How do you NOT over eat?

[Club Disney Chandler]

Two days in, wife and i felt TERRIBLE and realized it stemmed from breakfast. At home I eat a nutrigrain bar for breakfast - on board I was eating eggs Benedict, potatoes, bacon, bagel, fruit, and a donut ... oh, and those mexican breakfast burrito things... oh, and corned beef hash... why? b/c it was there. My dog has more constraint than I did

So we stopped eating big breakfast - bagel and fruit for the remaining days.

I'm not sure it's possible to overeat in the MDRs unless you order more than one entree.

Lunch can be tricky too but not hard if you stay away from Cabanas.

Here's another good tip - just take the stairs. It burns calories and you wont be furstrated by the elevators !

I LOVE the corned beef hash! The only time I ever eat it is on a DCL ship.

 

[hubbard53]

I LOVE the corned beef hash! The only time I ever eat it is on a DCL ship.

I know! I've never had it before and it was great!

 

[jahber]

A lot of the weight some people gain is from salty foods. Mass-produced food tends to be quite salty, to enhance the flavor. I counter that by drinking tons of water and walking everywhere. That's also why lots of people drop the weight a few days after going home--they go back to their regular diet and lose the water weight. Obviously SOME of the weight is from overeating carbs and fat, but watch your sodium intake and it will help quite a bit.
Like others have said, I take little bits of things at the buffet (if it's something you love, you can go back) and always start with a small salad. In the main dining rooms I rarely have an appetizer (except the pasta pursiettes, which I have two of as my entree) so I can eat dessert!!!!

 

[MunFam]

You know it's funny, I lose weight on every vacation I take, and I am not watching what I eat at all. It's from all the walking and exercise I get! However, this trip I plan on lots of salads & seafood/fish at lunch. Whatever I want at dinner...Remember the food takes 20 minutes to hit your stomach so you feel full from it.

I was SHOCKED at the lack of really good salads on the Wonder in May. I am used to living in California where there are quite a few entree salads on any given menu. I remember asking more than once, where can I get a salad around here? Most lunch menus in the MDR had no entree salad and the buffet lacked a salad bar.

 

[jahber]

The salad bar options in Cabanas are better than Beach Blanket, from what I remember. I'm not a fancy salad eater, so I can make do with a garden salad. There were plenty of choices in Cabanas--but you are so right about the dining rooms. Salad choices are abysmal. Unless you really love Caesar salad or rang dressing on iceberg. Which my kids do

 

[southerngirl528]

I'm with Jessicaandice. Even though I am carrying about 20 lbs more than I would like, I actually lost a couple of pounds on our recent 10 night cruise. YIPPEE!!!!

I took the stairs every time, though in heels I couldn't do as many flights in a row. If I was doing numerous floors at once I just did stairs until I was panting. LOL! DD and I walked a lot. We both love, love great fish and seafood so we ordered that a lot. I ate whatever I wanted pretty much. We did order coffee and pastries each morning via room service to have while we got ready for the day. Didn't eat one "real" breakfast on the entire trip. I love breakfast but DD does not and she was with me on this trip.

I also agree that if the focus is more on enjoying your table mates, and I always have on every cruise, one tends to eat a bit slower and often a bit less. As another poster mentioned, it does take around 20 minutes after your stomach is actually full for your brain to tell you, so table talk is a great help and for us, makes our cruise even better! Good luck!

 

[bethy]

I was SHOCKED at the lack of really good salads on the Wonder in May. I am used to living in California where there are quite a few entree salads on any given menu. I remember asking more than once, where can I get a salad around here? Most lunch menus in the MDR had no entree salad and the buffet lacked a salad bar.

I am a West Coaster, also and that's probably why I didn't love the food. Give me a fresh, fabulous salad over meat/potatoes/sauces any day!

 

[bobbiwoz]

I will take the " eat no bread" tip to heart, but the breads are so tasty. Sigh. I gained 5 pounds on my Hawaii cruise in September and they have stayed on.

 

[asunutgirl]

I make it a priority to eat only what I want. I don't order every course at dinner. If the dessert choices don't thrill me, I don't eat them. I try to watch the amount of extra calories I'm consuming in the form of dressing, bread, butter, drinks etc. I treat myself to a Mickey Bar maybe once or twice - not every day. The chicken strips don't excite me, so I don't eat them. But I can't cruise without having a Mickey waffle. We also walk everywhere - we only take the elevator when our luggage. Every other time we use the stairs. It really does help. I also enjoy walking around the deck and I try to hit the gym as well. We also prefer the early dinner seating, which I think helps. If I eat late and then go to bed, the weight just piles on. :/

 

[SuperDry]

One thing to always keep in mind is that your standard learned behavior and habits regarding food back home are all wrong on the ship:

- At a buffet back home, there's a tendency to stuff yourself, "in order to get your money's worth." Think about how this doesn't apply to the buffet on the ship.
- Similar thing about MDR: back home, when you go to a restaurant, you usually want to finish everything served to you, since you paid for it and don't want to waste.
- Most of us are used to eating 3 meals a day, and at set times. So, there's a tendency to fill up at each meal, since you don't want to get too hungry before the next meal.

