How to Stay Slim at Sea

Ah food, glorious food! There’s nothing quite like it for picking you up. Also, there’s nothing quite like it for adding a few pounds on! With so much food on offer all day and night, one of the ‘dangers’ of going on a cruise is coming back several pounds heavier. Yes, you’re on holiday and deserve to treat yourself but do you still feel happy when you get back home and step on the scales? Thought not. If you want to enjoy all those delicious dishes onboard, but go home without needing to diet, read our suggestions on how to stay slim at sea.

Routine

Choose the times you want to eat and stick to it. Once your body knows what time it’s going to get food it’s less likely to grumble at you – figuratively and literally! One tip you might have heard for staying trim is “Breakfast like a king and dine like a pauper” but if you’re not a big breakfast type of person, don’t change the habit of a lifetime. There’ll be plenty to tempt you onboard a cruise ship, from eggs cooked anyway you like to sweet pastries, but let’s face it, you’ll still end up eating the usual amount at dinner. Likewise, how many times do you have a five-course dinner at home? Overload yourself at dinner time and your stomach won’t thank you for it later as it rumbles away while you’re trying to get to sleep.

Watch what you drink

It’s so tempting whilst on holiday to treat yourself to several glasses of wine or beer each night. It just slips down nicely doesn’t it, giving you a nice relaxed, warm and happy feeling. But boy is it packed with calories! If you like wine, try a spritzer – just make sure whatever is added to the wine is a diet variety. If beer’s your tipple, have a shandy with diet lemonade. Otherwise alternate your drinks between alcoholic and soft – it should also help avoid waking up feeling as if you’re mouth is the bottom of a rabbit’s cage. Also, don’t feel you have to finish off the bottle of wine you ordered with dinner – your waiter can seal it and you can enjoy it the next evening.

Healthy alternatives

Cruise lines have wised up to the fact that more people want to eat healthily and offer a range of low calorie dishes. You can help yourself too though. Salads are healthy but ladle on the dressing and you’ll undo the good work. I’m sure you all remember the stories in the papers from a few years ago when McDonald’s launched the chicken Caesar salad that had more calories and fat than a standard burger due to the dressing. Likewise, do you really need cream or ice cream to go with dessert? Avoid dishes with creamy sauces and don’t keep loading your plate until you’ve got a bit of everything at the buffet.

It’s best to avoid the buffet restaurant if, like me, you have no willpower. At the traditional style restaurants, yes, you may have a 4-course dinner, but at least you can’t keep asking the waiter for another portion of this or that. A couple of things to remember at the restaurant are don’t fill up on the bread, have soup or salad for a light starter and finish off with fruit for dessert instead of a sugar-laden pudding.

If you need a nibble between meals, watch what you pick. Go for fruit or yoghurts rather than nuts or crisps.

Exercise

We all know that cruise ships have those terrible torture chambers, otherwise known as gyms onboard, but there are plenty of other ways to work off those pounds without selling your soul to the gym instructor!

Most ships have a jogging track, ideal for walking around to stretch your legs, get some fresh air and boost your metabolism. If you don’t like following a set route, just forget to take a map with you and take long walks round the ship trying to find your goal.

This might sound obvious, but use the stairs rather than the lifts. As well as working off all those calories you’ll tone your bum – great for showing off in your new swimming costume.

Speaking of which, take advantage of all those lovely swimming pools onboard. Just don’t give into the smell of burgers wafting across from the grill!

Unless you suffer badly from motion sickness, choose a cabin at the fore or aft of the ship so you’ll be further away from the amenities and therefore have to walk more.

Phew, all this talk of exercise is making me feel tired. Hopefully these quick tips will help you keep talking about your cruise when you get back rather than how you need to go on a diet. Don’t forget to enjoy yourself but remember, “A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips”!