Usually, taking a cruise vacation brings up thoughts of great socialization and total relaxation. For those who have cruised, however, it may also produce memories of gluttonist eating and drinking, limited exercise, and sun-baked bodies, which you witnessed once, or perhaps many times, as you sailed the ocean blue. This latter concept of a cruise doesn’t sound too healthy, does it? However, there are wonderfully healthy ways of enjoying these super times away from home. It just takes a little mental pre-planning and willpower on your part. Let’s do some exploring of our own on the subject.
WEIGHT GAIN: The many, many hours of open buffet-style eating presents a huge problem for ship sailors. The most important thing to remember here is not to change your eating habits just because the food appears always in front of you, especially on days at sea. Abandon the buffet psyche that thinks “You should get your money’s worth of food.” Don’t change your healthy food choices. Eat at your normal hours, if you can. There are plenty of healthy fruits and vegetables for snacking and fruits and Jello for desserts. Use a smaller plate for smaller portions when eating.
You would think that binge drinking could be controlled by the fact most, if not all, ship companies charge extra money for every non-water/coffee/tea drink. Unfortunately, the sugary/high caloric tropical drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) are as available as the food treats, and just about as difficult to resist. These drinks, loaded with no nutritional value, should be substituted with water when hydration is necessary in warm climates.
Contributing to still further weight gain aboard our ocean liners is the lack of exercise chosen by our vacationers. It is very difficult to burn calories while you are lying poolside soaking up the sun’s rays. Abandon the four- to six-hour marathon of sunbathing in favor of any kind of body movement, even walking laps around the ship. Your skin will thank you as well. Here are some other easy and healthy exercise habits to adopt when cruising. If you are a swimmer, don’t be disappointed by the size of the ship’s pools. Just double or triple your lap workout in pools that are rectangular in shape. There often is even a water-resistant pool where you can swim against water or a “flume,” as is used for Olympic hopefuls in the Colorado Springs Aquatic Training Center.
For walkers and runners, outer decks of the pool prove to not only provide excellent exercise, but also phenomenal fresh air and ocean/sea views. Let’s not forget the wonderful, fully-stocked exercise rooms found on each ship. Scales are also found here so the cruiser can check his weight periodically – not a bad idea!
Skip the elevators if you can climb those stairs. This is an excellent consumer of calories. Then there are the multitude of dance and exercise classes and workouts, some of which are even disguised as gigantic ship parties! All of this is available as yours for the taking, especially if there are limited port visits on your itinerary. When you do anchor in those exotic places, make sure you choose more active land excursions.
The average “cruiser” is said to gain 10 pounds on a one-week cruise, as per recent surveys. Let’s see if four of Sun City’s Stingray Swim Club members, Lisa Yost, Margarete Liedtke, Sandy Sterling, and Joanie Koplos, were able to maintain healthy choices on their February 2012 one-week Princess Cruise to the Southern Caribbean, taken together as a club activity. Here are two questions I asked my fellow cruisers (and myself) and our responses:
1) Without telling me your actual post trip weight, can you give me your weight gain, stay the same, weight loss after the cruise, and why?
Lisa answered: “As always, I did lose a couple of pounds. I personally try to avoid the buffet as much as possible. I’d rather go to the dining room and order from the menu, as the choices are usually healthier and the portions are smaller. Avoiding the sugary desserts also helps.”
Margarete replied: “I lost six to seven pounds, but this was over a period of 21 days total spent in Florida. [On the ship] I had seven days of walking and dancing, and after the cruise I ate a little less for the remainder of my stay.”
“I did gain about three pounds on this trip,” responded Sandy. “I had all good intentions of not gaining, but they were broken the first day. I have since lost only half a pound. I did go to the workout center the first day and did walk the deck a few times.”
Joanie added that she had lost a half pound total but had to work hard to keep her weight off, since her body is used to swimming seven miles weekly. “I was up at 7 a.m. daily to swim in one of two ship’s pools for one hour before the kids descended on them,” she said. “I ate more than usual, but truly enjoyed the multitude of fruits and vegetables on the ship.”
2) Any other statements that you would like to make concerning your general health as a result of the cruise?
Lisa answered: “[To keep myself healthy] I do like to walk around the ship: three times equals a mile. I can enjoy some people-watching. I also sometimes take the steps for one or two floors rather than the elevator.”
Margarete said: “I tried to walk the stairs, but my ankles were swollen. I feel motivated [now] to put a little less on my plate and love my fruits and vegetables.”
Sandy added: “This [weight gain] is the downside of cruising. I hate to think what I would do on a one-month cruise!”
Finally Joanie concluded: “The port stops of Aruba and Princess Cay allowed the Stingray swimmers to burn calories in the Caribbean while swimming and snorkeling. What a joy that was!”
Enjoy the phenomenal camaraderie, the sounds and the sights of the open water, and enriching experiences of an ocean/sea voyage, but maintain your normal weight and stay healthy! It can be done while cruising the ocean blue!
