Share Tips On How Not To Gain Weight On A Cruise!!!

[lel5344]

and walk...and walk...

 

We walk everywhere on the ship (except for long trips upstairs - knees aren't the best). We walk fore and aft and try to discover every nook and cranny. We try to spend only short periods of time in any one spot, so we have a reason to get up and walk some more.

 

We tend to avoid tours. Instead, we walk in the port cities, doing our own self-guided tours. We try to walk a minimum of 5 miles a day, every day. We'll use treadmills to fill in the gaps.

 

We never eat meals at the buffet (although we're not opposed to ice cream in the afternoon). We eat slowly and leisurely and try to enjoy every bite.

 

We drink lots of water, no soda, very little alcohol (I'll have a glass of red wine before dinner).

[mizLORInj]

I do not east past the "satisfied" point. Not one more bite. Not even the nightly fettucini alfredo (and I don't care for pasta!) our table shares. If I want the pizza, I will have it. Till satisfied. Ice cream? Yup, but only to that point. Discomfort is not worth another bite of anything.

Walk. Use the stairs. Swim. Dance. Sleep!

I have not gained weight on any of my cruises! :D

[usha]

Take the stairs instead of the elevators.

At dinner, eat 1/2 of what's on your plate. You don't have to be a member of the clean plate club.:)

Go dancing after dinner.:D

[PaddleAddict]

Never gained weight on a cruise (and I have to really watch it at home) by following these tip:

 

1. Take the stairs every time.

 

2. Active excursions (snorkeling, kayaking, swimming, hiking, walking).

 

3. No foo-foo drinks. One pina colada can have 350 calories or more. A strawberry margarita can have 550 or more. One drink!

 

4. Hit the gym once or twice.

 

5. Only order desert if I really, really want it (in my case, it has to be something chocolate and decadent or else I pass).

[Mythros]

As others have posted, I always use the stairs - always no matter how high up my cabin is.

 

Also find that the dining room experience is quite good - you end up with well balanced meals - and if you don't order 2 of everything - you will be fine.

 

Also try to pick active excursions instead of motor coach tours.

[Pam in CA]

I never gain weight on a cruise. The secret? I eat whatever I want, just not as much as I want, I never feel like an overstuffed toad this way! :D

Since food is available all of the time, there has never been the need to over eat at meals on a cruise ship.

 

Also, I make sure I am much more active onboard by walking more, swimming more, etc. Instead of sitting for hours with a book, I walk the ship and explore (even on those we have sailed on numerous times before). I can always find something to investigate that I didn't the previous sailings.

 

But I honestly think the clue to balancing the weight is to just not over eat. I never refuse what foods interest me, but I rarely eat it all. Total self control with those amounts is the clue on this end.

I do exactly the same thing as Toto: I never gain weight on a cruise and usually lose weight. On My 31-day cruise in April/May, I lost 7 lb; on my 10-day cruise in July, I stayed the same.

 

Like Toto, I eat everything I want but don't finish anything. That includes having all five courses at dinner. If I'm no longer hungry, I don't have anything else. That's different from feeling full. For dessert, I usually order ice cream and have a spoonful or two. At lunch, I eat lots of fruit and salads (which I love and is no hardship) and for dinner sometimes, I go to the buffet and have a salad and perhaps something else. A few times on my long cruise, we ordered chef's or cobb salads as our entree at dinner. They were fresh and delicious. I'm not a drinker although occasionally I'll have a bloody mary but rarely any other alcohol. Unlike Toto, I love curling up with a good book. :)

[mjfeaster]

Have you ever seen calories listed anywhere?

[Ethel5]

I eat three meals a day in the dining room and never skip desert. I'm a fool for their breads and enjoy it with butter! I usually gain about 3 pounds and as soon as I get home and get rid of the water retention, I lose it. We also have aft cabins and do a lot of walking. I rarely have alcoholic beverages and I try to keep well hydrated.

[KFL]

One sure fire way to lose weight is to catch an intestinal bug (not NORO). It stays with you for awhile and really helps you lose weight.:eek: :eek:

[Sea Hag]

1. Only eat at meal times. Well, maybe afternoon ice cream once.
   
2. Skip the bread
   
3. Take the stairs all the time, and do extra helpings on those instead of food. Go all the way to the bottom of the ship and climb all the way back up to the top. Do that several times each day.
   
4. Do lots of laps outside - this is the part I like best about cruising.
   
5. Only have one dessert at lunch and dinner
   
6. Hold down the calories at breakfast
   
7. If at all possible, do a lot of walking on shore days
   
8. Other than that, eat whatever we like.

[shashi883]

We always take the stairs. We also try to get to the gym a few times during the cruise.

[English Tim]

You go on holiday to enjoy yourself, not be worrying about what you eat. You've got the other 50 weeks to do that!

[MaryPoppinz]

I think I have been in the elevators on Princess twice - once for a picture. So, I'm a big fan of the stairs.

 

My husband will visit the gym, play golf, water excursions, etc. My main exercise is walking. I wear a pedometer and try to walk about 4-5 miles a day...including two laps around the promenade for every meal or snack. In terms of intake, we don't drink any alcohol and only order 2 courses per meal. Soup -or- salad, dessert -or- appetizer.

 

The biggest problem I have is when I return home. Because, at home nobody makes me walk the prom after every meal. ;) I have to be more careful at home than on a cruise.

[usha]

One sure-fire way to keep from putting on weight while cruising:

:eek: WATCH THE WAY THAT SOME OF YOUR FELLOW CRUISERS EAT.:eek:

(You won't be able to eat another bite.)

