I will be a newly graduated nurse come May and am probably 100 lbs overweight. I was hoping to be working out and eating healthier and have lost some weight by the time I start my career but nursing school has proven to be a horrible time to try and focus on healthy eating and cardio...go figure.
Does anyone have any special tips for trying to lose weight and focus on one's own health while helping others heal? Here's to hoping a physically demanding profession will help my endeavors!
Additionally, for others overweight, do you notice patients question your education or work ethic and if so how do you overcome that?
RegularNurse, I suggest you do some research regarding weight loss surgery. It is the only effective treatment for obesity that we currently have. Diet and exercise does not work. I am not talking about someone who has to lose 10lbs but rather the patient that needs to loose 100+. We need to stop looking at obesity as a moral failing and start treating it like the disease it is. You wouldn't tell a cancer patient that chemo is the easy way out, would you? So why do we treat obesity any different?
Let me first tell you bravo for wanting to take care of yourself. Here are a few things that I learned in losing weight.
1. Learn to fuel your body and nourish your emotions. I used to be an adrenaline junkie and ended up burned out. Leave work at work and live your life outside of work hours. Engage in hobbies that give you energy.
2. Enlist support from individuals who can positively support you through your challenges and successes. Get an exercise buddy, find a fun exercise class where you can become "a regular", hire a personal trainer to write out a workout plan for you, set up an appointment with a registered dietician (most hospitals will give this benefit for free).
3. Find an exercise that you love and change it up to prevent boredom. When you engage in exercise you love since it is sustainable. Ditch the quick fix. Running might get you fitter faster, but if you hate it, you won't do it for very long. Besides, life is too short!
4. Treat weight loss as if you are a scientist experimenting. If you have a bad day and end up overindulging, understand the triggers that led up to overeating, learn from them and move on. Do not berate yourself, since this generally ends up backfiring on you.
5. Set small and easily achievable goals and reward yourself.
6. Find a way to inspire yourself daily. Look up weight loss success stories and learn vicariously from them.
7. Learn something everyday. It can be how to increase your intake of water, a new recipe, how to combat sugar cravings, etc.
8. Start daily self care. Aim to do several small things through out your day such as using your favorite moisturizer, giving yourself a at home spa treatment, using a scented linen spray, drinking your favorite tea, listening to your favorite music. Self care increases your energy and makes you more resilient.
9. Start tuning into physical cues when to eat. I know this can be challenging when you work.
10. Find several distraction and relaxation techniques when you want to eat but aren't hungry.
11. At the end of the day, list 3 things you did well. Focus on what went well.
12 Get restorative sleep. Ditch the devices 1-2 hours before bedtime, set up your bedroom to support your sleep with blackout curtains, clear out any clutter, etc.
13. Connect to your "Why?" Why is it important for you to lose weight? Connect to your vision of why you want to lose weight and what will losing weight bring you.
14. In the end, create the plan that will get you to your goal in a joyful way. Everyone is different, find out what works for you.
RegularNurse, I suggest you do some research regarding weight loss surgery. It is the only effective treatment for obesity that we currently have. Diet and exercise does not work. I am not talking about someone who has to lose 10lbs but rather the patient that needs to loose 100+. We need to stop looking at obesity as a moral failing and start treating it like the disease it is. You wouldn't tell a cancer patient that chemo is the easy way out, would you? So why do we treat obesity any different?
This thread has really spun out of control. What started as a question on maintaining a healthy body weight as a nurse has been become some weird debate on bariatric surgery.
Sorry if I offended some of you, it was not by design.
Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.
Regarding bariatric surgery, come on people. You want to change your anatomy because you can't lose weight through diet and exercise. This is an extreme solution.
There seem to be more than just me that have issues with you fat shaming us. Live MY life, walk in MY shoes before you JUDGE me. I worked with endos for 2 years (I take synthroid and controlled DM2), dietitians, orthopedists for my OA related to injury, physical therapy, personal trainer and psychotherapy. I even participated in a research study.
Nothing worked. Then it was another 2 years working with my weight loss surgery team to get the surgery. I was 2 years post-op last month and am still working with a dietitian, see my surgeon quarterly, under the care of an endocrinologist. I ran a half marathon last year and am now training for a triathlon. Would not be able to do this w/o the surgery. it is not a "fast, easy way out" I did what I needed to do to be healthy now. I am still on synthroid, and metformin but my A1c is 6.1, not that it would impress you. I cannot make the diabetes go into remission. I started this process when I was diagnosed with it in 2010. I do not smoke, drink, do drugs, I exercise and I eat healthy.
