Eating wisely In the MDR

Fully planning to enjoy our Panama trip, but don’t want to pay tooooo high a price in weight gain. Wondering about ideas for menu selecting. Will up the activity, but mainly want ideas on food. I remember awhile ago you could order a side dish of steamed veggies to the table to eat instead of the sauced ones often served. Can you still do this!? How about asking for no extra sauces, and can you get a big green salad even if it is not on the menu instead of the offered appies and soups etc. Don’t want to burden our waitstaff, it do ant to eat as carefully as I can. Know it would be better in Lido, but like the MDR ambiance for dinner. Thanks to any who help me out.

DH orders off the regular menu and either loses or maintains his weight. He chooses lots of fish with the occasional prime rib. On the buffet he has a salad and a bit of protein. Last few cruises he had no sweets except for fruit.

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Choose what you’d eat at home to maintain or take off weight.

Muffin, are you on the Miracle leaving Saturday? My tip is you do not have to finish every plate. My wife is somewhat vegetarian, she eats fish, and never has a problem getting extra veggies. Everything your asking should be allowed, the servers are very accommodating.

Personally, we think going on a cruise is terrible time to be on a diet or try to eat "sensible" or cutting back on savory sauces, lol.

Our strategy is to cut back & lose 5 lbs before the cruise, go and enjoy the cruise, gain a lb a day, & lose 5 lbs after the cruise.

Of our 30+ cruises so far, we teach our kids to:

- continue our daily workouts in the gym

- do a couple of miles on the outdoors track & get fresh air

- never ever take the elevators, stairs only

- do active excursions: walk the beach, walk the port towns, etc

- participate in the sports tournaments: ping pong, basketball, shuffleboard, etc

Foodwise, we try to practice portion control. Us 4 try to order everything on the menu that we want to try, but only eat half portion & share other half. That way, you can either try twice as many items or half the calories. We try to cut back on carbs & not touch the breads & butter. There's always fish, chicken & steak protein options, add salad, & ask for broiled or grilled instead of fried or heavy sauced. The menu has healthy items marked.

& the most important rule is: Only ONE chocolate melting cake for desert!!!

I did not eat any different than I would at home and include lots of stairs in my day (never take the elevator on a ship for the whole week). Also keep my same gym routine for the week as when I am home.

Kale salad, or arugula or green salad is always one of the choices in apps. You can always get fish or salmon, grilled chicken as your protein and yes you can get extra veggies. Just ask the are pretty accommodating. You can get one of the salads as a meal with protein added. Have done this on past cruises.

OP, Thank you for voicing my concern. After eating a low carb /high protein diet and maintaining a 100+ lb weight loss for 3 years...the idea of scrapping my healthy lifestyle simply because I'm on a cruise is out of the question for me. I maintain my lifestyle on a land vacay, so my thoughts are why should a cruise be any different? I guess it's a mindset thing. I agree with the suggestions of continue what you are doing in regular life (i.e. Wise food choices, remaining active, and portion control). I think you will be fine :)

You can also ask for fresh fruit for dessert. They always have a sugar free dessert and you can always get a scoop of sherbet and fruit. Plenty of good options in dining room

I will start by saying we are all different in how we react to food and how we eat in our daily life.

That being said I have never gained weight on a cruise, and all but one actually lost weight. I tend to be much more active on a cruise than I can be day - to - day due to too much sitting at a desk or in meetings at work. I also find that the portion sizes are such that if you only have one entree there sin't an issue. There are usually plenty of healthy choices if you want them. The whole "If I go on a cruise I will gain weight" thing is more about people wanting to "get their money's worth" and act like the cruise is a "man vs food" challenge.

I usually get a couple of appetizers, a couple of mains, a martini to start along with either a few glasses of wine or beer, but skip dessert and no sodas. My weight stays the same as when I got on the ship. Typically bounce around the 180lb mark (+/- 2lb). No exercise other than walking around/stairs etc.

Fully planning to enjoy our Panama trip, but don’t want to pay tooooo high a price in weight gain. Wondering about ideas for menu selecting. Will up the activity, but mainly want ideas on food. I remember awhile ago you could order a side dish of steamed veggies to the table to eat instead of the sauced ones often served. Can you still do this!? How about asking for no extra sauces, and can you get a big green salad even if it is not on the menu instead of the offered appies and soups etc. Don’t want to burden our waitstaff, it do ant to eat as carefully as I can. Know it would be better in Lido, but like the MDR ambiance for dinner. Thanks to any who help me out.

You can order any and all menu items without the sauce. DH frequently does this and has never had a problem. (he just doesn't care for sauces on food - not a a weight thing:D ) The waitstaff doesn't look burdened and we like to slip them an extra cash tip (on top of auto grats) at the end of the cruise for their trouble.

