How much weight do you gain on a cruise?

[Nflor001]

Ill be on a 12 night cruise, just wondering if I should bring bigger pants.

[Vampire Parrot]

it all depends on how much of the ship's hospitality you take advantage of :cool:

 

It's easy to put on over a pound a day - a full breakfast, nice lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, midnight buffet.... I've seen people eat that much and more.

 

But I usually put on only a pound or two on a 14 night cruise. Some people have asked me how I keep my weight under control -

 

When I'm on board, what I eat depends on what I'm doing. If it's a sea day then it's a light breakfast, usually a small omelette, coffee, and a glass of OJ... lunch will be a half-portion of whatever I like the look of; usually something oriental such as a curry or noodles.. and then nothing until dinner, and I'll always have starter & main course. I'll only have the pudding if it's something I really like.

 

I'll also make a point of walking the deck for an hour, more if the ship has a good promenade deck (e.g. Arcadia, Zuiderdam, Aurora)

 

If it's a port day, I'll have a full breakfast - omelette, sausages, bacon, beans, black pudding.... and then I'll go ashore for 6 to 8 hours. When I'm ashore all I'll usually have are four ship's biscuits (cookies) which I've taken with me - I don't usually want to waste time sitting in a restaurant! Once I'm back on board I usually have a small sandwich, especially if I've been walking. Dinner is again a starter & main course, plus an optional pudding.

 

However... on some cruise lines it's very difficult to stick to this plan. Holland America usually have a Vanilla Bread-and-butter pudding available every lunch time which is almost as calorific as it is delicious.....

 

So... if it's your first cruise... take bigger pants, enjoy the hospitality :D

[paul929207]

I depends on how crazy you go with all the food.

 

I usually have fruit for breakfast and a salad for lunch. Dinner, I am not as good.

 

I generally break even.

[cruiseonthebrain]

In the past when I could be more active I actually lost weight on cruises. I don't think I actually ate anymore than normal but I'm sure I had a few more alcohol calories than normal:-). But we took the stairs instead of the elevator and my clothes always fit a little better after a cruise.

[Langley Cruisers]

I do not gain weight as I eat fairly well (although I do have dessert at every meal!) but we take the stairs, use the gym, and walk in every port.

 

My husband gains 1 pound per day, without fail. It comes off within 3 weeks at home, though. I lost half a pound my most recent cruise. *shrug*

[cb at sea]

A pound a DAY??? That has to be water-weight! Yikes!

[John Bull]

It's easy to pig-out for the first day or two, before common-sense kicks in.

 

If you have the same low will-power as me, dine in the MDR rather than the buffet - that way I can rely on the restraint of the crew in loading the plate instead of relying on my own abysmal willpower. :o

 

Fully-clothed, my weight doesn't change - gains in the belly are balanced by losses in the wallet.

 

But sea air is well-known for shrinking clothes. ;)

 

JB :)

[Langley Cruisers]

A pound a DAY??? That has to be water-weight! Yikes!

 

He eats bacon and corned beef hash EVERY breakfast, and drinks his calories as rum and cokes at night. ;)

[chong67]

I didnt gain any weight.

 

On days when there is no port call, I exercise at the gym. I run up/down the flight of stairs and never take elevator. Its too slow.

[OCruisers]

Sometimes, I lose weight on cruises. :o

LuLu

[MOcruiserman]

Ill be on a 12 night cruise, just wondering if I should bring bigger pants.

It depends on the quality of the food. On my two Holland America cruises I lost weight and stayed the same. On my Royal Caribbean cruise I gained 5 pounds.

[GottaKnowWhen]

Every cruise is different. I've gained 10 lbs on a one-week cruise. I've lost 5 lbs on a 14-day cruise. Just off a 15-day with a week ashore afterwords, may have lost 1-2 lbs. If you really care, then just avoid overly large portions, avoid multiple entrees at dinner, etc. There is no rule that you must overindulge and thus gain weight. In my own case, my preference is for soup, one other Starter, main course, usually no desert. Though apple pie ala mode is hard to pass up...

[EleventyBangBang]

A pound a DAY??? That has to be water-weight! Yikes!

 

This. A pound is basically 3500 calories. So basically the average adult male would have to eat 5500+ calories a day to actually gain weight at that rate. Most people probably COULDN'T eat that much food if they tried.

 

I'm going to my first cruise in April, and my attitude is: It's a cruise. I'm going to live it up. I have the whole rest of the year to be good.

[Krazy Kruizers]

On our first cruise back in the 80's, I didn't gain any weight but DH did. He was trying all kinds of dishes that I don't prepare at home.

Many, many cruises later -- it is rare when one of us gains a pound or 2 on 21 day cruises.

We rarely eat dessert either at home or on a cruise.