I needed the WLS to reset my metabolism.
Please do not generalize. You don't know everyone's story. I certainly hope you are not this self-righteous and judgmental of your patients.
There seem to be more than just me that have issues with you fat shaming us. Live MY life, walk in MY shoes before you JUDGE me. I worked with endos for 2 years (I take synthroid and controlled DM2), dietitians, orthopedists for my OA related to injury, physical therapy, personal trainer and psychotherapy. I even participated in a research study.
Nothing worked. Then it was another 2 years working with my weight loss surgery team to get the surgery. I was 2 years post-op last month and am still working with a dietitian, see my surgeon quarterly, under the care of an endocrinologist. I ran a half marathon last year and am now training for a triathlon. Would not be able to do this w/o the surgery. it is not a "fast, easy way out" I did what I needed to do to be healthy now. I am still on synthroid, and metformin but my A1c is 6.1, not that it would impress you. I cannot make the diabetes go into remission. I started this process when I was diagnosed with it in 2010. I do not smoke, drink, do drugs, I exercise and I eat healthy.
I needed the WLS to reset my metabolism.
Please do not generalize. You don't know everyone's story. I certainly hope you are not this self-righteous and judgmental of your patients.
I'm sorry if I offended you with my post. I am happy that you are doing better after your procedure. I wish you health and happiness in all things :-)
Regarding losing weight: You have to do what you love. Because consistency is key here and it's much easier and effective to be consistent with something you enjoy. It takes lots of trial and error to find what you love, but it's immensely worth it. For me it is Muay Thai.
Also. be wary of what you eat and drink during a 12 hour hospital shift. Often nurses are shoving sodas, coffee, and snacks down their throats. My dental hygenist says nurses have some of the worst teeth she sees.
I haven't lost any weight as a nurse for 10 plus years . You think I would , since I dont have time to eat much, and I am so exhausted after a shift that I go straight to bed.
I carry all my weight in my gut. I had a pt ask me if I was pregnant. I laughed, and said no, i'm just fat. And I don't really care. My coworker laughed out loud at my reply. Pt obviously must have had bad sight as I am too old to be PG. But I made light of it, so the pt didnt feel bad( she was elderly) she meant well.
I wonder if I wasnt under so much stress, and had normal hours, if i would lose weight by eating normal. My knees are shot, so not sure about exercise. MDs wont do a uni replacement, so I suffer in pain everyday.
I haven't lost any weight as a nurse for 10 plus years . You think I would , since I dont have time to eat much, and I am so exhausted after a shift that I go straight to bed.
I carry all my weight in my gut. I had a pt ask me if I was pregnant. I laughed, and said no, i'm just fat. And I don't really care. My coworker laughed out loud at my reply. Pt obviously must have had bad sight as I am too old to be PG. But I made light of it, so the pt didnt feel bad( she was elderly) she meant well.
I wonder if I wasnt under so much stress, and had normal hours, if i would lose weight by eating normal. My knees are shot, so not sure about exercise. MDs wont do a uni replacement, so I suffer in pain everyday.
Good luck OP . maybe you'll do ok.
Have you considered stem cell therapy? Apparently it works instant wonders.
Cooking from scratch is always a good idea... if you have the time. Full time work and school means I don't have any free time, so I don't cook.
Prepackaged foods are not always the devil as far as weight loss goes. Just make sure whatever you eat, you eat fewer calories than you need. Figure out what your BMR is and eat pretty close to that - you'll lose weight. I try to eat around 1200 calories per day when I'm serious about losing weight... and sometimes, that intake looks like a slice of cake, three beers, and then some mostly water vegetable soup the rest of the day.
We demonize pre-packaged food but purely from a calorie perspective, home made is not always lower calorie (or even necessarily healthier depending on what you're making...)
Baby steps. Most people can't count calories. They don't actually know what a serving size of anything is and they underestimate basic calorie counts. Using a food scale can be intimidating or tedious, depending on how you feel about it. Same goes with a lot of trendy healthy, low-cal recipes that often involve a lot of prep/steps and even more ingredients.
It also removes the "but I don't have time" excuse.
My sister does this from time to time. Gets convinced that the only way she's going to lose weight is through healthy, home cooked meals. It fizzles out because she loses interest. She'd rather be doing other things. You put in all the effort and a kalecabbagequinoa salad just doesn't taste as good as a hamburger. So she swings back to relying heavily on fast food. It's convenient and she's already embraced the black/white notion of good food vs bad food...
Or she could invest in a few Lean Cuisines and some prepackaged salads...
