How can I avoid gaining weight on my next cruise?

[WendyJo]

On every previous cruise I have come home with a weight gain even though I tried to order mostly spa menu selections and limited how much dessert I ate. What are your tips for not gaining weight on a cruise?

[psbtrvlr]

Stay away from the elevators and take the stairs.

[nml]

We use the stairs, and walk a minimum of 3 miles a day on the promenade. It helps to control the amount of weight we gain.

[dulcimergirl]

Yep, I'm a stairwalker also. Plus, I think alot of the weight is water, as the food is a tad salty and I tend to bloat. I try to take a "water" pill every day, and that helps. Might check with your dr to be sure it's safe for you. Lots of walking, and not much sitting should do it.

I limit myself to one dessert a meal... LOL Of course, I might have a meal every 3 hours or so... LOL

[chipmaster]

Calories in > Calories expended = weight gained :mad:

 

Being mindeful of eating is only half of it. Burning what you eat is the other half. Being on a ship where there is little to do makes that hard; walking, skipping the elevator, hitting the gym and running a few miles all will help.

 

 

FWIW I always come back heavier too, that is sadly one of the highlights ;)

[GlendaleCruiser]

We walk every day and that's why I like the Lanai on the Dream. It just goes round and round and round............also take the stairs. Sometimes stairs bother my knees, but not on the cruise ships for some reason. Either the height of the riser or the carpeting. We book excursions that involve a lot of walking. Last year we climbed the steps of the Duomo in Florence (500+ steps?) and next year we are climbing the Tower of Pisa. Lots of our tours involve walking from place to place.

 

Also, I agree that a lot of it is water weight--I can see it in my ankles and that goes away.

 

But all in all, I'm not giving up my Warm Chocolate Meltiing Cake or my Grand Marnier Souffle or my Bitter n' Blanc.

:D

[STARFISH*4]

my last two cruises other than swollen ankles and feet i actually lost weight and nope i didnt starve myself...lol..i ate quite good....

i think just dont OVEREAT...some (like hubby) see ALL THAT FOOD and its FEAST time!!

[mgm61]

my last two cruises other than swollen ankles and feet i actually lost weight and nope i didnt starve myself...lol..i ate quite good....

i think just dont OVEREAT...some (like hubby) see ALL THAT FOOD and its FEAST time!!

 

 

My hubby is just dreaming of all the food he can have lol:rolleyes:

[Essiesmom]

Get a cabin that is far forward...so you have a long way to walk to get anywhere! Take the stairs. Eat salad first. EM

[moopig]

I find I eat less when I eat in the dining room as opposed to the buffet.

[paul929207]

Like the others above, try not to go overboard with the food, never take an elevator, and walk alot on the walking track daily, unless we have an early tour and in many ports.

[flamomo]

Except for some fluid retention, evidenced by foot and ankle swelling, I don't have a problem with weight gain, even in 14 day cruises. We book cabins near the aft of ships, and as a result have to do quite a bit of walking to get wherever we want to go onboard. We eat in the dining room, so portions are controlled, as opposed to going to the buffet and taking some of everything that looks good.

I swear it's not only the salt in the food .... it's the salt in the sea air. LOL Breathing that in must add to the sodium level of my blood. Of course, there's no scientific proof of my theory ... just my looking for a way to explain what happens.

[griffy116]

I used to always have a great plan for how I would avoid weight gain, such as limiting my food intake, using the stairs, walking more.

 

I have discovered that I am a very lenient person. Punishment is just not in my nature when I'm on a cruise. I refuse to limit myself when I see a wonderful dessert, 2 appetizers that appeal to me, frozen drinks by the pool, ice cream in the middle of the day. I've come to accept that I need to wear a looser garment on the last night. As long as I don't have to resort to a bed sheet for the last formal night, I don't beat myself up about the weight gain. I'm satisfied that I can get rid of the extra pounds once I'm home and don't have these temptations. I'm weak...what can I say :D.

[DolceVita2]

Hi, What I did is I diet before the cruise. I have lost 12 lbs in the last month. So now I know I can eat during the cruise and I will still fit in my pants at the end of the week.....Try the ''Protal'' diet from Dr. Dukan. You can eat as much as you want......silly hein ? But ou have to eat for the first days or week ( depend on how much you want to loose) ONLY and ONLY proteins such as turkey, beef, eggs, fish, etc.....Google Dr. Dukan and the rest is very easy. Another tips is try to take Apple cider vinegar pills (2-3) every time ou eat. It's help burning the fat in your body.

Cheers, ;)

[Taxguy77]

Restaurant meals are notorius for the sodium, causing water retension among other things.

