How to NOT gain weight in Nursing School??

MammaNurse2Be · Jun 28, 2011

I bumped a post I wrote a long time ago..."what's in your lunchbox?" it had some great food suggestions. I think I may reread it all myself. Hope it gives some fresh ideas.

Cuezee2 · Jun 29, 2011

At the end of my first year of nursing school, so many of my fellow students, including myself, looked sick because we were so stressed out that we didn't eat right, lost a little too much weight, hadn't slept much during the year, and were still fighting colds and other viruses because our immune systems were taxed. You may find that you have a similar rxn. If you are prone to eating during stress, it may be a great chance to get some extra fruit and veggies into your diet. Also, you can stop and ask yourself if you are really hungry and need to eat or if you're just eating to deal with emotions. If it's the later you could try taking a walk or doing some form of exercise (good time to take up yoga!), drink a glass of water, chew gum, etc. My friend makes her own smoothies and then freezes them into popsicles and munches on those when she feels like eating from stress. If you don't have time to do that just poring some orange juice into popsicle molds and freezing them would at least be a healthier option than buying sugar water popsicles at the store. I just bought some sugar free Cool-Aid from Target and sent it to my friend to make popsicles from.

Good luck with nursing school!!

Penniej · Jun 29, 2011

There's a great FREE app if you have an iPhone called

"Lose It" that counts calories and is really easy to use,

you can also sign up for free on their website and track

it on your computer. My clinical instructor told me about

it and I just love how easy it is to use... Good luck!

crossingfingers10 · Jun 29, 2011

I gained about 10 lbs during nursing school. I always snack when I study, I never had a lot of time so fast food became more of a habit than I would've liked, and exercise definitely fell by the wayside. Surprised I didn't gain more than 10 lbs to be honest! My best advice is to find the time for exercise since it would be a great stress reliever and also try and always bring snacks/lunches from home whenever possible. Those vending machines full of terrible snacks and sodas down the hall become very tempting when sitting in a 4 hour pharm class late in the afternoon! Mindless eating definitely adds up. I had my good moments during school when over the weekends I would buy tons of fruits and veggies to make up a huge fruit salad that I could eat throughout the week and lots of veggies to cut up and dip in a low fat vinaigrette or hummus when I needed a snack. I would advise doing this weekly instead of only once every few weeks like me :) Also, when you pick up your much-needed caffeine boost in the mornings, make sure you are picking something somewhat low in calories. I'm sure my vanilla lattes added up to way more than I'd like to know. Don't worry, just stay conscious of what you are doing, make good choices, and you can avoid the weight gain!

ImThatGuy, BSN, RN · Jun 29, 2011

The easy way is not to sit on your bum eating garbage all the time.

lvnibclc · Jun 29, 2011

2 simple things helped me actually trim down in NS. #1 don't drink ANY sugary soda. #2 exercise on my recumbent bike when studying. That meant I had to learn to do two things at once, but I pulled it off. Maybe I'll try to walk and chew gum next.

I do this as well! Either my elliptical or my bike!! Works great!

adf96 · Jun 29, 2011

Since we'll be classmates and I could have posted the same thing, I say we (and whoever else wants to join us) work on it together!! I am trying to lose some before we start!

IMOKAY, BSN · Jun 29, 2011

Haha! I gained 15 pounds during the last year of pre-reqs and was hoping to lose the weight again during the program..crap! I think parking across campus and walking is a great way to force yourself to get some exercise...packing healthy snacks is also an awesome idea I will be following.

paddlelady, BSN, RN · Jun 29, 2011

Perfect time to realise how you handle stress and if eating is one of those things then maybe you are lucky. Lucky why because you have the ability to find other ways of handling stress .

As you progress in your nursing career you might just find yourself counseling your patients on how to handle stress in other ways rather than eating! So consider this an assignment handling stress. It will come in handy some day. I hope they also told you in orientation how to avoid gaining weight .

We are in the business of health care and we need to be role models and stay healthy so we can continue working.

I use to work in a place were there were always donuts and sweets around. We all decided that the sweets we needed to start having in the break room were fruits and we all felt alot better and lost weight expcet mindless sugary eating.

Try at least to add some exercise in your program and they vege and healthy food from home is the way to go.

Best of luck in nursing school

Judy

berrygal · Jun 29, 2011

Oh Yes, I invested in a treadmill at the beginning of my second year and found it's worth its weight in gold! Just 30 minutes of cardio 3 - 4 times per week has not only brought and kept my weight down but it truly relieves the mountain of stress called nursing school. Keep away from convenience food such as granola bars and packaged snacks as they are loaded with sugar which creates blood glucose spiking and crashing. Its worth it to bring food from home because you have control over your calories that way keeping your weight from creeping up.

I wish you all the best in nursing school. You'll get the most out of it if you take good care of yourself!

:stdnrsrck:

motheringheart · Jun 29, 2011

adf96~

I think there are several of us that would be interested in being a support group so to speak for each other to keep us strong and healthy and from weight gain!!

DLS_PMHNP, MSN, RN, NP · Jun 29, 2011

eat less, exercise/move more!