We demonize pre-packaged food but purely from a calorie perspective, home made is not always lower calorie (or even necessarily healthier depending on what you're making...)
Baby steps. Most people can't count calories. They don't actually know what a serving size of anything is and they underestimate basic calorie counts. Using a food scale can be intimidating or tedious, depending on how you feel about it. Same goes with a lot of trendy healthy, low-cal recipes that often involve a lot of prep/steps and even more ingredients.
It also removes the "but I don't have time" excuse.
My sister does this from time to time. Gets convinced that the only way she's going to lose weight is through healthy, home cooked meals. It fizzles out because she loses interest. She'd rather be doing other things. You put in all the effort and a kalecabbagequinoa salad just doesn't taste as good as a hamburger. So she swings back to relying heavily on fast food. It's convenient and she's already embraced the black/white notion of good food vs bad food...
Or she could invest in a few Lean Cuisines and some prepackaged salads...
Try the meal delivery services where they cook food and deliver it to your door. Calories are counted and it's explicitly written what is for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This cuts down on prep, shopping, and cleaning up time, money, and energy. All of that is important is consistency, which is a defining factor in losing weight. Your sister's experience with fizzling out proves this.
Baby steps. Most people can't count calories. They don't actually know what a serving size of anything is and they underestimate basic calorie counts. Using a food scale can be intimidating or tedious, depending on how you feel about it. Same goes with a lot of trendy healthy, low-cal recipes that often involve a lot of prep/steps and even more ingredients.
It's hard to count calories with home cooked meals. The only way it really works is if you sit there, measure every single ingredient you put in the recipe exactly, and then when the recipe is done immediately portion it into food containers, making sure they have exactly equal portions, and divide the total calories in the recipe by your number of equal portions.
If you don't want to recalculate every single time you make something, you have to make it the exact same way with the exact same amount of ingredients. None of this a pinch of this or a pinch of that stuff. Exact measurements only. And what if you need to swap out butter for olive oil because you ran out of butter? If you want to be precise, that's going to involve recalculating the whole recipe.
Weight Watchers, My Fitness Pal, and others remember your recipe once you save it, so at least it's in there once you've made it once, but again - if there's any slight change, the saved recipe isn't going to be right.
Whew. What a pain in the butt.
I have a food scale and I use it occasionally (I fall in the "this is obnoxious and tedious" camp), but I do know exactly how many calories are in that frozen dinner/protein bar/breakfast sandwich, and accounting for that is so much easier.
I don't know how people cook complex meals and count calories consistently. It's hugely time consuming.
It's hard to count calories with home cooked meals. The only way it really works is if you sit there, measure every single ingredient you put in the recipe exactly, and then when the recipe is done immediately portion it into food containers, making sure they have exactly equal portions, and divide the total calories in the recipe by your number of equal portions.
If you don't want to recalculate every single time you make something, you have to make it the exact same way with the exact same amount of ingredients. None of this a pinch of this or a pinch of that stuff. Exact measurements only. And what if you need to swap out butter for olive oil because you ran out of butter? If you want to be precise, that's going to involve recalculating the whole recipe.
Weight Watchers, My Fitness Pal, and others remember your recipe once you save it, so at least it's in there once you've made it once, but again - if there's any slight change, the saved recipe isn't going to be right.
Whew. What a pain in the butt.
I have a food scale and I use it occasionally (I fall in the "this is obnoxious and tedious" camp), but I do know exactly how many calories are in that frozen dinner/protein bar/breakfast sandwich, and accounting for that is so much easier.
I don't know how people cook complex meals and count calories consistently. It's hugely time consuming.
You're making this unreasonably difficult.
Close approximations of calories will suffice. For example, in a consistent diet the effect of being 200 calories over each day will have little impact in the grand scheme of exercising, sleeping well, reducing stress, changing food beliefs and habits, reducing calories in, increasing calories out, having a support system, and so on. And losing weight and keeping it off is just that: a complex, long term, consistent act.
And regarding the example of swapping butter and olive oil, you don't need to "recalculate the whole recipe". Just change the calories from butter with the calories from olive oil.
Flo., BSN, RN
571 Posts
RegularNurse, I suggest you do some research regarding weight loss surgery. It is the only effective treatment for obesity that we currently have. Diet and exercise does not work. I am not talking about someone who has to lose 10lbs but rather the patient that needs to loose 100+. We need to stop looking at obesity as a moral failing and start treating it like the disease it is. You wouldn't tell a cancer patient that chemo is the easy way out, would you? So why do we treat obesity any different?