Healthy Cruising with Jon Stanton

I wanted you all to meet my friend Jon Stanton and fellow Joy Fit Club member. Jon has lost over 200 pounds by walking and learning healthier eating habits.

He is 32-year-old communications director from Ovid, Mich., and constantly felt insecure about his appearance and his inability to control his eating habits. It wasn’t long before his weight took a toll on his professional goals as well as his personal ones. “I would often fall short of reaching them because of a physical breakdown, or because they required me to do something that I couldn’t because of my weight,” he said. “Life was busy, but often not very fun — especially once I reached my 30s.”

He is now embracing his new life and the lucky guy just got back from a cruise and he actually lost weight while on the floating smorgasbord.  I asked Jon to tell us about his wonderful trip.

“Healthy Cruising - How I Lost 2 Pounds While Surrounded by Food on the Open Seas”

I confess, I’m a cruise-a-holic. If it weren’t for this lovely thing in my life called “work” or the fact that I am chronically broke, I would cruise year-round. Due to my state of affairs, however, I’m lucky if I can go every other year.

I left the frigid wilderness of Michigan on January 8 - destination: Fort Lauderdale. Ah, Florida - home of horrendous hurricanes, but warm winters. I think we must have been on God’s good side this year, because shortly after I left Michigan, temperatures plummeted to 18 below zero. I was oblivious - enjoying the 80-degree sunshine in Florida.

Our ultimate destination (there were 9 of us “cruisees” this year) was the lovely Independence of the Seas - currently the largest cruise ship in the world. At 188,000 tons, she weighs just a bit more than I did when I was killing myself with food a couple of years ago. Within her “bowels” (why do ships have bowels?) is room for 6,000 people, a theatre that seats 3,000, multiple stores and shops, an ice skating rink, a surf machine, dozens of pools and hot tubs, and pretty much everything else you would expect to find on the strip in Vegas - including a casino.

Alas, also within her belly is enough food to overfeed those 6,000 people for an entire week; twenty-five tons of chicken breasts, 850,000 eggs, enough beer to get a good-sized city drunk, and enough high-calorie desserts to send the passengers that don’t contract the Norovirus into a diabetic coma. How on earth is someone who has lost 229 pounds in the last year and a half supposed to survive that kind of temptation?

Well, I would like to say I have the willpower of chicken working its way out of an egg, or that I am so “supremely fit” that I could eat whatever I want without dire consequences. Neither statement is true, so I had to determine what I was going to do to make sure the ship didn’t end up listing on the side where my room was located. I had the additional motivation of knowing I would be going on the Today Show one week after returning, and I didn’t exactly want my pants to rip or my zipper to pop open on national TV!

Fitness gurus will tell you that when facing a known danger, it’s best to have a plan as to how to avert disaster. All throughout the last year and a half of my weight-loss journey, I have always operated with a philosophy that when it’s time to “celebrate,” it’s best to party like it’s 1999, and when it’s not - be smart about what you eat. However, since this cruise would be an entire WEEK of partying like it’s 1999, my waistline would never survive intact.

So, I determined before leaving that I would eat a smart breakfast. That meant avoiding the buffet line with it’s heaps of fried chicken embryos and pork byproducts, and opting instead for a box of Special K, half a banana, and skim milk. For good measure, I threw in a yogurt. Lunch was salad-time. I’ve learned to love those copious amounts of green leafiness, and I discovered a wonderful low-fat Raspberry vinaigrette onboard that only had 40 calories per two tablespoons (it took me a couple of days to figure this out - I couldn’t find anyone in the kitchen that understood English). In fact, not only was there a GREAT salad bar at the buffet every day, I discovered on day 2 that in the main dining room (think 5-star, Emeril-style food) people in fancy white hats would actually make a salad for you. We would basically stand in a line and bark orders at them as to what to put in a big silver bowl. They would dutifully toss it all together and put it on a big plate at the end of the line.

As for supper…well, after being good for breakfast and lunch, I decided to return to the 1999 party for dinner. I ate whatever I wanted in the main dining room for supper. I did avoid white breads and super-rich desserts (for the most part), but other than that - I ate bountifully.

Everyone always wants to know about the “midnight buffets.” Once again, God was looking out for me, because there was only one of those on this particular cruise (we suspect this is one of the “cut-backs” the cruise companies have made because of financial strains) and I was not star-struck by the food options there. I did eat some cookies and pizza and those kinds of things late at night - something I rarely do at home, but none of it stuck to my body because…

I EXERCISED LIKE A FIEND! Oh yeah - 7:00 am found me in the onboard gym (aptly named “Shipshape Fitness Center) busting a groove with Ryan; a former soccer pro whose newfound calling is whipping chubby Americans into shape while onboard a cruise ship. One morning was aerobics, and the next was strength training, and then it was a morning of ab-work and so on. When I finished with the half hour of hell in the Shipshape Fitness Center, I headed outdoors to the top of the ship, where a walking/running track greeted me. Motivated by my attempts to escape from Ryan as quickly as possible, I would then walk/run for a two to three mile loop. After that, I would return to my room and collapse in a heap on the floor.

Once I regained consciousness, it was off to visit our various ports of call. These were extreme calorie-burning opportunities. In St. Thomas, my best friend and I hiked to the top of the island - including a sprint up several hundred stairs. In St. Marten, we walked 4 miles from the boat, rented wave runners (my butt thanked me for that one) and walked 4 miles back. In San Juan, we wandered the old part of the city looking for cheap jewelry. What I found instead was the local drugstore, where I purchased a box of Diet Coke so I wouldn’t have to pay $2.50 per can for it on the ship.

 

All of my endeavors ultimately contributed to a two-pound weight loss. My fellow cruisees were not amused. While impressed with my physical vigor and amazing stamina, they wanted to commit murder when they found out I lost two pounds. Names shall remain anonymous, but I know at least one of them told me they gained four pounds. Not bad, when you consider that the average cruiser gains anywhere from 7-10 pounds on a week-long cruise. I told them they should be proud it was only four!

 

So - it IS possible to have fun and be healthy. It IS possible to enjoy food and not gain weight! Yes, if I had stuck with only the bark and twigs food selections and had avoided all desserts and other goodies, I probably would have lost even more. Sorry - not going to happen. After all, losing 229 pounds has been because of a lifestyle change - not a diet. Yes, there are some good diet plans out there (like Joy Bauer’s LIFE Diet, which I had an opportunity to “preview” before its release), but unless you’re wanting a body like Paris Hilton’s, trying to diet on a cruise is ridiculous. However - it is possible to be healthy on a cruise boat - I’m living proof! So, go with a plan, exercise like a fiend, take advantage of high-activity excursions while in port, and come back home knowing you had a great time and don’t have to worry about squeezing into those jeans afterwards!