Eat slowly to let the stomach keep up with amount and not still feel empty even though it's getting full.

Don't eat anything "just because it's there", it's OK to leave some on your plate.

Normally waistbands stretch a little between washings, but on cruiseships they shrink! :( It's the salt air. :) (That's my story and I'm sticking to it! :cool:)

[Abear2]

The only thing that has worked for me is... Not to go on the cruise !!! LOL;):D Just kidding of course. I love cruises and I love to eat, so I always gain weight. End of story ! :p

[cb at sea]

Simply eat wisely...just because it's there, doesn't mean you have to eat it! Small portions, limit desserts and ALCOHOL!!!!! Lots of calories in booze!

[aohkay]

On our last crusie, we ate a very sensible breakfast (mostly fruit), we normally didn't have lunch, or if we did, it was a light lunch ashore. Wine and appy's on our balcony in the afternoon and wine/ dinner in the evening. I'm not a big dessert person. We'd then dance the night away in the disco. (We were often the only ones up there, but we had FUN! :D

 

We never, never, never take the elevator with the exception of embarkation and disembarkation.

 

Drink lots of water.

 

I lost 5 pounds:p The weight loss has encouraged me to keep going with it and eat sensibly and excercise. I am now going to the gym 3 times a week!

[crenee44]

We like to order a healthy breakfast from room service the night before. That we get the day off to a good start and aren’t tempted by the goodies on the buffet.

[marshhawk]

I've been doing the biggest loser diet and have gone from 195 to 160, in 8 months and holding for several months/ eat 5 times a day, but, BUT each meal(and they are smaller than what I used to eat) must have a protein, had to get rid of the butters and breads, but I do get in a dessert or two. Stairs, drink water, and don't do the buffet.:D

[babyzoomer]

DH and I have both been on WW for about 4 months and have a 15 day cruise next month. I've been freaking out about it a little, but then I realized that even when we go out to eat, we've changed our eating habits so much that we eat less without thinking about it.

 

We made the decision to ENJOY our cruise, and the great thing about WW is that you can literally eat anything. Just be aware and balance what you eat. We plan to continue our morning walks, and we will try to focus on increasing the amount of fruits and veggies. We will eat anything that appeals to us, but we don't have to eat the whole thing!

 

Our experience is that we do get some water weight gain when we eat out...hey, the restaurants want to make the food yummy, not healthy. But keep drinking water and walk a lot, it will go away fast.

 

All that being said, we will eat, drink and be merry, and get back to the weight loss when we get home.

[jobythebay]

The only thing that has worked for me is... Not to go on the cruise !!! LOL;):D Just kidding of course. I love cruises and I love to eat, so I always gain weight. End of story ! :p

 

Life is too short. We indulge!! The weight can wait until we are on land.

[staygulf]

On our last crusie, we ate a very sensible breakfast (mostly fruit), we normally didn't have lunch, or if we did, it was a light lunch ashore. Wine and appy's on our balcony in the afternoon and wine/ dinner in the evening. I'm not a big dessert person. We'd then dance the night away in the disco. (We were often the only ones up there, but we had FUN! :D

 

We never, never, never take the elevator with the exception of embarkation and disembarkation.

 

Drink lots of water.

 

I lost 5 pounds:p The weight loss has encouraged me to keep going with it and eat sensibly and excercise. I am now going to the gym 3 times a week!

 

That's unbelievable ! You mean you walk up and down between,say,14-16 decks, thats over 20 flights of stairs. How do you keep that up ?

[hkolln]

Well I've lost 70 lbs since our last cruise in March of 2009....My trick is eat LOTS of veggies, drink tons of water, and excercise...and portion control is key! I have an application on my Iphone for keeping track of my calorie intakes which helps alot!

 

I am going to try very hard to not gain anything this upcoming cruise in March. Right now I'm working on maintaining my current weight loss and so far so good! I have a treadmill here...so I'll be walking on the deck and visiting the gym while there at least every other day. Also, our tours we have planned are walking tours in 2 of the 4 ports so that will get our kids out walking too.

 

Also like others said NO elevators! Use the stairs...walk walk walk and take the long way if you have to. And once in awhile splurging on something sweet won't hurt but make sure you work that off too or it will catch up with you!

 

Good luck!

[twocruzin]

We've been on ten cruises now. On our first, we gained 10 pounds. Then we got smart and decided to use the stairs whenever we changed decks on the ship. That worked. On all our subsequent cruises we have not gained any weight and we have not cut back on what we eat - we enjoy all the cruise ship has to offer. At first those stairs may cause your legs to ache a bit, but just take your time and stick with it and it will get easier. Good luck.