Cruise Eating

Enjoy yourself.

To counter that, I would say I found the dining room on the last cruise to have immense portions. I actually ate less at the buffet when people weren't staring at me to choose a starter, main, and dessert (and comvincing me to get dessert every time). I could literally have a little bit of everything, and mostly fruits & veggies.

I actually end up losing weight on cruises, even going to the buffet. I actually find the buffet easier because I can control what I eat, and how much I eat. Even in the dining room in the evening, knowing that there isn't a large dining bill coming at the end makes it easier for me to not finish everything. On all of our cruises (we've only been on RC) there are always menu notations on the low calorie/low fat options, even on the dessert menu Most importantly, have fun, take the stairs and explore all of the ship!!!

randomtai wrote: »

Enjoy yourself.

This.

On both of my cruises (both party style, rather than traditional), I would typically eat lunch on the deck where they served pizza and burgers, and I would go to the restaurants for dinner. Typically ate the buffet for breakfast.

Don't feel obligated to eat everything you take or are served. This will keep portions under control and you can enjoy the food.

For me I would just enjoy and would try to not go with the whole 24/7 eating, follow my usual eating habits of 3 main meals and an afternoon snack.
But seriously enjoy and don't feel guilty!

As others said enjoy yourself first and foremost - all that food available is just fabulous, speaking from experience I usually gain 7lbs on a 2 week cruise but in recent years I be a little more mindful, I enjoy everything I just watch portion sizes and came back recently from one with just a 2lb gain. For me personally its hard to lose pounds gained on holiday so I prefer to be more mindful these days. I would say though, if its a one off just enjoy it and you can tackle any gain when you return.

And the dining room is where you get the most fabulous food but in small portions, I never hold back there - its just too wonderful to pass up

While it's important for overall health to eat reasonably and get some exercise each day - there is no point to doing that if you aren't going to enjoy your life. Just make reasonable choices but don't worry about it the whole time, it will ruin your trip.

I just got back from a cruise. I always took the stairs, never the elevator, and I used the gym facility. My excursions were pretty active. I ate sensibly from the buffet for breakfast and lunch. For supper, I ate in the dining room, had all three courses of whatever I wanted, and I drank like 2-3 beers per day or maybe rum and pineapple juice. I gained maybe three pounds while I was gone, but I was on vacation and needed a break. I got back Saturday and I've already lost two of those pounds.

do walking laps around the boat every day to burn those extra calories off.

Ellitamaria wrote: »

Hello!

I am going to be going on a cruise next week (first time) and that means tons and tons of food! Any tips and suggestions on how to make the best choices possible?

I went on a 7 day cruise...and after every meal, I walked all the decks which took 40 minutes.
I ate most anything I desired, and after 7 days all I gained was 5 pounds.
We had a great time, and I deprived myself of nothing.
Sometimes life is to be lived.

have a great cruse!

With 10 cruises under my belt and the next one at the end of the month, this is what I've found helps:

1) When going through the buffet, make a "reconnaissance" first. Walk around and see what's available. Then you'll have an idea of what you want to get once you've picked up your plate.

2) DON'T stack your plate high. The ship isn't going to run out of food while you're sitting at your table. Eat what you want, but get small amounts of it. If you're still hungry or found you really liked something, you can always walk through the line, again. Having to walk through gives you a better chance to assess if you're REALLY hungry, wanting to try new foods (always a good idea), or just bored.

3) Be careful with the alcohol. I'll admit that one of the first things I do when I get on board and I'm waiting for the staterooms to open is get a drink. There are lots of great drinks to try, so go ahead. But it's important to pace yourself because the bars are open most of the day and it's easy to keep consuming those liquid calories. (Plus, your wallet will thank you. Drinks can easily run up to $10 - $13 for the fancier ones.)

4) Try to incorporate some physical activity in your day. The ships I've been on have running tracks on the top decks, and I like to walk a few laps or a mile after my meals and take in the sights and sounds. Walking tours in port are also a way to be active with little effort. If you're feeling particularly gung-ho, you can try more overt fitness activities like gym classes, very physical activities on-shore, etc.

5) Tying in with #4: Use the stairs when you can. You're on vacation. There's no need to rush around. You can afford to take a couple minutes to use the stairs instead of the elevator. Besides, with all the people on the ship who are trying to use them, the elevators aren't necessarily any faster.


This last one is the most important:

6) RELAX.

HAVE FUN.

YOU'RE ON VACATION.

