Can You Lose Weight On a Long Cruise?

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Day 4, South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand Cruise

Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022; At Sea, North Pacific Ocean

My first stop this morning was the gym – sadly, not to work out, but to step on the ship’s scale. Its report was about what I imagined. My goal is to lose at least 5 pounds on this 51-day cruise, and there are only 47 days left to accomplish that. Of course, I did not take off my shoes to establish this starting point.

You don’t think I am going to show you my actual weight, do you?

Despite being on land for 31 months, once aboard the Westerdam I immediately fell into some of my less-than-nutritious shipboard patterns. For some reason I love the pecan-covered Danish pastries in the morning. I know they are not made on board, and when I think about it (not something that comes naturally when I’m eating), they aren’t really as good as I remember them. But there I was the first morning with one on my plate.

I usually lose anywhere from two to four pounds on a “long” cruise, which I describe as a month or longer. I walk a lot more than on a typical day on land. I go up and down stairs. I set a goal of only one dessert a day, and try really hard to pass on the bread at meals. Truth be known, I would probably be happy eating pastries for breakfast and good bread with butter the rest of the day. My body would not be happy.

During the second summer of the pandemic, I started paying more attention to eating only when I’m hungry and only enough to stop being hungry. I discovered that I don’t have to eat everything on my plate, even if I only eat half of my expensive restaurant meal. On the other hand, I made only very modest progress on choosing healthier foods.

Nonetheless, I managed to lose enough weight that I had to replace my whole wardrobe (excluding shoes). Buying new clothes has been a lot of fun. Knowing that I gave away everything in my closet is a good motivation for not gaining weight.

Now that I have indulged in the morning Danish for three days, I’m committing to making healthier changes. I’ll start out skipping the Danish and passing up on the bread and butter at dinner. I’ll keep asking for more steamed vegetables on my dinner plate. It is a challenge to leave food on my plate because the wonderful Holland America waiters take it as a personal affront if you don’t eat every bite. They will have to get over it.

Why, you might ask, did I not take advantage of my morning trip to the gym to do some actual exercise? My excuse is that it was already packed with fellow cruisers more dedicated than me. I also don’t really enjoy it. But another goal is to find a motivation to either work out there or to walk a couple of miles around the Promenade deck every sea day. My step count takes care of itself when I am ashore.

One of my daily habits for the past few cruises has been my gin and diet tonics during the 4 p.m. happy hour in the Crow’s Nest. Friends and I made such a habit of it on the 2020 world cruise that we continued it over Zoom calls once the pandemic sent us home. After a few weeks I realized it was more about the social time than the booze, and the gin went untouched for a couple of years.

I always request through my travel agent that the ship have a supply of diet tonic in the Crow’s Nest, but this time it didn’t arrive before we left Seattle. The bar manager reports it is due to arrive in Hawaii later this week. First world problem, I know.

The happy hour specials have varied over the years. Originally it was two drinks for the price of one, with the caveat that they had to be the same drink and delivered at the same time. More recently the price changed to buy one, pay $2 for the second. I am pleasantly surprised to learn that on this voyage, at least so far, the special is 50 percent off, no requirement for a second. I will be just as happy with one as with two.