Celebrity and Weight Watchers

[ScottC4746]

Since I booked my cruise, I have had to join Weight Watchers since ole Doc said I was 50 pounds over.  I know there are WW specific cruises occaisionally, but this is my first on X.  We are doing a mainline cruise to Alaska, and while I don't want to spend the entire cruise counting my 28 points, I don't want to blow through them either.  Any suggestions?  I am a foodie, which is what got me to this point.

[gold1953]

just need to eat smart. You know where the calories are! I have done it with ease. Avoid sauces and desserts

[ScottC4746]

So no French night or Baked Alaska HA!

[chemmo]

We find we do best by generally trying to stick to some either/or restrictions. In that no food is banned but we do try to make choices on what we would enjoy the most. Needless to say some days we will break our rules but overall we keep to them fairly well.

 

Light breakfast (fruit and cereals)  and reasonable lunch or real breakfast and salad/soup lunch.

Avoid in between snacking (cafe cookies and ice cream) or eat one and skip dessert at dinner.

Make sure I always request diet sodas.

Only eat what I want on each plate at dinner. 
In the evening ask for sauces on the side.

Often skip the dessert or just eat half.

Always have a drink of water on the side when enjoying an alcoholic beverage so I am sipping the alcohol to enjoy not to quench the thirst.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 18, 2022 by chemmo

[ScottC4746]

4 minutes ago, chemmo said:

We find we do best by generally trying to stick to some either/or restrictions. In that no food is banned but we do try to make choices on what we would enjoy the most. Needless to say some days we will break our rules but overall we keep to them fairly well.

 

Light breakfast (fruit and cereals)  and reasonable lunch or real breakfast and salad/soup lunch.

Avoid in between snacking (cafe cookies and ice cream) or eat one and skip dessert at dinner.

Make sure I always request diet sodas.

Only eat what I want on each plate at dinner. 
In the evening ask for sauces on the side.

Often skip the dessert or just eat half.

Always have a drink of water on the side when enjoying an alcoholic beverage so I am sipping the alcohol to enjoy not to quench the thirst.

 

 

 

 

With alcohol I noticed clear is better than dark.  a 4 oz martini is 6 points while a 4 oz old fashioned is 12.  They nice thing to is I have a safe nice walking path with a great view at my beck and call.  I can even walk at night and be safe.

[BeeMinor]

It's been a couple years since I've WW-ed, but assuming the program is still similar you could adjust your settings a bit to give you some flexibility.

 

1. I believe you can change your account from "lose" to "maintain" since you aren't trying to lose on a cruise anyway. That should give you some additional points or at least a sense of how much more you can eat without going way over budget.

2. If there's still a plan with a bunch of zero point foods, you could probably hop over to that and work the buffet to your advantage. Two hard boiled eggs + plate of fresh fruit = breakfast with zero points. For lunch maybe ask the grill station for chicken breast or fish cooked with minimal oil and assemble a green salad or look for prepared whole grains. Personally, if I kept breakfast and lunch sensible, I'd eat whatever sounded good for dinner . . . which would also help me stay avoid becoming resentful of my diet and hitting the pizza station at 9 pm!

 

I think sparkling wine and vodka are your lowest-point alcohol choices. Just stay away from drinks with lots of sugary mixers--all those extra points in the old fashioned are probably more from the simple syrup then the bourbon.

 

Most importantly, remember if you have gained five pounds when you get home, most of it is water and will drop away within a few days. Eating baked Alaska one time doesn't really matter in the overall process of losing a significant amount of weight. And have a great cruise!

[ScottC4746]

2 minutes ago, BeeMinor said:

It's been a couple years since I've WW-ed, but assuming the program is still similar you could adjust your settings a bit to give you some flexibility.

 

1. I believe you can change your account from "lose" to "maintain" since you aren't trying to lose on a cruise anyway. That should give you some additional points or at least a sense of how much more you can eat without going way over budget.

2. If there's still a plan with a bunch of zero point foods, you could probably hop over to that and work the buffet to your advantage. Two hard boiled eggs + plate of fresh fruit = breakfast with zero points. For lunch maybe ask the grill station for chicken breast or fish cooked with minimal oil and assemble a green salad or look for prepared whole grains. Personally, if I kept breakfast and lunch sensible, I'd eat whatever sounded good for dinner . . . which would also help me stay avoid becoming resentful of my diet and hitting the pizza station at 9 pm!