Seriously. Just have fun. In my adult life, cruising is as close to how life was as a carefree kid on summer break as it gets. Make sure you're on the ship on time, dress yourself, and everything else is pretty much taken care of for you. Someone else drives, someone else cleans, someone else cooks, someone else prepares the activities, etc.

If I were to say there was a good time to throw caution to the wind, vacation would be it, and ESPECIALLY cruises. Yes, you might put on some weight. But it won't likely be that much. I've rarely seen the scale move up more than 5 pounds, and I've been on 10-night cruises, before. But the best part is that a cruise is (likely) SO different from your regular life that it will be easy to leave "calorie-heavy" habits on the ship and resume your healthier ones when you get back home.

abatonfan wrote: »

karyabc wrote: »

fjrandol wrote: »

What cruise line are you taking?

We were on Celebrity in December, and the ship had a breakfast/lunch restaurant geared specifically towards healthy dining - fresh fruit smoothies, poached salmon, etc. It really made a difference in helping avoid the bloat typically associated with cruising.

If you have traditional dining, you also have the option of ordering appetizers as your entrée, or ordering off menu. Our dining menus also indicated which options were of the healthier sort.

Many lines also offer complementary room service, and ordering in for coffee/fruit/poached eggs early in the morning also helped us to keep from overeating when faced with the bacchanalia of treats that is the buffet. Be smart, keep tracking, and don't be afraid to treat yourself occasionally. After all, it is a vacation!

Huh? I really do not understand how people can keep tracking while in a cruise?
Is the feeling of oh I'm tracking so I must be doing it ok that works or the fear to see those mfp red numbers, cause I would assume that the rate of inaccuracy would be up in the sky

I view vacations as a test to see how accurate my visual estimation skills are. I log what I think my portions are (due to a medical condition, I still need to count carbs), base my insulin dosage off the carb count, and then get feedback within 1-4 hours with regards to how accurate I was. If my blood sugar shoots into the 300s an hour after eating, I know I underestimated, while I know I overestimated if my blood sugar drops below target. Once I get home, I wait a few days (to account for water weight) and weigh myself to see again how accurate I was in my logging.

I undestand, under your medical circumstances , you've develop habits that totally works for you. I too go with the visual estimation skills not just on vacation but when eating out, I just couldn't see my self logging while on a cruise, I would have a hard time, guess it works just fine for others.

csuhar wrote: »

karyabc wrote: »

Huh? I really do not understand how people can keep tracking while in a cruise?
Is the feeling of oh I'm tracking so I must be doing it ok that works or the fear to see those mfp red numbers, cause I would assume that the rate of inaccuracy would be up in the sky

It depends on how comfortable you are with the W.A.G. (Wild A**ed Guess) approach you are. You're right that it's likely to be way off. You don't know how the food was prepared or anything like that, and the only nutrition labels I've ever seen were on the back of the beer bottles.

When I do track, it's more a matter of simply keeping myself conscious of what I'm eating more than any effort to accurately track actual calories.

Awesome, that makes sense!

robspot wrote: »

This thread is HORRIBLE!

I haven't been on a cruise since 2006. I really wanna go

Me too.

karyabc wrote: »

fjrandol wrote: »

What cruise line are you taking?

We were on Celebrity in December, and the ship had a breakfast/lunch restaurant geared specifically towards healthy dining - fresh fruit smoothies, poached salmon, etc. It really made a difference in helping avoid the bloat typically associated with cruising.

If you have traditional dining, you also have the option of ordering appetizers as your entrée, or ordering off menu. Our dining menus also indicated which options were of the healthier sort.

Many lines also offer complementary room service, and ordering in for coffee/fruit/poached eggs early in the morning also helped us to keep from overeating when faced with the bacchanalia of treats that is the buffet. Be smart, keep tracking, and don't be afraid to treat yourself occasionally. After all, it is a vacation!

Huh? I really do not understand how people can keep tracking while in a cruise?
Is the feeling of oh I'm tracking so I must be doing it ok that works or the fear to see those mfp red numbers, cause I would assume that the rate of inaccuracy would be up in the sky

Even estimation is more accurate than not thinking about it at all for most people. Personally, looking at a my vacation lunch and saying "Well, this chicken is probably 400 calories, these vegetables are probably 150, and that sauce is at least another 200, this is likely at least an 800-900 calorie meal" and having that in my head is a lot better than just going hogwild on the buffet and not guessing, because then I can say "Well, I've probably had about 1300 calories already today so I should have a light dinner tonight." It's not perfect but it works a lot better for some people than just pigging out for a week as it at least mitigates some of the caloric damage.