Plus Sized Nursing Students Come In..

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hi.

This is not meant to flame anyone or get touchy. Because I am a plus sized girl myself. I am currently doing the last of my pre-requisities and am beginning an accelerated program at in September.

I was just wondering if any of you feel an added pressure to lose weight? I do. I feel like if I am going to be health care professional, I personally feel like I would be a hyporcrite telling my patients how to be healthy when I am not being healthy myself. I just feel a need to personally live healthier and be more active. And hopefully in turn that will help me to lose some weight.

If there is anyone out there who is also wanting to lose weight and would like to be supportive of each other, that would be great. Thanks guyes.

I am also a plus size woman starting a BSN/MSN program in the Fall. I originally gained weight when I became ill 10 years ago and stopped moving around much. However, lately now that I am feeling better than I have in years the weight is starting to come off with a bit of consistent exercise. In the past I felt frustated with exercising because it didn't seem to matter if I did it consistently and often, I never lost weight. Hopefully I won't face gaining the "freshmen fifteen" again.

Good luck to all.

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I am in nursing school, 8 weeks in :). In nutrician class our teacher is of course a strong nutrician advocate and very "all for" being healthy if you are in the medical field. It is pretty darn convincing for me to get healthy. Here is a couple tips she is having me do. You have to master 1 thing at a time.

go to walmart.com and buy a caltrac. $40 but well worth it. These are not a podometer, it actually has the calculations in them that nutricianists use to calculate exactly what your body is doing for your height, weight, sex, and age. which is important. You wear it always. it is super easy to use and it even comes with a little 5 min. video to show you how to work it.

My goals this week, per my teacher, are

1. no eating after 8pm. I know that sounds small, but with nursing school and up studying to 4 am almost every day, this is a very very hard task for me.

2. 175 min. of cardio a week. yes walking counts.

3. recording my daily caltrac numbers. Report into her next week.

Just wanted to share.

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Specializes in Psych, Assertive Community Resource Team.

I weigh about 230 right now and I can honestly say I am the happiest I have been in my whole life.

When I graduated high school I weighed 240. I moved out of my parents house, started partying alot more (drinking, no drugs) and developed a really bad relationship with my body image and food. I lost 110 pounds in 4 months. I just didn't eat anything but spinich and jelly beans for 4 months. I got so thin I started to look emaciated. And then I got sick. I ended up in the hospital with severe anemia and my friends and family really got on my ass about eating better. My weight went up to about 160 and I felt much healthier.

I wish I had kept my weight at 160 just for health reasons but after a really bad break-up with my boyfriend of 3 years, I started to overeat out of depression. In about a year I ballooned from 160 to 270.

That is when I met my husband and I almost ruined out relationship because I felt worried all the time that he couldn't really love me as fat as I felt. But I was wrong, and we got married this year. Like I said I am truly happy with who I am now and after losing 40 pounds (the right way) I am happy with my body too. I'm not as skinny as I could be but I know I am beautiful and I know my husband thinks I am the hottest thing on earth and that is enough for me.

I guess my advice is don't get too preoccupied with food and your weight. I

have done the cycles of anorexia and then compulsive overeating and it is as hard on your body as it is on your mind.

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Specializes in RN, Cardiac Step Down/Tele Unit.

I do not feel pressure by anyone else to lose weight - unless you count my mother :) But I do put pressure on myself to lose weight and be healthier because I do want to be a role model for my patients, especially now that I have accepted an internship after graduation on a cardiac unit. I would feel like a hypocrit telling my patients to eat right, low fat, etc when clearly I have not lived that lifestyle myself. But, I feel like I can talk honestly about my own struggles with weight and let them know that I understand how hard it is, that there are really no quick fixes and that you have to change the way you live. It has been virtually impossible to lose weight during nursing school (stress eating and hours on my butt studying), but now that I am doing my residency and working 12 hour shifts, and will soon be a working GN, I think I can start making the changes I need to be that role model of success for my patients.

