Why do we tend to gain weight on a cruise, and how do you prevent it?  

Sue Baic, Registered Dietitian, Cruise Enrichment Speaker and Author of Travelling Light: 50 Bite- Size Tips for Avoiding Weight Gain on a Cruise Vacation breaks down the factors that lead us to gain weight on a cruise vacation, and reveals why prevention is more important than post-holiday diets.

A cruise can be good for our health in so many ways, but the anticipation beforehand and even the enjoyment on board can sometimes be tinged with concern about picking up the unwelcome souvenir of extra pounds.

If this rings true for you, you’ll know how tempting it is to throw caution to the wind and deal with any extra weight when you return home. Unfortunately, research suggests prevention, or at the very least some form of “damage limitation”, may be better than cure. 

Scientists who track data on population weight have found that most of us tend to get heavier as we get older. There’s no real surprise there, but what is interesting is that this doesn’t happen steadily month by month. Instead, it tends to occur in bursts, often coinciding with specific events such as vacations. 

There’s little information from cruises specifically, but weight increases during holiday periods account for around half the weight we put on in a typical year and, despite our best intentions, many of us struggle to lose it when we get home. 

On vacation, the food may be higher in fat and sugar than we might normally eat and is beatifully presented and very palatable. It may also be served in larger portions than we would normally take, leading us to eat more than usual. In addition, we are often exposed to new foods and a wider variety of tastes and flavours with the temptation to try them all.  

 Once we add in the influence of 24-hour access with more time and opportunity to eat, we start to see the potential risk for weight gain.

As a guest enrichment speaker, I go on several cruises each year. I know from first-hand experience the hazards of being surrounded by so much temptation and have often struggled to avoid weight gain myself.  

However, I’m convinced that a cruise is no more likely than any other similar vacation to lead to weight gain. True, we are spoilt for choice, but the ships also offer some surprising advantages to help us once we know where to look. 

There are benefits to having eating venues that move with us as we travel with a helpful crew who are keen to meet our needs. Once we get to know them, we might feel more comfortable asking for some dishes to be cooked with less fat or for smaller servings of particular items. The staff also start to anticipate our preferences, so we don’t have to start afresh at each meal. 

The variety of food and drink also works in our favour. There are plenty of delicious, healthy dishes readily available if we want them, featuring fresh fruits and vegetables that would require effort to prepare at home. There’s also access to a range of sports facilities and classes, a gym and a large promenade deck that all help us be as energetic as we like.

None of us want to feel we are missing out, but I think a cruise offers surprising opportunities to balance moderation and pleasure, allowing us to be a bit mindful of the types and quantities of food while still enabling us to enjoy ourselves!

Travelling Light: 50 Bite- Size Tips for Avoiding Weight Gain on a Cruise Vacation is available as an eBook or paperback at: Travelling Light: 50 bite-size tips for avoiding weight gain on a cruise vacation: Baic, Sue: 9798320761688: Amazon.com: Books