A cruise holiday is fantastic but probably the easiest way to pile on the pounds. The ultimate indulgence on any holiday is the 24 hour gourmet dining combined with long lazy days doing nothing except eating and drinking – wonderful! However, how do you ensure that the clothes you pack will still fit at the end of your holiday? Maintaining your weight on a cruise, or indeed any holiday, is always a challenge with so many tempting treats on offer.

Have you ever heard of a weight loss cruise or a weight loss holiday? Most people would be horrified at the thought of trying to incorporate a diet and exercise plan into a holiday with all that temptation at their fingertips. A holiday is a chance to relax and unwind but it can also offer the opportunity to get fit and healthy too. Losing, or even maintaining, weight while on holiday is clearly a challenge for most people but, with the right strategies, it can be done. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful achievement to get on the bathroom scales after your holiday and be pleasantly surprised?

Whilst it is easy to eat, drink and relax our way to extra pounds on a cruise, there are also opportunities to burn up some of those excess calories. You could take advantage of the well equipped gym, take part in an exercise class, get active on excursions or go for a swim. After all that, you can dance the night away if you have any energy left. The buffet will have some healthy options like salads, fresh fruit, grilled meat, fish and vegetables. Unfortunately, there are lots of more calorific and indulgent choices too.
Everyone is different. Some people manage to choose healthy options most of the time, others find it difficult to resist all that temptation and some throw caution to the wind, choosing to forget about their diets altogether. We all face different challenges when it comes to controlling our weight but, whichever type of person you are, you will need a strategy to avoid packing on the pounds.

There are some entirely difference approaches. You could decide to make healthy choices, taking advantage of the fresh produce available and trying to incorporate a little exercise into your day. This is a common sense approach which requires a degree of self-control.

Another option is to follow a program like Paul McKenna’s ‘I can make you thin’ where you learn to listen to your body eating whatever you want but only when you are hungry and stopping when you are full. This approach is ideal as you get to sample the delicious array of foods on offer without overdoing things.

Thirdly, you could plan in advance to lose weight before your cruise knowing that you are likely to indulge in everything on offer. Some people would prefer to incorporate a weight loss diet before their cruise and again afterwards in order to deal with the excesses of their holiday.

Whatever works for you in order to maintain your weight is fine – as long as you enjoy your holiday and come home feeling happy and relaxed!. Ched Chadwick