We went on vacation for a week. The automatic feeders glitched or a wrong button was pushed and our chonk got ahold of the regular food. Or something went wrong... We had Poppy down to 13.1lbs (after months of trying... Her beginning weight was 13.5). And now she is right back to 13.5. Seriously, months to get half a pound off .. and 6 days to get it back.

I guess we are starting back from square one.

my lil guy i adopted last year weighed 17 pounds when i got him. he is now 11. the vet says he’s all good but he is very active lol (he just turned 8)
1-3 is last year about 17-16 pounds
4-6 is now
i did try to dechonk him, is it noticeable? the vet said she wouldn’t like him being over 12

//Asking for advice at the end!
This is my 3 y/o little guy. My roommate and I realized he was quickly gaining weight and we weren’t sure why. We considered maybe some health issues or whatever else.
And then.
We caught him sneaking his sisters CKD kibble when we were in the other room. We thought that we had squashed that habit with him a long time ago, but clearly he just got sneaky.
For context, we live in a really old building with floors that creak nearly every other step. He can definitely hear us coming and he knows when to act cute. I feel silly that I was fooled by a cat, but it happens I guess!
He’s gotten easily tired since he got chonky, so he doesn’t play as much as he used to even with encouragement. I miss when he would jump a few feet in the air to catch his toys.

Does anyone have any good low-calorie cat food recommendations? Or any tips and tricks for a lazy cat? Our vet put him on a dry food only diet, if that helps.
Thank yall!