 

I think sparkling wine and vodka are your lowest-point alcohol choices. Just stay away from drinks with lots of sugary mixers--all those extra points in the old fashioned are probably more from the simple syrup then the bourbon.

 

Most importantly, remember if you have gained five pounds when you get home, most of it is water and will drop away within a few days. Eating baked Alaska one time doesn't really matter in the overall process of losing a significant amount of weight. And have a great cruise!

Right I didn't think about the simple syrup.  Good point, pun intended. Guess I will be doing the stairs instead of the lifts.

[djh]

There’s a vlogger Tony that has an extremely popular cruise news channel. He has also started a channel, Time to Lose, in which he talks about cruising and dieting. I believe he is on WW too. It might be worth checking out.

[baggal]

Stay away from the buffet.  Much better portion control in the dining room.

[gold1953]

1 hour ago, baggal said:

Stay away from the buffet.  Much better portion control in the dining room.

I find it much easier to control what is on my plate at the buffet

[barbels]

I have a longstanding rule: no croissants until the last full day of the cruise.  Also only one dessert a day.  No fried food.  Limited white bread and pasta.  And a bottle of Amstel Light is only 3 points.  You won't lose weight on a cruise but you can definitely limit the damage.

[gold1953]

15 minutes ago, barbels said:

I have a longstanding rule: no croissants until the last full day of the cruise.  Also only one dessert a day.  No fried food.  Limited white bread and pasta.  And a bottle of Amstel Light is only 3 points.  You won't lose weight on a cruise but you can definitely limit the damage.

I have lost weight on several cruises. I tell myself that it is my health spa and all the good food needed is prepped for me. When I eat useless carbs I am tired and I want to feel vibrant when on a cruise

[ymncruise]

I stayed the same weight on my last cruise. Ate a small breakfast at the buffet, no bread or pastry. For lunch, ate at the buffet, about 4oz protein and vegetables on the side. Ate in the MDR or buffet for dinner, 1 piece of bread and something from each course including dessert. I tried not to eat everything on the plate. I had a slice of pizza and sometimes a cookie as snacks most days. I drank water and had 4 drinks with alcohol during the week. I mostly took the steps and walked around the deck a lot. I was expecting to gain, but I think the extra walking and stairs burned off the extra calories. Good luck!

[George C]

My wife loves weight watchers goes every week for meetings, rarely gains any weight on cruises, eats mostly fish for dinner and stays away from bread but still drinks a few glasses of wine each night . Good luck I know WW can work. Walking and take the stairs can help.

[Lilactime]

I've been on four cruises as a Weight Watchers member and find it reasonably easy to stick with. I'm with the person who said no croissants until the last day and always have protein at breakfast. I love the omelet station and find that a treat in the morning. Lunch at the buffet with lots of salad and protein and skip the bread and pasta. I do have ice cream at lunch, usually sugar free. Dinner is pretty much what I want. I get dessert, but just one, have bread if I want and usually fish (because I like it). I try not to eat between meals, but if dinner is late do eat a snack. I enjoy the meals and find my average gain is three pounds, which is pretty easy to take off. I don't feel deprived and really enjoy eating on the ship.   

[NutsAboutGolf]

 

12 hours ago, chemmo said:

We find we do best by generally trying to stick to some either/or restrictions. In that no food is banned but we do try to make choices on what we would enjoy the most. Needless to say some days we will break our rules but overall we keep to them fairly well.

 

Light breakfast (fruit and cereals)  and reasonable lunch or real breakfast and salad/soup lunch.

Avoid in between snacking (cafe cookies and ice cream) or eat one and skip dessert at dinner.

Make sure I always request diet sodas.

Only eat what I want on each plate at dinner. 
In the evening ask for sauces on the side.

Often skip the dessert or just eat half.

Always have a drink of water on the side when enjoying an alcoholic beverage so I am sipping the alcohol to enjoy not to quench the thirst.

 

I think this is as good as it gets for those who still want to enjoy some food.  I'll just add, always helpful if you have a salad with low calorie dressing every lunch and dinner.  Should go without saying, IF one wants dessert avoid all forms of potatoes, rice, pasta and bread that day.  Lastly X has hot sauce, it adds a lot of flavor to dishes where you got the sauce on the side and has minimal caloric impact