It has 289 kcal/cup.

The Acana you are feeding has 430 kcal/cup. While I believe Acana is an excellent food, you might need to consider a switch to get the weight off. You could skip the green beans and feed more kibble to keep your dog FULL with the Adult Light food. Just a thought!!


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## Thalie (Jan 20, 2008)

Flem's good weight is around 55 lbs also. For her it translates into roughly 900 calories a day in meals (2.5 cups of Wellness Core reduced fat or 2.25 cups of Wellness Core Regular; divided into 2 main meals and a snack), adding a frozen Kong filled with a teaspoon of peanut butter, green beans, and a couple of tablespoons of apple sauce as an evening treat. 

I think your calories calculations are pretty much on the money for weight loss. You can keep adding green beans until you reach the desired weight. I have found out that dividing the day portion into 3 meals rather than 2 led to happier dogs.


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## BayBeams (Jan 3, 2010)

You can feed green beans for as long as you like but if you are using canned green beans they have a LOT of salt so it might be better to use frozen instead.
I prefer to use pumpkin instead. If your dog is losing weight I would not increase the amount you are feeding back to the previous amount or your dog will end up gaining back all of the weight that was lost.


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

shortcake23 said:


> Is kcal the same as just saying calories?
> 
> According to their site for Acana Grasslands (http://www.championpetfoods.com/acana/fetch-pdf.php?pdf=ACANA-gfd.pdf) it's 430 kcal per cup.
> 
> ...


You're calculations are right.


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## shortcake23 (Aug 15, 2008)

CarolinaCasey said:


> The Acana you are feeding has 430 kcal/cup. While I believe Acana is an excellent food, you might need to consider a switch to get the weight off. You could skip the green beans and feed more kibble to keep your dog FULL with the Adult Light food. Just a thought!!


We're really hesitant to switch foods for Mia, as it took us a year of trying different foods her stomach agreed with. She didn't do well with food that had chicken in it, which limits us... The Acana Light & Fit has chicken in it...


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## shortcake23 (Aug 15, 2008)

Thalie said:


> I have found out that dividing the day portion into 3 meals rather than 2 led to happier dogs.


Three meals a day wouldn't really work out for us


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## shortcake23 (Aug 15, 2008)

BayBeams said:


> You can feed green beans for as long as you like but if you are using canned green beans they have a LOT of salt so it might be better to use frozen instead.


We buy the no-salt canned green beans. I have not found frozen green beans that said no-salt on the bag... Do all frozen green beans have no salt and that's why it doesn't say it on the bag? 



BayBeams said:


> If your dog is losing weight I would not increase the amount you are feeding back to the previous amount or your dog will end up gaining back all of the weight that was lost.


Oh no, we wouldn't increase it back to what we were feeding. We'd feed her less than before, but more than now that we're giving her the green beans. * I can't correct my original post, but we used to feed Mia 2 cups a day when we started to see she was kind of big. BEFORE that (like in the Fall) we used to feed her 3 cups a day...* but then she gained a lot in the winter time... The first two winters she'd gain weight and lose it in the spring, but not last year and we're trying to get her to lose it this year so it doesn't keep accumulating.

Hope this makes more sense...


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## mayapaya (Sep 28, 2011)

I am also supplementing with green beans, and have dropped Maya's kibble (Fromm's 4 star) to a cup in the morning and a cup in the evening--she was getting about 2 1/2- 3 cups per day previously, and the vet said he would like to see her weight in the 55- 58 pound range (she was 61 at her last weigh in). The vet said to do this for several months, and when Maya goes back in July, they'll check her again. It doesn't appear that she has lost any weight though to me, and we have been doing this for about a month and a half already. Wondering for any others who have tried to the green bean filler route--how long did it take to drop a few pounds?


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

mayapaya, I would have thought you'd see a difference by now, however, Maya only has a small amount of weight to lose and it may be harder to see it because of that.

I usually could tell a difference in my Roxy within a couple of weeks. I've also supplemented her with fresh fruits and veggies, whatever is in season basically.


