How to avoid weight gain Cruising, Eating and Exercise

This post is about avoiding excessive weight gain whilst on holiday. You may have read that I have recently returned from my first ever cruise holiday. It was my present to my husband for his 60th Birthday. We sailed with P & O on Oceana around Greece. We loved it! In fact we have booked two further cruises with the same company.

The one thing that everyone talks about with cruise holidays is the amount and quality of food available and consumed. Mr Fitz and I are real foodies and live to eat, but we are also conscious of increasing weight gain as we age. I particularly struggle, particularly with menopausal weight gain around the middle, something I describe in an earlier post. We wanted to enjoy all the food on offer but not suffer the consequences of too much weight gain to deal with on our return.

I enjoyed all the fabulous food and cocktails on offer, in fact, if I’m brutally honest the largest proportion of my calories were from the delicious cocktails. I don’t think we over indulged, enjoying a full cooked breakfast every day, only lunching or snacking in the middle of the day on a couple of days, but enjoyed a full evening dinner. We rarely had room for a dessert and only visited the late buffet on one occasion.

Fabulous food Creamy Malaysian Prawn Curry

On our return I was so pleased to weigh myself and discover that my weight gain was only 1lb – RESULT!

How did I manage this – did I have a secret weapon?

The answer is Exercise! Mr Fitz and I took measures to remain active as damage limitation.

1. We packed fitness clothing – I packed 1 pair of fitness leggings, my sports bra (essential for my big boobs!), 2 tops and trainers.
2. We used the on board gym. It was well equipped with an area for weights and lots of cardio equipment. The exercise bikes and treadmills all faced out through tinted full length windows to sea. We didn’t necessarily attend the gym together. On a  couple of occasions other activities meant we attended separately.
3. I’ve been promising myself that I would take up yoga, not just for fitness but to help with my chronic back problem and joint problems, again something I have talked about in a precious post. There were yoga classes available and I took the opportunity to join in whilst on the cruise. I really enjoyed it and have been to a further class at my local gym since my return.
4. Daily we took a brisk walk around the promenade deck. There was a sign informing passengers that 3.2 laps around this deck equaled 1 mile.  Most days we managed minimum 2 miles. A really enjoyable walk and one enjoyed by many other passengers.
5. On port days off the ship we too the opportunity to walk as much as possible around the places we visited. We visited the ports independently rather than taking organised trips. I wore my pedometer and recorded walking distances of around 4 miles on average per port.

On board fitness suite

In summary we were eager to enjoy the fabulous food served on our Cruise but managed to counteract any excesses by planning to exercise using the facilities available and walking as much as possible to avoid any excessive weight gain. Being active and devoting time to this did not detract from our fabulous holiday.

Has anyone got any further hints on tips how to enjoy your cruise holiday to the full whilst minimising the effects of extra calories? Let me know or email me. I love to learn new strategies.

This post is part of Well Being Wednesday linky and Blogtober2018. If you like this post you may wish to read my schedule for the rest of the month

Why not take a look at some of the other sites involved in Blogtober2018

Kristine’s Blog 

Big Family Organised Chaos

Sarah Beth Blogs

Tea and Cake for the Soul

Thank you for popping by