One of my kitties, whom I refer to as Fat Kitty on this blog, has a bit of a weight problem. He’s always been kind of a big cat. He’s really long and muscular but over the years he’s gotten a little tubby, too. The weight gain started when I got Maya as a kitten. I was feeding her kitten food (i.e. super fatty food) and Fat Kitty decided he wanted to eat it, too. He’s the love of my life and I worry about his health. I’ve tried many times to put him on a diet, to no avail. I’ve never seen any weight loss. Look at how cute he is–and how TINY he was as a kitten!
The other night I was feeding the cats dinner, Healthy Weight food from Costco. Fat Kitty was jumping up and down with excitement. DINNER! FOOD! FEED ME! FEED ME! MEOW!
Seeing the bag of food, it got me thinking. It doesn’t matter if it’s DIET food, if Fat Kitty devours the entire bowl in two seconds and wants more, it’s not going to help him lose weight. And that’s his problem. I may measure out the diet food, but he scarfs it down as fast as he can.
This goes for us, as well. We can think we’re doing well, eating right, but if the portions are out of control there won’t be any weight loss. Watching Fat Kitty snarf down the food reminded me of how important it is to watch portions, eat slower and pay attention to whether or not I’m actually hungry–not just whether there is food right in front of me.
My biggest problem has always been portion control. That’s hard for me. In the beginning, it was because I didn’t know what a serving size was. It sounds really simple, but I just didn’t know. (Why didn’t they teach us this stuff in health class? When I was in school and had to take health, we learned stupid crap I don’t even remember. Why didn’t they teach us what a calorie is, how many calories a day we should be eating, what a portion size is??)
I still struggle with portion control on occasion. Every so often I go back to measuring out my food. It’s a good reminder of what a portion actually is. Sure, eating plain Greek yogurt for a snack is a healthy option, but if I’m REALLY eating 2 portions of it and not counting it that way, the scale will most definitely reflect it. We may lie to ourselves about how many calories we are eating, but the scale will be honest. Always.
Am I tasting my food?
Am I enjoying my food?
Am I savoring each bite?
As for Fat Kitty…I’m trying to teach him portion control (meaning, he eats breakfast and dinner only–which means I have to be strong and not give in to his whining for more food). I’m also trying to get him to slow down while he eats (I try to distract him in between gobbles).
QUESTION: Are you eating a lot of “diet” foods currently? Has this helped you with portion control or hindered you?
Marc
Hi Lisa, hope you are doing great! What an amazing country we live in! Half of the world’s human population isn’t getting enough calories each day, and we have diet pet food for our obese pets. I don’t eat diet food. I’m not sure what your definition of diet food is? Are you talking about products like Lean Cuisine or Weight Watchers dinners? Because I’m not doing that. I have to stay away from restaurants that serve Alfredo dishes when I’m trying to lose weight. The portions on those huge plates are usually 3-4 servings.
Lisa Eirene
Yes, I’ve mused on that before too….so much obesity but starving people elsewhere. Sad.
As for your question, “diet” food meaning the processed, low calorie stuff. I was eating a lot of Lean Cuisines to lose my weight. Those were my dinners! Times have definitely changed now!
Lori
Fat kitty is so cute!!
Our other cat that we had for 18 years was free choice dry food, some daily wet food, snacks (and people food). She was a tiny kitty her whole life. Pixie gets 1/4 can of wet food plus 1/2 cup dry food a day (diet cat food) and no snacks just to maintain her weight now at 11 pounds. The vet said she shouldn’t get any bigger. Poor girl – she has a metabolism like me. Portion measuring and control is a big part of my life, but I am okay with that. Better than being 250 pounds 😀
Lisa Eirene
He’s the light of my life. 🙂 Such a sweetie!
It just goes to show you that genetics make a difference in cats too! My other kitty, Maya, is pretty petite. Pixie looks bigger than 11 pounds but that must be all her hair. 🙂
Roz@weightingfor50
OMG, FK (Fat Kitty) is sooooo cute! (he looks JUST like my tabby Raleigh, who I had for 16 years, and who I still miss all the time) We have the “spirted” Neva now, who is probably about 3, but runs around like a kitten, so she seems to burn off what she eats at the moment. I’m sure when she ‘matures’ we’ll have to watch her, ’cause she sure loves her “noms”. have a great Friday Lisa. (scratches behind the ears to FK)
Lisa Eirene
I will definitely give him some extra scratches from you. 🙂 I’m glad your kitty runs off her food. It’s funny, Fat Kitty is 8 years old but runs around like a crazy kitten too!
Daphne @ Daphne Alive
I wouldn’t say I eat a lot of “diet” foods. I think I just have slowly cut back on the junk so that way I get used to smaller and smaller portions a little bit more easily. For instance I used to use 2 tsp of splenda in every cup of coffee, then I cut it back to 1 tsp of Splenda. Now I use 1 tsp but in a very large mug (about 2 cups of coffee in the mug). So that way it’s a more natural progression and not such a shock.
I very much agree that we should learn about serving sizes and calories in school. But also about the consequences. That way children just don’t memorize the facts for an exam, that way they can apply what they learn. Great post 🙂
Lisa Eirene
Your comment about the coffee is great and makes me think of something I wanted to write about.Thanks!
Cristy
I also have a cat that will eat uncontrolled. One way to get her to slow down was to spread her food over a large counter or baking sheet so she was forced to eat each piece of food individually instead of in gulps from a bowl. Lately to get her to drink more water, I’ve been putting 1/6 cup of food in a flat shallow bowl and filling it with enough water so the food pieces float. It takes her about 15 minutes to eat her food and she now rarely vomits it from eating too fast or too much. Maybe one of these will work for your furbaby 🙂
Lisa Eirene
YOU ARE BRILLIANT!!! Oh my gosh, this might just be the answer. I’ll try the tray thing tonight. Thanks!
Cristy
I hope it works for you! Please let me know if it does 🙂
Lisa Eirene
IT WORKS! I put the dry cat food on a plate and Fat Kitty stared at me like “wtf is this?!” but it slowed him down so much. He eats a few bites and walks away.
Cristy
YAY YAY YAY! That makes me so happy! And it’s awesome he is walking away after a few bites, like it changing a habit! So great!!
Lisa Eirene
I can’t believe something so simple is working. Let’s see if in time he figures out a way around it. 😉
Bonny
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Phillius Thomas
I like those three questions! Most of the time I think I would answer at least the first two with a yes. The third one is harder. If only cats could ask themselves these questions. At that point they could diet themselves, at least a little bit.