Watching your weight on a cruise
by Tim Larison
As a lifetime member of Weight Watchers, I always find it a challenge to avoid gaining weight on a cruise. On my first few cruises I found I would gain 7 to 10 pounds each with each trip! Since then I have done much better, and I offer a few tips below to keep the cruise weight gain in check.
1. Don’t count calories or points, but make good choices. Let’s face it. With all the good food offered on a cruise, it is going to be tough to stick to the diet you have back home. Accept this, and try to make healthy choices when eating on a cruise. See the plate above? This was my plate on one of my first cruises, a NCL cruise to Hawaii, after sampling their chocolate buffet. I really didn’t need that much chocolate, but could have taken a piece or two instead. Nowadays when I cruise I try to order sugar free desserts at dinner, eat salads in the buffet at lunch, and try to pick healthy choices for my main entree in the dining room. Most cruise lines offer a few “light” selections at meal times in their dining rooms.
2. Exercise! Modern cruise ships have workout areas onboard. Not into working out? There are still many options for keeping in shape. On my recent cruises I always try to use the stairs instead of taking the elevator. On our last cruise our stateroom was on deck 1 of a 12 deck ship – that resulted in lots of stair climbing! Also most cruise ships have a promenade deck where you can walk around the ship. I like to get up early and walk a few laps around the ship. Then I am energized and ready to go for the rest of the day.
3. When you get back home, return to your normal eating patterns right away. It is easy to fall into bad eating habits on a cruise, with desserts available at every meal, free ice cream, etc. On my first few cruises, I enjoyed the “feasting” I had on the cruise, and kept right on feasting after I got home for a week or two! This added to my weight gain. Now I get right back to my normal routine when I get back home. As a weight watcher member I try to weigh in that first week back home and get back on the program, and I resume my morning exercise routine (5 mile bike rides for me most mornings) immediately.
Do I still gain weight when I take a cruise? Sure do – but the weight gain now is more manageable and I find I can quickly return to my “pre-cruise” weight by following the above guidelines. Instead of gaining 7 to 10 pounds on a 7 night cruise, on our recent 2 week European cruise I only gained 3 pounds, and quickly lost those after we returned home.