I set out on my first cruise ever with the best intentions - I would eat healthy, forgo desserts and hardly drink any alcohol. Yeah.....right! Once I realized the sheer amount of (free!) food available to me, all those resolutions went right out the window!
So I gave myself permission to eat what I wanted but added these ten tweaks to my daily schedule. I was amazed that I came back without gaining a pound1 (and my butt was the most toned it has ever been:)
Here is what I did:
As soon as we got on board, my boyfriend and I committed to only take the stairs instead of the elevator. Since our room was on the third deck and the restaurants and everything else on floors 5-8, we figured that with at least five trips up and down a day, we were averaging about 1000 stairs a day! (Hence the toned butt:)
2) Use the Gym
On our seven day cruise, three of those days were spent out at sea leaving us with lots of free time. I don't usually go to a gym to workout, so I am always excited to use all the cool machines. It helped that the view from the elliptical was amazing! We worked out for an hour and then used the pool to cool off (we were in Alaska so it was literally cool!) and the hot tub to soothe our tired glutes.
3) Walk the Deck
This was our first cruise, so I don't know if other ships have this, but the deck that our room was on was basically a well maintained teak track. There was a sign that said 3.5 times around the deck was equal to one mile. We would usually walk it before breakfast and later in the afternoon or after dinner so that would mean we walked about 3 miles a day. It was a great way to get some fresh sea air and see the views from all sides of the ship too.
4) Get Out For Excursions
When the ship docks at a port, there are many excursions offered that you can take as an alternative to walking around the town shopping. Some of the excursions include some kind of physical activity. A favourite one we did was hiking up to a glacier and seeing a waterfall. Other excursions offered kayaking or cycling. Excursions can be pricey but they do offer a once in a lifetime experience to interact with the areas you are visiting up close. And life should be measured by the experiences you have and not the things you buy, right?
5) Buy Your Drinks
Again, not sure what is the norm on other cruises, but on ours the food was free but you had to buy your own drinks (alcohol and pop). At ten dollars a drink this was a very helpful strategy to keep us from over indulging. We usually had one drink at dinner. We would rather spend our money on excursions than alcohol.
6) Eat Three Meals a Day
At home I am definitely a snacker, I probably eat about five or six mini meals a day. But on the cruise, since the meals were so plentiful, I wasn't actually hungry until the next. For example, my breakfast of a crepe with fruit and whipped cream topping, bacon and sausages at 8am easily held me until lunch at noon.
7) Eat in the Dining Room and Not Buffet
The reason for this is portion control. The fancy dining room offered a selection of gourmet and healthy meals off the menu that were just the right amount of food. So, after having a delicious appetizer, main course and dessert, we did not feel overly-full - just "content".
8) Take an Exercise Class
Again on those at sea days when there is not much to do, the ship has many activities to choose from ranging from lectures to Bingo to activity classes. On our ship, we were able to Line- Dance, participate in a charity walk or take yoga.
9) Make Mindful Choices
Again about eating, since there was an over abundance of food available we were forced to be really mindful about what we wanted to eat. What did our bodies feel like? Which foods were unique and we would not easily be able to get once we got home? Which desserts really appealed to us? For us, it was a no-brainer that we would indulge in an abundance of sea food on our Alaskan cruise. We even went to an all-you-can-eat crab fest! (Which was actually not that much food since you had to get the meat out of the shell yourself:)
10) Set Resolutions For Once You are Home
The way I justified having a crepe everyday was to say to myself, "Well, I won't be able to have this once I'm at home." I feel like because we allowed ourselves to indulge in what we wanted to eat, we didn't feel cheated or have cravings for foods. Now that I am home I am actually craving to not have sugary treats or alcohol. I feel like my body needs a detox. And since we kept very active on board, the damage done was minimal and we didn't gain weight!
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