Any Nurses Out There?

JillianRN527

I have always been overweight but now that I am a momI want to be healthy and strong. My family and I both deserve that.

Anyway, I am a nurse on an Intermediate Medical Unit/PCU. I work three twelve hour shifts a week from 6:45a-7:15p. I either eat all my calories because I ate pure crap or I am under by more than 300. For example, yesterday I was so exhausted when I got home I didn't eat my dinner that was already ready to go (thank you meal prep). So I was way under. We are so busy that sometimes we don't get a full lunch break or if we do its 30 minutes but 5 here and 5 there. I pack lots of snacks such as cucumber, baby carrots, etc but it doesn't always work out.

Any tips?

Thank you in advance!

Zedeff

I'm not a nurse, but I am a physician who works in an academic hospital and have much the same problems. You have at least two good options:

1) Don't worry about daily balances, worry about weekly balances. If you're 300 over on Tuesday and 300 under on Wednesday, then you've met your goal. It sounds like some days you undereat and some days you overeat; are you "close enough" at the end of a week? Then it's no problem!

2) If you're like me, you might find it tough to have that unpredictable eating schedule. If I'm expecting to eat lunch and I don't get to, I feel even more hungry than if I were expecting a busy no-lunch day. As such, I've converted to an intermittent fasting diet. I basically eat one meal per day (dinner) plus a snack later because that's when my schedule allows me to predictably eat. For me on some level - I don't know if it's psychological or physiological - this is easier to maintain than an interrupted schedule.

susiej6

I feel your pain. I'm an Operating Department Practitioner and work in theatre in a busy hospital. I get half an hour for lunch. I hardly have time to chew my food and by the time I get home I'm so hungry and tired that I cram any old junk in my big fat gob! I do try to prep everything but not always, and that's when it goes all wrong.
Good luck

JillianRN527

I'll have to check at the end of this week and see where I am!

hollyrayburn

I work in correctional healthcare. Generally we are very busy and I MAY get 10 minutes for lunch, providing we don't have a lot of patients that need clinic (750 inmates and they all like to whine lol). Today all the providers called in, we sat on our butts all day and I mindlessly snacked. Wayyyy too much snacking. I think we kinda even out in the long run.

Kudos to all is hardworking healthcare heroes!

mwyvr

My mother struggled with her weight through the second half of a decades long career as a RN and that battle continued throughout retirement. Does shift-work make it harder?

In her 80's now she's basically given up the battle and suffers from numerous issues that either caused by or only made worse by the extra weight. While I sometimes feel guilty about doing so, I use her as my inspiration to not let the same thing happen to me as we do share the same genes. I'm hoping my sons inherit their moms skinny side of the family gene pool, but my side's hair. We have hair.

It's tough, demanding work as you all know. My hat is off to all healthcare workers, unsung heroes all.

fadraface01

ICU nurse and I think we all can agree that healthcare and eating are both synonymous with UNPREDICTABLE ( kinda like peeing

tinkerb311

Im picu nurse and ive put on so much weight in this job, staying in one small bedspace all day, 3x 20 min breaks in a 13hr day and starving myself on nights then binging when i finish nights. But this is the week my change starts, eating healthier and gym induction tomorrow! Is there a nurse group on here?

karen_fitzgibbon

I'm an AIN (assistant in nursing) we do 13 hour shifts and yep no time to eat. I've tend to fast on my work days - i work 2 or 3 days a week. I do the 5:2 diet thingie.

louise3uk

I work on a busy paediatric ward. I put on "map my walk" one average nightshirt and it told me I walked 15km and burned 1000 calories. I don't admit to any calories burned during shift I just average my calorie intake over the week and only add properly measured exercise like a run. I aim to eat less calories than my basal metabolic rate so am burning everything off anyway. Any added exercise at work is a bonus!

karen_fitzgibbon

My last double shift (16 hours) i walked 27000 something steps... I don't log mine either lol

evileen99

I always take a MetRx protein bar (30 grams protein, 325 calories) that I can eat in just a couple of minutes. It helps to keep me from getting ravenous and make sure I get some protein .

fadraface01

So do yall think I should turn off the step tracker and only count what I earn when I'm using my polar heart rate band and watch? I've read some people don't think we should count the few little calories MFP gives?