[NeurosurgeryNP]

Lost two pounds on each of our last two cruises -

 

Unitntentional exercise - you will never find me in the gym on vacation.

 

Snorkeling, Scuba diving, and dancing every night, many nights you'd find us at Skywalkers at 2 AM still dancing.

 

Also - the On Deck for the Cure walk - very good, unplanned exercise for a great cause.

 

Those ar eour tips! Worked for us. We ate and drank not too much out of control - but we did have lots of mixed drinks and beer with a lot of hidden calories, but due to our activities, excursions, and dancing - lost weight anyway!:cool:

[victory2020]

The weekend before & after the cruise I eat All Bran & not much else. Always take the stairs, always get fore or aft cabins, only coffee for breakfast & eat the bread the 1st night only. Use alcohol sparingly.

[dbdave]

Don't eat so much! Leave the heavy eating to the pros, like me.:D

[we2cruze]

Just curious, does anyone else start to get tired of eating so much about week # 2 on a 14 day cruise? I do.

About not overeating... I eat fairly light at breakfast with lots of fruit, yogurt, maybe a croussant, and a little eggs and bacon if going on an all day excursion. At lunch I like the soups and salads. But at dinner, watch out, 'cause I really like all those rich, delicious courses of food. :p Also, I drink a lot of water, with maybe a couple of soda's the whole cruise and no alcohol.

[4cats4me]

I eat plenty when on a cruise, especially for breakfast, because I never

eat breakfast at home except for a banana or a yogurt.

 

I always eat a huge buffet lunch.

 

I eat light at dinner.

 

I drink one or two cocktails a day.

 

I walk the promenade deck equal to about 1 or 1.5 miles,

and also walk around the ship alot during the day as well.

Take the stairs 90% of the time.

 

Usually maintain my weight. Gained 2 pounds once.

[billie5]

I take a dozen foil packets of fat free salad dressing with me for a week long cruise. There are fairly large packets, several ounces of salad dressing I believe, so I only use part of the packet and then discard it. I take a mix of packets: ranch, French, Italian, etc. This way I know I am getting zero saturated fat and I can carefully control the calories, important because I consume a LOT of salads on cruises in order to avoid gaining weight. These non-refrigerated packets can be gotten from a number of online companies; I use minimus.biz myself.

 

Incidentally, Princess is better than some of the other cruise lines. There is not always fat free dressing available -- none for example on Oceania -- sometimes just "light" which is not at all the same. Also, even on Princess there may just be one fat free dressing.

 

Talking about foil packets, on trips by myself (ie, business trips), I pack a number of packets of tuna fish. I believe these contain about 5 ounces of tuna, so just a little less than a can. Then I am always able to skip dinner, just get a little bread and make a pair of tuna sandwiches, which for a tuna lover like me is perfectly satisfying for a quick dinner. Very low on calories and saturated fat, and no need to hunt for a cheap and low calorie restaurants in foreign lands. These packets are available in many grocery stores, although as they have become more popular they are being "fancied up" with additional ingredients that often carry additional calories as well. I am not, incidentally, talking about those tuna fish and crackers packages which have rather little tuna and more junk calories. These are real foil packets with only tuna inside. I have no trouble consuming sandwiches with only the tuna direct from the packet, no mayonnaise needed.

 

Bill

[Pam in CA]

Incidentally, Princess is better than some of the other cruise lines. There is not always fat free dressing available -- none for example on Oceania -- sometimes just "light" which is not at all the same. Also, even on Princess there may just be one fat free dressing.

On my Crown cruise, there were at least 5 different fat-free dressings plus at least 5 regular dressings. The selection was awesome.

 

Just curious, does anyone else start to get tired of eating so much about week # 2 on a 14 day cruise? I do.

Absolutely! On my 31-day Sapphire cruise, we often had just salads for dinner. Some nights, my friend and I ordered room service: soup and a salad. It was delicious and just enough.

[Shoalwater]

My wife and I hit the gym around 0700 for an hour and try to get in a second workout in the afternoon. She walks the treadmill and I like the elliptical. This lets us enjoy the food and adult beverages (in moderation) and gets our day off to a great start. If you think 0700 is early, we both work and our usual wake-up is 0530, so this seems like sleeping in.

[cruisealot54]

"Just curious, does anyone else start to get tired of eating so much about week # 2 on a 14 day cruise?"

 

YES! - After awhile I can't wait to get home and just have a cheese sandwich.

[Essiesmom]

I'm not accustomed to eating three times a day, so at breakfast I stick to yogurt and fruit, perhaps a roll or toast. Lunch, if I have any, will be a salad. Dinner (early seating) would be an appetizer, salad, sometimes soup, entree. Seldom have dessert. I use the stairs as much as possible, although knees sometimes make the elevator necessary. Although I prefer smaller ships, bigger ships are better for weight loss because of all the walking to get anywhere. I lost two pounds on my last cruise (12 nights), and am hoping to double that on my next (32 days). Since I need to lose more, I wonder how much I could lose on a world cruise, and if my doctor could get my health insurance to pay for it...EM

[vandalayceo]

I'm 56.Exercize routine-2 days on, 1 day off at 7:00 am.Run 6 or 7 miles on treadmill (about 1 hour), followed by 30 minutes of weights.

This allows normal breakfast, lying around pool all day if at sea, don't usually want lunch, 2 martinis before dinner, wine with dinner, all five courses in dining room. No gain.