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## mayapaya (Sep 28, 2011)

CAROLINA MOM said:


> mayapaya, I would have thought you'd see a difference by now, however, Maya only has a small amount of weight to lose and it may be harder to see it because of that.
> 
> I usually could tell a difference in my Roxy within a couple of weeks. I've also supplemented her with fresh fruits and veggies, whatever is in season basically.


Thanks! I think part of the problem is she is getting more treats than usual as well because we are training Payton, and I can't bring myself to not give one to Maya at the same time :no:. Maybe will start working some carrots into the treat rotation and see if I can get Payton to start liking them!


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

mayapaya said:


> Thanks! I think part of the problem is she is getting more treats than usual as well because we are training Payton, and I can't bring myself to not give one to Maya at the same time :no:. Maybe will start working some carrots into the treat rotation and see if I can get Payton to start liking them!


It could be the treats, carrots are good, banana or apple pieces.


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## MyBentley (May 5, 2009)

I would suggest measuring out 2 cups of the Acana Grasslands (great food IMO) a day. Set aside 1/4 cup out of the total 2 cups to use as treats during the day. Make the only other treats be something like carrots or frozen green beans. Bananas and other fruit are more caloric and have more sugar.

Feed 1 cup of the Acana at breakfast. Then feed 3/4 cup at dinner. She will have used the other 1/4 cup during the day for treats.

I've always been hesitant to feed less than 2 cups a day long term, because then the appropriate amount of nutrients may not be consumed on a daily basis.

I didn't see it mentioned in any of the posts, but can you increase the exercise level also? That often does as much as food restriction.


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## shortcake23 (Aug 15, 2008)

mayapaya said:


> I am also supplementing with green beans, and have dropped Maya's kibble (Fromm's 4 star) to a cup in the morning and a cup in the evening--she was getting about 2 1/2- 3 cups per day previously, and the vet said he would like to see her weight in the 55- 58 pound range (she was 61 at her last weigh in). The vet said to do this for several months, and when Maya goes back in July, they'll check her again. It doesn't appear that she has lost any weight though to me, and we have been doing this for about a month and a half already. Wondering for any others who have tried to the green bean filler route--how long did it take to drop a few pounds?


Mia was at 62 lbs before this diet and the vet said she'd like to see her around 55 lbs. Since we started several weeks ago Mia's lost some weight. We don't know what she's at today, but at the last vet visit on May 4, she was down to 58 lbs... So I'd think you should have seen a difference by now...


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## shortcake23 (Aug 15, 2008)

mayapaya said:


> Thanks! I think part of the problem is she is getting more treats than usual as well because we are training Payton, and I can't bring myself to not give one to Maya at the same time :no:. Maybe will start working some carrots into the treat rotation and see if I can get Payton to start liking them!


We have that problem too, and it's the biggest contributing factor in Mia's weight gain: the fact that we've had foster dogs, and now Gabby, where we train & treat them often, and we make Mia do something too as she's right there, and we give her a treat.

I started reducing that too though the past few weeks, and when I give a full piece of treat to the skinnier dogs (like Gabby), I'll only give a tiny small piece to Mia. :


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## shortcake23 (Aug 15, 2008)

MyBentley said:


> I would suggest measuring out 2 cups of the Acana Grasslands (great food IMO) a day. Set aside 1/4 cup out of the total 2 cups to use as treats during the day. Make the only other treats be something like carrots or frozen green beans. Bananas and other fruit are more caloric and have more sugar.
> 
> Feed 1 cup of the Acana at breakfast. Then feed 3/4 cup at dinner. She will have used the other 1/4 cup during the day for treats.


That's a good idea. Will start doing that! 



MyBentley said:


> I didn't see it mentioned in any of the posts, but can you increase the exercise level also? That often does as much as food restriction.


We walk the girls every day about 2-3 kilometres (maybe more sometimes), and they get to run around in the yard too a few times a day. We work full-time, so weekends is where we can do a bit more. In the summer time we go to the lake where Mia gets to swim. She often loses some weight come spring & summer time.


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