There is a Cesar salad offered every night.

If you google Carnival menus you'll find some you can view to get an idea of what's offered. Be sure you look at fairly current menus.

PS .... one of DH's favorite lunches is a salad from the Lido Salad Bar topped with a piece of fresh cooked fish from the buffet line. He uses fresh lemon rather than salad dressing. Low in everything but really tasty.

There are plenty of healthy choices in the MDR and on the buffet and the servers are happy to accommodate your requests.

Fully planning to enjoy our Panama trip, but don’t want to pay tooooo high a price in weight gain. Wondering about ideas for menu selecting. Will up the activity, but mainly want ideas on food. I remember awhile ago you could order a side dish of steamed veggies to the table to eat instead of the sauced ones often served. Can you still do this!? How about asking for no extra sauces, and can you get a big green salad even if it is not on the menu instead of the offered appies and soups etc. Don’t want to burden our waitstaff, it do ant to eat as carefully as I can. Know it would be better in Lido, but like the MDR ambiance for dinner. Thanks to any who help me out.

OP, Thank you for voicing my concern. After eating a low carb /high protein diet and maintaining a 100+ lb weight loss for 3 years...the idea of scrapping my healthy lifestyle simply because I'm on a cruise is out of the question for me. I maintain my lifestyle on a land vacay, so my thoughts are why should a cruise be any different? I guess it's a mindset thing. I agree with the suggestions of continue what you are doing in regular life (i.e. Wise food choices, remaining active, and portion control). I think you will be fine :)

Congrats on your weight losses and attitudes.

When we first started cruising in 2000, it was all about the food and alcohol. 17 years, 26 cruises, and 60+ lbs. down later, cruising is now about relaxing, enjoying time with my husband and friends, visiting exciting places, and escaping freezing cold New England for a week. I still love the food, and realize that maintaining this weight loss is a way of life. Lemon squeezed on fish (like summershigh DH, I don't care for sauces on foods because I like the flavor of food itself.), small amounts of real salad dressing (no fat free nor light with tons of artificial ingredients) on salad, and berries and cream for dessert make me very happy now.

Every night there is a menu page called, "every day" with a section labeled, "mains." There is always a fish, grilled flat steak, and grilled chicken breast, all served with steamed veggies. I have ordered the fish many nights. It's always been delicious, especially the salmon. I've even asked for a double serving of salad, happily served even if not a menu item, to go under the fish.

I've never ordered regular items without the sauces so I can't help there.

Have a great cruise.

Personally, we think going on a cruise is terrible time to be on a diet or try to eat "sensible" or cutting back on savory sauces, lol.

Our strategy is to cut back & lose 5 lbs before the cruise, go and enjoy the cruise, gain a lb a day, & lose 5 lbs after the cruise.

Of our 30+ cruises so far, we teach our kids to:

- continue our daily workouts in the gym

- do a couple of miles on the outdoors track & get fresh air

- never ever take the elevators, stairs only

- do active excursions: walk the beach, walk the port towns, etc

- participate in the sports tournaments: ping pong, basketball, shuffleboard, etc

 

Foodwise, we try to practice portion control. Us 4 try to order everything on the menu that we want to try, but only eat half portion & share other half. That way, you can either try twice as many items or half the calories. We try to cut back on carbs & not touch the breads & butter. There's always fish, chicken & steak protein options, add salad, & ask for broiled or grilled instead of fried or heavy sauced. The menu has healthy items marked.

 

& the most important rule is: Only ONE chocolate melting cake for desert!!!

This is great advise! So love your attitude! Totally agree, for me, walking 20k steps a day on a cruise versus sitting in my office 12 hours a day makes a HUGE difference on what i can eat... enjoy!!!

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One other thing. We find food onboard can be a lot more salty than at home. After a few days at home the water weight is gone.

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Thank you so much! My mind is easy now. The menus I found did not note the “anytimeloptions of fish or chicken which I will use often

My husband and I started a diet about 2 months before a 14 day cruise and I had the exact same concerns because losing weight for me is incredibly difficult. I did pay attention to what I was eating but I did not go overboard.

Breakfast was easy, I just avoided excessive carbs but I did indulge in some chocolate muffins.

Lunch, I usually ate the carved meat or something from the deli. I had unseasoned fries as a side dish from Guy's.

Dinner: I ate whatever dish I wanted typically, ordered broccoli as a side and occasionally had a salad or soup as an appetizer. I had chocolate melting cake twice and had the tropical fruit plate for dessert a few times.

I also snacked on some cookies during the day. I avoided the ice cream, pizza, didn't drink any alcohol, juice, or soda.