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Hi. I am also a plus sized woman. I don't feel pressure to lose the weight because I am going to be talking to patients about a healthier lifestyle, but I feel pressure to lose it for my own health. I just graduated in May....whoohoo and I was working fulltime and going to school like a lot of people. My eating habits were not the best and I didn't make it to the gym as much as I did before I started school. I didn't have the best lifestyle habits when I was dating my boyfriend either. Now I have graduated and even though I am stressed as much as I have ever been with moving and starting a brand new career, I am making baby steps. I signed up for a gym closer to my house and I go at least 5 days/week. The eating habits still aren't the best, but I hope to change those once I get settled in my new city. Also, the boyfriend is gone too so no more sitting in the bar from Thursday-Sunday...hahahaha! Good luck to all of you. You can do it!

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Specializes in Cardiac/Telemetry.

I do feel pressure to lose weight, but not because people at the hospital or patients have said anything to me, but because of me. I don't feel like I can provide the best care if I can't move quickly enough. I don't feel like I can do a lot if I can't move through the small "creases" in the room (because of the tables and equipment--IV pumps, etc). Therefore, I am feeling that pressure, but it's because of me. I may feel hypocritical sometimes when I tell a pt that he or she needs to lose weight, but not to the point that I'm questioning myself. I've done something about it. I've entered Weight Watchers (and I'm sorry, I don't mean to advertise) and it's working pretty well for me so far. :)

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Specializes in NeuroICU/SICU/MICU.

I don't feel any pressure to lose weight. My day-to-day life is not affected by my extra weight, I'm not in any pain at the end of my 10-hour shift, and my boyfriend thinks I'm sexy :loveya:I may get flak from patients when I start clinicals or work, but I'm comfortable enough with my body to not worry about that. And really, if a person points out my body in response to educating them on healthy habits, it really says more about how defensive they feel about their body than any reflection on mine.

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Specializes in RN CRRN.

Any one looking up the word hypocrite wouldn't blame the book for being worn, it is the information it provides that is important. We are RESOURCES not mirrors.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Cardiac, ICU.
Any one looking up the word hypocrite wouldn't blame the book for being worn, it is the information it provides that is important. We are RESOURCES not mirrors.

:yeahthat: :yeahthat: :yeahthat:

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Specializes in ED, Hospice, ICU, Trach and vent.

I do not feel the need to lose weight over guilt or anything, in fact have been overweight since I became a nurse. I finally decided to lose weight to make myself feel better, and glad I did.

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I am also plus sized, and gained during nursing school. I work full time and school full-time, so with studying and working and clinicals, and in my spare time, sleep.... there is not much time to make and eat a salad... It is usually, "do you want fries with that?" What I would suggest to those of you who may have extra time, or a loved one that can help, is to buy "good" food and bring your lunch for class and clinicals. I had a classmate that always had veggies and dip for our break as I went to the vending machine. I think that drinking more water or calorie free drinks can help too... I can say that the first semester was the worst, because everything was new and clinicals were stressful.... but it gets better. And I can say that I have either stayed even, or even lost a little bit (haven't checked, but scrubs fit different.) Anyhow, just thought I would throw out some ideas. I have never felt embarrassed or ashamed of my weight in school. I really haven't had time.... lol

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i'm hoping that i'll be able to incorporate a healthy eating lifestyle with nursing school. starting nursing school is a new chapter in my life and i want to be able to lose weight and be able to keep up with the paces of my new life so to say.

now i know i'm likely not to lose the amount of weight that i actually need to, but for the past 4 years i've been sitting on my duff at a desk job. i'm worried that i won't be able to keep up during clinicals, etc. so i'm starting to walk/exercise and am eating much, much better.

i know it's not impossible. my mom returned to college in 2003 to finish her degree and used that time to concentrate on weight loss and college. granted, she didn't go for nursing but she was able to start a diet/exercise routine.

personally, i know i can easily grab the banana or prepackaged cheese for a snack as easily as i can the chips. it's all about the choices we want to make and what we want to accomplish in our lives. i'm choosing to change because i have no other choice.

i hope i didn't ramble on too much.

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