Let’s not kid ourselves; it’s damn hard (not impossible but damn hard) to take a cruise vacation without gaining weight. If you stick vacationers on a boat with 24 hour food and drink availability, healthy eating habits more often than not will cease to exist. Just because a certain outcome seems like to happen it doesn’t mean you should just throw in the towel, give into temptation, pig out and deal with the consequences when you get home; there is another way.

It doesn’t have to be all or nothing, instead of seeking to completely avoid anything that can cause you to gain weight, pick your battles. Putting on a couple of pounds is perfectly normal and okay, what you want to avoid is packing on so much weight that your clothes no longer fit by the end of the cruise. The key is not to deny yourself completely, but moderation and knowing when to deny yourself. In my mind it’s impossible to go on a cruise vacation with the mindset of not enjoying all of the options available. Whether it’s where we are going, what we are doing or what we are eating I want to start things out with all of the options being available. This doesn’t necessarily mean I am going to take advantage of everything but I don’t want to limit myself before I even start.

Some people will tell you to take the stairs so that you get exercise. Other people will tell you that alcoholic beverages have tons of empty calories so they should be skipped. I’m going to tell you that taking the stairs slows you down and not drinking alcoholic beverages (when you are a drinker) sucks; so we have to do this another way. Instead of fighting that uphill battle (a battle you would eventually lose, leaving you both guilt-ridden and bloated) to completely cut out “the bad stuff” lets concentrate more on how to make “the bad stuff” not so bad.

Drink water whenever possible: Everyone tells you this one, which is something that I can get behind. While I’m not one to say you should completely avoid the empty calories in sodas (or pop as I would say) I do think it’s important to pick your battles. This is one of those battles where I like to play it conservatively. If skipping that glass of Pepsi or Coke allows me to enjoy a cocktail later, in my mind it’s a fair trade. Besides, I take dehydration seriously and there is no better way to fight dehydration than good old H2O, plus I need to prepare for all of the booze I won’t be cutting back on later.

Just because a buffet is available it doesn’t mean you have to eat everything: Buffets. Love them. I’m not someone who goes to a buffet with the intention of filling up plate after plate with food, just because it’s available. However, I am someone who once I see something I like will have no problem “going for it”. So, you don’t have to skip the buffets you just shouldn’t eat food just because it’s there. While you may feel the need to get your “money’s worth” of the ships food, you have to exercise a bit of restraint. Here is what you want to do, go through the line twice. The first time through just take small samples of anything you think looks interesting. This way you can sample anything you want and decide which battle is worth fighting. Then after you are done you can go back through the line to “fill up” on the items you really enjoyed. Who knows after you are done eating your samples you may not even want to go back through that second time.

Go easy on the frozen cocktails: Some people want you to skip the frozen cocktails because they are full of empty calories, which is true. I want you to skip the frozen cocktails because they are seriously lacking in booze. If you are going to be taking in all of the empty calories contained in alcohol you may as well be getting buzzed in the process. So instead of sipping on a Margarita go ahead and order yourself a long island iced tea; both of them are loaded with calories but it only takes a couple long island iced teas to get you going. You may have to drink your body weight in umbrella drinks before you start feeling anything.

Go out and get active: Ships are great because a lot of the time they will trick you into being active. There are some in your face “go out and exercise” areas like the jogging track or fitness center, but they aren’t my cup of tea. The real “gems” are activities like ice skating, rock climbing, trampolines or just walking around the promenade are all great ways to burn calories without actually “exercising”. Also when you get into port, exploring by foot whenever possible is a great way to not only really see a port but also to burn calories. Spending a couple of hours per port walking can almost negate the extra calories you take in during the evening. I love the variety of terrain you encounter in most ports; you can get a pretty good workout, without even realizing that you are actually working out. So if you are in a historic location do some research on a self-guided walking tour of the area, there is no better way to see the sights. I am big on snorkeling. In my experience few calorie blasting methods are more effective than chasing fish underwater. Any time I spend a few hours in a port snorkeling, I know that I can indulge with impunity when I get back to the ship because of all the exercise I got during the day.

Maybe You Should Eat More Often: I know this advice flies directly in the face of logic but maybe the right thing to do is eat smaller meals but more often. Since food is available 24 hours a day there is no need to load up on grub; they won’t run out. So instead of eating huge meals a couple of times each day, why not eat smaller meals and more often. By eating less food but more you will be encouraging a speed up of your metabolism allowing you to burn calories more easily. Since your body gets used to being fed several times each day it doesn’t hold onto calories wondering when the next caloric load will take place. This is also what you should be doing in your everyday life for optimum weight control.

I’m sure you have come across numerous articles telling you how to not lose weight on a cruise but most of them suggest unrealistic methods. What I tried to do was remind you that on a cruise you are supposed to have fun and enjoy everything it offers. However, just because you are enjoying yourself it doesn’t mean you need to overdo it. But even if you do happen to take things too far there are still ways to make cut calories in some places to be used in other