Dieting in Disney World

Pseudocyber

I'm on day 3 of my 50th Birthday vacation present to Disney World, day 44 of diet. I was worried about coming here and being tempted to go off diet. My plan was to get up early and use the fitness center in the resort (which is awesome at the "Boardwalk" resort).

But, doing so much walking, it hasn't been necessary. I'm using runkeeper to log walks between front of park, between rides, etc. I'll pause it, or not, and it's logging distance, and IOS is logging some steps. Runkeeper is figuring about an average 1000 cal./day. I'm even having 2-3 beers per day, a roll with dinner, and I usually order a desert (on pre-paid meal plan) and eat about 25% of it and pass it over to my family. I'm still coming in under about 500-600 cal!!!

All the walking is adding 1000 cal to my "budget" for the day, and I can "enjoy" being on vacation, and still be under total cal for the day!

I'll come back and update with a before and after weight, to ensure the targeting and forecasting and reporting is accurate.

PC.

kkress92

Great to hear! We are headed to WDW in a couple of weeks and while I'm looking forward to a vacation, I'm down 10lbs. and planning to lose 20 more. Managed to continue losing over Xmas and New Year's, but am slightly concerned about having to estimate ALL of my calories for the week. Wishing you well

CMNVA

The last time I was at WDW, I lost 5 lbs. That was the first trip that I lose weight on. I was not strictly dieting at the time, but my previous trips had been "gorge" fests that left me feeling awful (digestively) for weeks afterwards. I decided that this time I was going to be more mindful. So I truly ate very normal meals/portion sizes. Even if a paid a lot of money for the meal if it was, say, a buffet, I just never overdid it. If I didn't like something on my plate, I didn't force it. If I felt full I stopped and gave the rest to someone else in my party. I didn't buy a Mickey Bar *every day*. Also, due to having some inner ear issues, I didn't ride as many rides a normal, so when my family was on those rides, I was literally fast walking/jogging across the park to get fast passes then walking back. I did a TON of walking when everyone was on rides. Came back, lost 5 lbs, and my shorts were falling down!

VintageFeline

I went last year and paid no mind to what I ate (I was a year into losing though so was happy to take a break) and only gain 1-2lbs of actual fat. Had I stuck to water and not all the yummy frozen drinks I probably would have gained nothing. It's one holiday where you can totally splurge and it have minimal impact!

mccraee

The walking is great. I have never had a problem splitting whole meals or desserts and they will allow you to bring your own snacks & water bottles into the parks. They will even refill your water bottles at the food stands

Pseudocyber

I walked Boardwalk to Hollywood Studios this morning - and it's only about 1/2 mile. You could easily take a leisurely stroll from France in World Showcase, past Boardwalk, to Hollywood Studios and it's not even a full mile.

VintageFeline

Pseudocyber wrote: »

I walked Boardwalk to Hollywood Studios this morning - and it's only about 1/2 mile. You could easily take a leisurely stroll from France in World Showcase, past Boardwalk, to Hollywood Studios and it's not even a full mile.

? But how did you get to France in WS, teleportation? And you just went and stood outside HS? Not sure the point being made here..........

songbird13291

Pseudocyber wrote: »

I walked Boardwalk to Hollywood Studios this morning - and it's only about 1/2 mile. You could easily take a leisurely stroll from France in World Showcase, past Boardwalk, to Hollywood Studios and it's not even a full mile.

When I stayed at Boardwalk with my kids, we always took the boats, thought we did enough walking inside the parks. When I stayed at Beach Club with a friend, we walked to EPCOT but not to the Studios. We were under the impression that there wasn't a decent path to walk on. I'll have to keep it in mind for next time.

Are Belle and the Beast showing in in France these days?

jelleigh

My sister lost 10 lbs on our one week at Disney and we were NOT watching what we were eating at all! My phone was saying we were hitting 25-40000 steps a day! What a fun way to get exercise in!!

VintageFeline

songbird13291 wrote: »

Pseudocyber wrote: »

I walked Boardwalk to Hollywood Studios this morning - and it's only about 1/2 mile. You could easily take a leisurely stroll from France in World Showcase, past Boardwalk, to Hollywood Studios and it's not even a full mile.

When I stayed at Boardwalk with my kids, we always took the boats, thought we did enough walking inside the parks. When I stayed at Beach Club with a friend, we walked to EPCOT but not to the Studios. We were under the impression that there wasn't a decent path to walk on. I'll have to keep it in mind for next time.

Are Belle and the Beast showing in in France these days?

There's a back entrance in Epcot and a footpath alongside where the boats run. Have a look on Youtube, there's a vloggers who have used this path.

Emily3907

Now I really want a Disney trip and I just got back a little over 2 months ago! I love the Boardwalk! I got married there! Along with walking to HS and Epcot, we also use our park hoppers to walk through Epcot and hop the monorail to MK. I hate the Disney buses, so anytime I can avoid them I do. The Boardwalk, YC, BC, Swan and Dolphin are great for that.

Anyways, Disney has really upped their game with the food over the years. It is so much easier to eat healthy and reasonably while there with all the options they have and then top off that meal with a Mickey bar or Dole Whip.

I could really go for a Napoleon from the France bakery right now.

Pseudocyber

If you stay at Dolphin, Swan hotels, Boardwalk, Beachclub, Yachtclub - there's a walkway between "France" and "UK" in world showcase (aka Epcot) - that you can enter/exit Epcot to the hotels. It's about 1/2 mile walk from them to the entrance. And, there's a walkway from them to Hollywood Studios. From the Boardwalk, it's about 1 mile walk to Hollywood Studios - which my family can walk in about 20 minutes - which may be quicker than waiting, boarding, disembarking from transportation, and you burn some calories to "eat" while you're at it.

On a side note: not exercising - but there's a new "Express Transportation Service" that is about $100 extra for the week - this is a bus that picks up and drops off INSIDE the parks. This means go through ticketing and security ONE TIME, then you can take the Express to "park hop". Epcot, under the ball. Animal Kingdom, outside safari ride. Hollywood Studios - next to Rock Rollercoaster. Magic Kingdom by Space Mountain. It's brand new - in a "trial period" while Disney waits to see how it's received. We liked it - sometimes you wait - but that's just how the busses run. At least there's someone there telling you when the next one is coming. And it's nice that you can plan your rides, activities and wind up at a "pick up point" to "hop" to the next park. Also, right now, they're typically not crowded. Note - they don't go to hotels - only between parks.

Eating - one of my favorite places was Tusker House (Animal Kingdom) - it's great buffet. So, with willpower, it's easy to eat what you want (meat, veggies) and avoid what you don't want (carbs - bread, pasta, rice, sweets) (low carb diet).

kkress92

Got back yesterday, and nervously got on the scale this am.... only up 3 lbs.! I tried to make "smart" choices for breakfast and lunch, and then allowed myself to indulge at dinner. I'm guessing that I mostly ate at maintenance each day and that the extra weight is merely water from the extra carbs/salt/air travel, so yay! Now to get back on track

Athijade

I never gain at Disney. I always seem to loose and I don't really pay too much attention to what I am eating.

VintageFeline

I'm going on a little over two months again. I'll probably forgo a lot of the sweet drinks I had last time (though will of course be having the PB&J milkshake at least twice). I came back to about a 2lb gain. I'll be interested to see what happens this time!