Fitness Lessons From a Cat | Diet and Exercise | Real Life Fitness | PhitZone

Be a fit cat, not a fat cat!

Our daughters each have a cat. Neither of them are right in the head-the cats, not the kids. Then again, I don’t think I’ve ever had a pet that was “normal”. I just realized-maybe it’s me. I digress.

I’ve never really been a cat person. Oddly enough, I do find them interesting. In my observations, I have noticed a few things.

Rest – Cats sleep. A LOT! I don’t know if they ever get deep enough into sleep to reach the REM state. Think about it, ever seen a cat sleep and say, “Aw, he’s dreaming of chasing a rabbit?” I don’t think so. On the other hand, they take a lot of short naps. You know-cat naps.

I wouldn’t recommend avoiding long bouts of sleep every night. But studies have shown that adding a nap during the day improves productivity.

Eat – Don’t start eating cat food. That is not the point. What is the point is that cats are generally finicky eaters. Look, you can drop just about anything on the floor and a dog will inhale it without actually touching it. It really is an amazing spectacle.

Cats on the other hand will sniff it. If it happens to be fish, maybe some kind of dairy product, they’ll think about it. Drop a Twinkie on the ground, and the cat may just give you the finger- or at least the kitty version of the finger, which is to turn around and show you their butt.

You don’t have to be finicky, but learn from the feline, and eat sensibly. Make sure that you have fish and dairy in your diet, and flip off anybody that offers you a Twinkie.

Play – For no apparent reason to us, cats will decide that they have to go over to the other side of the house… right now… really fast. For us, this typically means that the other cat was laying quietly somewhere else, and needed to be chased. Actually, our girls do this also.

The cats will stalk a balled up piece of paper. When the unsuspecting paper isn’t looking, the cat will pounce, swat at it, and then chase it down. This will go on for ten, maybe as long as twenty minutes. The bottom line is that they play.

Taking a timeout from sleeping, and peering out the window, a cat will get it’s exercise by acting like a spaz. It’s good for them, and entertaining for us.

In reality, living like a feline may not give you nine lives, but it may just make your one life sweeter.