None of these habits that serve us well at home make any sense when on a cruise. With few exceptions, food is already paid for, and free for the taking while on board. Also, at least from 7am-midnight, there's always food available for immediate taking and eating, and even overnight available from room service in 30-45 minutes. So, there's no need to worry about stuffing yourself in order to make it to the next meal.

 

[jahber]

I thought of another thing that I intentionally don't have on a cruise: soda. We never drink soda at home, so if I drank even just two sodas a day on the ship (lunch and dinner), that alone would be about 300 calories I don't usually eat. I'd rather spend those calories on dessert!

 

[Sir William]

I follow pretty much the same rules regardless of where or how I'm traveling.

I avoid the elevators when possible. I walk down the stairs and walk up if 2 decks or less (a bad knee doesn't like going up too many stairs).

I'm an early riser, even on vacation, so I walk 3 miles on the Promenade Deck every morning before breakfast while DW sleeps in. We also like to walk around the port town, and that helps burn off some of the calories.

I eat a full but not huge breakfast and a light lunch. I like eating in the MDRs when possible, which helps toward portion control. I avoid the buffets and the fast food available on the pool deck.

I have a light snack about 4pm since I have late seating. Keeps the hunger at bay and I don't feel the need to eat everything in sight at dinner. Frequently, this is a cheese plate from room service, along with a glass of wine, as I read on the veranda.

At dinner, I have either an appetizer or the soup, never both. I frequently do not finish my entree. When I'm full, I stop eating. It helps (?) that I become ill if I eat even just one bite too many, so when I feel the warning signs I stop eating. On the plus side, I order and eat what I want; I don't worry about how many calories might be in any particular dish.

I rarely eat dessert at lunch or dinner. If I do get dessert, I usually only eat a few bites.

I don't snack during the day, except for the mid-afternoon snack. I don't drink the sodas, but do make my own fresh brewed tea at the drink station. I do drink more alcohol on a cruise than I ever do at home, but on the last 3 cruises I've been within +/-2 pounds of my usual weight when I get home and have shed that within a couple of days.

 

[lizabu]

Just taste. Finish nothing. A bite here and a bite there. You don't have to clean your plate to feel satisfied.

 

[wilkeliza]

When cruising we only eat like we do at home except wr may not make breakfast so have a second light meal before or after dinner depending on how late we are out. We only order "snacks" from room service if we had a meal. If we order a whole meal from room service we don't go to the buffet etc.

The only thing I can't controle myself on is the ice cream of course I eat too much of it in my day to day too.

 

[cgolf]

Not sure how I do it, but I really don't gain any weight on the cruise. But to be fair I really don't lose or gain weight on land either, not skinny or super overweight, just somewhere in the middle.

I don't really watch what I eat, but do take the steps all the time and run between 1-2 miles a day when on board.

To be honest the best way to not eat a lot onboard is to take a lot of cruises. Since DCL very rarely modifies the menus I have found myself eating less and less each cruise sticking only to my favorites since I have pretty much tried everything they offer.

 

[Jessicandice]

I just want a Dole Whip!! Damn the calories... do they have them onboard anywhere??
Never had one and people are constantly raving about how wonderful they are

 

[Jessicandice]

I was SHOCKED at the lack of really good salads on the Wonder in May. I am used to living in California where there are quite a few entree salads on any given menu. I remember asking more than once, where can I get a salad around here? Most lunch menus in the MDR had no entree salad and the buffet lacked a salad bar.

HMMMM... I have been reading lots of menus and I hadn't noticed that, thanks for the heads up. (Cali girl here too ! )
Sushi it is !!

 

[Jessicandice]

No salad bars at the buffets?? Really????
How is this possible? Moderators, tell them we want salads!!

 

[Jennifer777]

No Dole Whips on board. They did have a small salad area with lettuce, dressing and a couple toppings on the Fantasy in February. I wouldn't call it a full size salad bar but salad was available.

 

[ozliz]

I prioritise and leave the stuff that isn't fantastic. I do gain weight as I do over eat but I am getting it better under control. I try to serve more salad and vegetables on my plate first at the buffets so there is less space for the other food. I also try to limit my need to finish food. If it is not amazing then a taste is enough I accept the wastage even though I hate wasting food at home.

I am also learning to not care about the servers reactions so much. A little annoying to be honest as I do prefer not to feel like my eating habits are being watched. I am getting better at ignoring it or just saying that I had a late snack of burger or a big lunch in port etc. sometimes they just bring a lot of food and I just have a taste then say I couldn't possibly eat more. I love eating but they are not great at respecting my efforts to be healthy (I only ordered a salad and the side of veggies once and they were convinced something was wrong if nothing took my fancy on the menu - honestly, my stomach was just feeling ill from too much rich food all week.