Trying to put one of my cats on a diet without accidentally starving the other one. Any suggestions?

One of my cats (Black Cat) has always had a rather weird looking frame - tiny head, large body, little chicken legs. Apparently this isn't abnormal for some cats, and for awhile, she was at a healthy weight, despite being rather lazy. She has very brief bursts of energy, but mostly prefers to lay near me or play with one of her toys while staying in one place.

Her little brother, on the other hand, was probably the runt of the litter and is very tiny and lithe and kitten-like, despite being 3 years old. (Grey cat)

My roommates and I had a very tight living situation for awhile, and they also have a cat. Black Cat has ALWAYS been a food hog, and will be in your face or around your feet if you have any kind of food nearby. Due to the tight living situation, it was difficult to actually feed the cats properly, so she was basically eating to her hearts content all day, every day while we were at work. She, essentially, became a blob.

Now that we're in a much bigger place, we're cracking down on the cat feedings. Roommates' cat is content to eat in their room, now that we each have our own rooms and doors to close. Mine have their bowls on my side of the apartment as well.

I'm trying to get her weight down, but it's a bit difficult because if there's food out, Black Cat will eat it until it's gone. Gray Cat is a grazer and eats whenever his whims deem it necessary.

I've tried the following so far:

• Putting bowls far apart and putting the food in Black Cat's bowl first. She always runs over to eat from the other bowl and has to be carried back to hers.
• Locking Grey Cat up to eat his food. He just goes apeshit about being shut away in a room because of his grazing habits. Isn't very food motivated at all.
• Giving Black Cat significantly less food, only enough to just barely cover the bottom of her bowl, twice a day. She just goes for her brother's food.

I thought about an automatic feeder, but that still wouldn't fix the problem because Black Cat would happily eat both of their portions without a care in the world.

Would one of those spiral - looking dog bowls where the animal has to work for the food be better? I don't know if they have cat versions of the same. Or....any other suggestions?

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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/ceswxl/trying_to_put_one_of_my_cats_on_a_diet_without/