Azexas

<--RN working with Adults with Developmental disabilities. I work out of 5 different group homes and can thankfully make my own schedule as long as I can hit my 40 hours for the week. (but 90% of the time I am over hours...shocking I know )

Thankfully I have can create a pretty predictable lunch/ snack pattern. Sometimes emergencies happen at work and then my schedule is thrown off, but that's health care for you. I track my steps on my fitbit when I'm running around at work.

JillianRN527

tinkerb311 wrote: »

Im picu nurse and ive put on so much weight in this job, staying in one small bedspace all day, 3x 20 min breaks in a 13hr day and starving myself on nights then binging when i finish nights. But this is the week my change starts, eating healthier and gym induction tomorrow! Is there a nurse group on here?

I try and working out on my three days off. I know I should do more but I feel like it is the most realistic. I'm trying to make my new like change realistic and possible.

JillianRN527

evileen99 wrote: »

I always take a MetRx protein bar (30 grams protein, 325 calories) that I can eat in just a couple of minutes. It helps to keep me from getting ravenous and make sure I get some protein .

What flavor do you recommend? I make a shake in the morning or I take it Premier Protein or EAS Protein shake that is already make. High protein low sugar. They aren't too bad as long as they are COLD! But it's the next 10 hours that are tough. Getting my water in is a challenge too!

DorisSilver50

I encourage you to carry protein bars and ready to go protein shakes. They take minutes to eat/drink and supply you with a good amount of protein and nutrition. Keep bringing ready to eat fruits/veggies/string cheese/greek yogurt that can be eaten quickly or even with one hand. Starving yourself throughout the shift can lead to erratic eating and overconsuming of calories when you get a down day or time to actually eat. I think any of us in healthcare (I have been a nurse for 29 years, but have been doing staff development for a hospital the past 3 years) are not good at taking care of ourselves. You need to take the time (even if it is 5 minutes) to deep breath and recharge your battery. Keep running it out like that leads to burnout as you are probably aware. As I reached my 50's this year I had to take a hard look at what was going on with my body and with osteoarthritis already being an issue (klutzy childhood primarily) I had to take hold. I have been doing Nutrisystem which works great for me since I don't have to do a lot of planning or prepping, but there are so many options out there to eat well in short time spans. All I can say is bless the healthcare workers out there and take care of yourself like you would a loved one:)

JillianRN527

Oh yes. I was a total binger on the way home stopping for junk or eating chips when I got home.

cresyluna

Nurse practitioner here, but I was a staff nurse for 8 years and still pick up time occasionally - I did a couple of things: even though I definitely whined a ton with 12s, getting in even 30 minutes of exercise after a shift really helped. Especially when I went to a gym with a pool so I could be off my feet! On days off I definitely hit the gym harder, especially if there were classes I liked going on. I nearly always brought my own lunch, our cafeteria was terrible in regards to healthy meals - things that you could eat quickly and put down if needed worked best. I worked nights and always wanted something warm, even vegetable soup that I could reheat was fine - just warm!
Not eating all of any sweet treats brought in by coworkers/families.. and logging when I do say eat five pieces of chocolate. Drinking lots of water overnight. Having healthy things (like even grapes or homemade popcorn) at home to munch on when tired and whiny and not wanting to make anything yet needing food.

hnyzthms

Staff nurse here on a busy surgical ward. I try and be so good but you can guarantee 3/4 way through shift I will start picking at chocolates if there are any on the ward.
If only patients would buy fruit and not chocolate and biscuits. Or if I could have some more will power. A nurses group sounds good @tinkerb311 x

Amerielle

There is this group. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/460-registered-nurses I always take my food to work and have it prelogged so I know where I am calorie wise.