Is nursing bad for your waist line?

Nurses General Nursing

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Although nursing can be a physical job it seems to have messed with my eating habits. I haven't been nursing for very long - a couple of months and I already have started to gain a little weigh. Is there such a thing as the "freshman 15" for new nurses?

Specializes in OBSTERTICS-POSTPARTUM,L/D AND HIGH-RISK.

Thank you for making me laugh. Yes it probably does. We eat for stress; we bring food in for every reason to have a party. It does help us; it bonds us together when the day is rough. And sometimes the food we bring in for the party even gets us through lunch. So THANK YOU again for making me smile after one of those rough days even if we didn't bring in any food.( I did treat myself to a small amt of chocolate) :chuckle:yeah::rotfl::lol2:

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I actually lost a lot of weight once I started nursing. I was worried there was something wrong with me - I was down to my weight in high school. Really, all I was doing was not eating and running like crazy for 12 hours, I didn't even notice it was happening. Then I would go home and collapse. This routine would go on for a few days, then I would realize "Oh my gosh I'm starving!!!" and eat everything in sight. Not exactly healthy.

I think a big part of it is what you choose to eat also. Many nurses in my unit would order out or eat at the cafeteria for breakfast and lunch. For some of them, I think the only pleasure they had at work was ordering out for food. A reward for the stress of nursing, if you will. I was the only one who brought my lunch every day - a sandwich and some fruit (that cafeteria food is expensive!). Eating out breakfast and lunch, that's like $15! I'm here to make $$. And the food isn't even that good.

Saved by the budget...

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we did a research on nurses and found that actually the nursing profession has the highest number of anorexics compared to other professions (barring modelling of course).

but it is true that nurses get spoiled by patients sometimes. with all the candy and chocolates and cakes nurses receive from patients and families...

nurses love their food! everytime theres an inservice or event at the hospital, if there's free food, all the nurses will come. if theres not food, no nurse will come! :monkeydance:

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Specializes in Med/surg,Tele,PACU,ER,ICU,LTAC,HH,Neuro.
You don't have to be new for nursing to affect your waist line. Many nurses get into trouble with their weight. Particularly a problem for those who work on night shift. You really have to make up your mind to stick to a fitness regimen, including watching how you handle stress. Eating when stressed can easily become a habit. Many of us did this in school!

I had a nurse on nights that kept her figure by slightly burning the microwave popcorn in the bag. You have to be careful not to skink up the whole floor but the brown popped kernals do take away the appetite like charcoal and you can munch slowly on it.

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I was discharging a patient when he asked me, "Why are nurses so fat?"

i think this patient must be very ignorant or just choosing to see what he wants to see. i don't think nurses as a population are predisposed to or generally fat! it's got nothing to do with nursing. there's more fat people who are not nurses than there are nurses who are fat! :monkeydance:

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Specializes in Med Surg, Hospice.

Gee, I've lost weight since I've started school and working on the med surg floor. Down 14# so far. One thing I have done though is when someone brings in food, I bypass the nurse's station so I'm not tempted.

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Specializes in Home Health Care.
ROTFLMFAO!!! :roll

I began stress-eating while in nursing school, and gained a whopping 35 pounds by the end of the program. I was the fattest I had ever been in my entire life! So I can attest to the fact that I stress-ate while in school. A few years ago I weighed 116 pounds, ran 5 miles daily, lifted heavy weights, and was generally in excellent shape. I am disappointed in what my plump body has become!

However, a handful of newer nurses claim to have lost 10 or more pounds during their first year as the result of not getting any meal breaks during the course of their insanely busy shifts. Go figure!

Nursing has been perilous to my waistline because I have started stress-eating at work. It has also completely messed up my once-prized routine of strenuous exercise and good diet. I am not blaming the entire problem on nursing because I must take personal responsibility and own up to my problems, but I have not had this issue before.

This sounds exactly like my story...... I just started my new exercize routine last week . I 'm hoping to fit back into my pre-nsg clothes soon.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.
Ooohhh yeah - strange isn't it when you consider how much running around we do in our job

BUT...

Due to my car being out of action since February, I have had to walk to work which really isn't that far. This has caused me to slowly lose weight, without changing my diet. But hey...I had to be FORCED to do it! And once the car is fixed will I continue to walk? ;)

Why not

I have a 5 mile walk, thereabouts. Quite often I still walk to and from work. Lovely weather, I love it. I pretend Im on a golf course of courses.

I also look at it as my way of supporting the Green movement, cutting down on auto gas emissions threatening our enviroment, global warming and all that. Decreasing our dependence on foriegn oil. If we decrease our dependence on foriegn oil, then we might be able to stop this illegal war, which is completely about Oil, ask Greenspan and he is a Republican. The only smart one. So walking besides healthy, is good for the enviroment, might get us out of the war, and sounds even patriotic to me

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Ha, ha, ha, ha, don't know about that one.

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I still have a while befor i graduate with my rn but with my first check im getting a treadmill and the hospital i want to work for is only about a mile or two away from me so im gonna try to walk to work when the weather is good, im already over weight after my two babies but school and all the stress leaves me to tired to even think about excercise.

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Actually, I've decided to nip it in the butt before I start nursing school. I've got mucho to go, but I started WW and work on an ellipitical-type machine everyday but Sunday. I'm 3 weeks in and feel much better and am now able to just say NO when someone asks me at work if I want to order out. It isn't easy, because I do work nights and our schedules and eating habits really suffer. Because my weight was affecting my knees and back, I knew I had to take a step before I start nursing school. I do feel better which is a major accomplishment already.

Kris

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Specializes in Pediatric Heme/Onc/BMT.

My weight fluctuates with my rotating shifts.

On sets of nights, I lose weight. I don't eat at work and rarely eat before bed. I usually just eat dinner and maybe a snack in the evening. But on days, I eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and at least one snack.

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