[diane.in.ny]

I usually lose weight, basically because I'm more active on a cruise than when I am at home. I spend a lot of time walking the promenade deck and using the stairs instead of the elevator

 

I typically avoid the pastries although I'm a sucker for Princess' chocolate chocolate chip cookies. At dinner, I either skip dessert or have melon slices.

 

And I try and stay away from the bread.

 

Actually, I think it is easier to eat healthy on a cruise than at home because I don't have to prepare it. :)

Edited December 31, 2015 by diane.in.ny

[Lionesss]

Our first cruise 9 years ago as a family on Disney Magic......um I was very very bad. Ashamed to say for a 7 day cruise .......the clothes got very tight.

 

Since, we are very careful.

Eat healthy breakfast, salad or soup for lunch, couple drinks:D and eat in MDR.

Believe it or not we do not care for most of the desserts on RCI.

 

We only do stairs (except on formal night in heels) and on almost all our cruises we have been on the 10th deck and on Oasis class ships the 17th.

 

So for our last 7 cruises we have maintained and on our last Oasis cruise I lost 3 pounds:eek:

 

It is do-able.

 

Stay safe.

[Hlitner]

There was an old cruise saying that one should always "wear your tight clothes early on the cruise" and there was a lot of truth in that statement. When we started cruising (in the early 70s) cruise lines served huge portions, had massive midnight buffets every night, fattening drinks were dirt cheap, etc. In those days, and being a lot younger, we could actually gain about 1 pound a day on shorter cruises (10 days or less). But times have changed. The midnight buffets are largely gone, portions have been substantially downsized (now called portion control), and many more folks now seem to be careful about what they eat and drink. DW and I can now take a 2 month cruise without gaining any weight. And if one is active on the ship and in the ports it is even possible to lose weight. The one sacrifice DW has made (over the years) is to limit Pina Coladas (which can have nearly 1000 calories in a single large drink).

 

Hank

[Scrapnana]

I'm much more active when cruising so that cancels out the extra food I might eat.

[buchananglasgow]

I came back from a 10 night cruise on the Royal princess, ate 3 meals a day, which I don't do at home, and I came home half a stone lighter.

I eat salads stuff and fresh fruit twice a day and a cooked breakfast every morning. I only had 3 deserts the whole cruise and I walked two miles on the track or in the gym every day I was on the ship, plus all the walking about you do in port and on board. You will be surprised how much to walk in a day.

[cruiseonthebrain]

I only thought about being more active. But honestly the more selection there are help me choose healthier options. Unfortunately at home, it is usually skip lunch at work or shove whatever food is convenient into my mouth. I like having healthier selections and the time to make the most of them.

[notentirelynormal]

There was an old cruise saying that one should always "wear your tight clothes early on the cruise" and there was a lot of truth in that statement. When we started cruising (in the early 70s) cruise lines served huge portions, had massive midnight buffets every night, fattening drinks were dirt cheap, etc. In those days, and being a lot younger, we could actually gain about 1 pound a day on shorter cruises (10 days or less). But times have changed. The midnight buffets are largely gone, portions have been substantially downsized (now called portion control), and many more folks now seem to be careful about what they eat and drink. DW and I can now take a 2 month cruise without gaining any weight. And if one is active on the ship and in the ports it is even possible to lose weight. The one sacrifice DW has made (over the years) is to limit Pina Coladas (which can have nearly 1000 calories in a single large drink).

 

Hank

 

Weren't those midnight buffets awesome?!

[Morgsmom]

I agree with those who maintain -- the more cruises you've been on the less the need to "pig out." I don't eat sweets on land so why should I at sea? (We tell the servers the first night of the cruise not to even present a dessert menu -- makes dinner faster and temptation less... Plus I don't want to order something and eat one bite of it - seems so wasteful, so no dessert at all).

The walking up & down stairs, and in ports, is much more than I do in my regular 9-5 life. Overall I usually come out even, and that's with some pizza and extra yummies thrown in!

[princess-mommy]

I went on a cruise pregnant. I ate what I wanted, didn't eat when I wasn't hungry, always took the stairs and drank lots of bottled water. I lost weight.

My advice is drink lots of water (bottled water). I avoid the tap water on the ship. It is desalinated ocean water. I believe a lot of weight gain on board a crew ship is due to water retention.

[Hawka]

i had breakfast lunch and dinner sometimes had snacks not often i put on 2 kg in 13 days was lucky had lost 4 before the cruise

[Keith1010]

Early on in our cruising days we would gain around 5 pounds on a 7 day cruise.

 

We cruised one time a year and that was our treat and we did indulge.

 

Most of our cruises these days are very long cruises and we realized on our first very long cruise that if we gained weigh at that rate for a 100 day cruise we would be in big trouble.

 

So, we now eat very health on cruises as we do on land. While we do eat more than we would at home we even increase our exercise even more and now we either lose a pound or two or leave the ship at the same weight that we boarded at.

 

Keith