By the end of the cruise, I had gained about 3 pounds (remember, two weeks) and it quickly came off after I got home. So my advice is to not sweat it too much. Also, salads end up being high in calories half of the time anyway because of the dressing. You may as well order what you like to eat and remember to drink lots and lots of water.

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Personally, we think going on a cruise is terrible time to be on a diet or try to eat "sensible" or cutting back on savory sauces, lol.

Our strategy is to cut back & lose 5 lbs before the cruise, go and enjoy the cruise, gain a lb a day, & lose 5 lbs after the cruise.

Of our 30+ cruises so far, we teach our kids to:

- continue our daily workouts in the gym

- do a couple of miles on the outdoors track & get fresh air

- never ever take the elevators, stairs only

- do active excursions: walk the beach, walk the port towns, etc

- participate in the sports tournaments: ping pong, basketball, shuffleboard, etc

 

Foodwise, we try to practice portion control. Us 4 try to order everything on the menu that we want to try, but only eat half portion & share other half. That way, you can either try twice as many items or half the calories. We try to cut back on carbs & not touch the breads & butter. There's always fish, chicken & steak protein options, add salad, & ask for broiled or grilled instead of fried or heavy sauced. The menu has healthy items marked.

 

& the most important rule is: Only ONE chocolate melting cake for desert!!!

To us, eating healthily to lose or maintain weight loss is a way of life. We are not on a diet. Hence, we eat not much differently on a cruise than at home.

OK just to be contrary, I'll post my experience when cruising...

I eat terribly!

I eat all the time, I eat stuff I wouldn't normally eat, I will sometimes have 2 apps or 2 entrees if something appeals to me (I don't typically finish both, but if I want to, I do!). I have dessert which I almost NEVER have at home. I'll have a drink or two, again, not something I do at home.

I'm not consciously more active than at home, but I think by its nature the cruise walking and port outings keep me hopping- I definitely don't do the gym onboard!

So on a cruise, I do just what I want. I try not to grossly overeat, because that just makes me uncomfortable, and I don't like being uncomfortable about ANYTHING! And I can honestly say that on the last 5 cruises I haven't gained a pound! So I guess I'm more active onboard than I thought! I will say that I had no issue getting my 5000 steps in by mid-afternoon on the cruise!

Because I'm basically in the mode of 'I don't diet at home, I'm not dieting on vacation', I eat what I want and so far my fluffy 'older than middle age' self hasn't suffered!

OK just to be contrary, I'll post my experience when cruising...

 

I eat terribly!

 

I eat all the time, I eat stuff I wouldn't normally eat, I will sometimes have 2 apps or 2 entrees if something appeals to me (I don't typically finish both, but if I want to, I do!). I have dessert which I almost NEVER have at home. I'll have a drink or two, again, not something I do at home.

 

I'm not consciously more active than at home, but I think by its nature the cruise walking and port outings keep me hopping- I definitely don't do the gym onboard!

 

So on a cruise, I do just what I want. I try not to grossly overeat, because that just makes me uncomfortable, and I don't like being uncomfortable about ANYTHING! And I can honestly say that on the last 5 cruises I haven't gained a pound! So I guess I'm more active onboard than I thought! I will say that I had no issue getting my 5000 steps in by mid-afternoon on the cruise!

 

Because I'm basically in the mode of 'I don't diet at home, I'm not dieting on vacation', I eat what I want and so far my fluffy 'older than middle age' self hasn't suffered!

Your post made me smile. I love your attitude.

You can always order an item without the sauce. You can always get a caesar or kale salad. There are always a couple of veggie sides available. I find I can avoid weight gain by avoiding bread, rice and potatoes while cruising. It sounds a little simplistic, I know. I guess I also do not drink much beer and try to drink mixed drinks that do not have a lot of extra sugary juice in them. But if I avoid the bread, rice and potatoes- I can eat some dessert and snacks without blowing up! When you start to feel full, stop eating. Do not try to clean your plate. It is very easy to control a lot of your food intake in the MDR, except for salt intake. :-)

Your post made me smile. I love your attitude.

Thanks!

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I order the 12 bottles of water pre-cruise to be in my stateroom when I board. Makes it easy to keep to my routine of 16 ounces of water before anything when I wake. All sorts of great suggestions on this thread.

Have a wonderful cruise!

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Sorry to jump in, since we're discussing about ordering in the MDR, I have a question in mind related to this.

Do i look bad if I order more than 1 appetizer/entree/dessert at once?

The reason i asked was because last cruise on the elegant night, I asked for two lobsters 'cause I heard some people on here did the same, our waiter got a chuckle out of it when he heard me, which made me felt embarrassing. Every time after eating in the MDR, we always heading up to the buffet 'cause we're still hungry, 3 small courses were not enough to fill up our bellies:hearteyes: