Why are nurses obese?
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I think that's a pretty general statement to make with no real basis... :huh:
So just because the nurses you see are fat all nurses everywhere must be fat as well? :laugh: Actually I think it's pretty funny to make such a blanket statement.
Jeff get the frick out of here! All nurses are super fat! I was in Somalia after being shot by some pirates, so I caught a taxi to the hospital (the driver was a pirate too). When I got there I was very surprised by all the fat nurses cause EVERYONE in Somalia was rail skinny except those fat nurses... it was like being in a twilight zone.
...cool story bro.
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all nurses are not obese, i work with some very skinny nurses. and we love the long hours and taking care of people, that is why we became nurses. it is a very hard job and we are emotionally and physically stressed to the max for the whole shift. we often eat on the run and are interrupted while we eat most of the time. but the nurses i work with for the most part LOVE their jobs!! we did know what we were getting into and knew it was a hard/stressful job with long hours. but i am sure most would agree that we didnt realize how attached you become to your pts or how you cry with you pts and their family or how you go home and then worry about your pts all night long. nursing is the hardest job you will every love!! it is very rewarding and if you cant say that about your job then you need to look into another profession0
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I don't see how you can work in the medical field, and be obese/overweight. That has always bugged me. How are you going to tell others they need to eat less junk, when you're eating horrible things yourself? And none of that ''I work long hours'' crap. There's something called calorie control.
Because you don't go to a healthcare professional to be judged. You go to get honesty about what's good for you and your body. If my chubby nurse doesn't tell me to lose weight because she feels like a hypocrite, she's letting my appointment become about her issues and not mine, and she's not doing her job.
The reason why there are obese nurses is because knowledge =/= ability. The formula to lose weight is pretty simple, it doesn't take medical training. Actually doing it is the tough part, whether you're a nurse, truck driver, SAHM/D, or fast food employee. Some are better at it than others.
More excuses. I never said they couldn't give their honest opinion, but they should live by what they teach. If you're going to spend money on school, and energy on your job, you should live by them. I get that people don't have the time to cook a healthy dinner, but that doesn't mean you should pig out on big macs and giant fries, everyday. You can get a grilled chicken salad from the same place, without dressing.
I also don't get how they work long tired hours, yet claim they don't have much time to eat, yet are still able to pack down more than 2000 calories a day. Why don't they pack away fruit if they need a quick snack? Why do they need a snickers bar? It doesn't add up.
Your making assumptions on what you clearly know nothing about.
How am I making assumptions? Are these people getting fat by eating fruit?
Most nurses that have replies on this subject have tried to explain that already -is it an excuse ? Yes we all have excuses or we would all be perfect. They all didn't say they gorged out on Big Macs those are not in any vending machines I know about. The stress levels , the hours they work, the self all-mighty people they have to deal with, these are all factors and unless you have spent any time in their world it might be understandable that you don't understand. Judging them with out actually being there is another thing all-together.
At the end of the day if I was in the emergency room with my guts laying all around I sure would'nt care if the nurse weighed 300lbs or if they had a cigar hanging out their *kitten*. I would care about that they knew what they were doing and that they cared about what they are doing.
Well that's good for you, if you don't care, but for me I wouldn't want that.
Here's a great tip...you have the ability to CHOOSE your health care professionals. Go ahead and ask for a skinny nurse and see what kind of care you get. :grumble:
Are you insinuating that skinny nurses are bad nurses?
It didn't read that way to me...but now that you said that I can see how one might interpet that. For me it read as "make a douchey statement in the hospital like ' Oh hell no get that fat nurse away from me and lets get some fit hot eye candy up in here' and see how you are treated after that." Kind of like being a jerk to the waiters or otherwise betraying one's own doucheyness.
Like if I were a hot nurse who had to come tend to a guy who requested a new nurse because his was obese, he would not get the best attitude or concern from me. I would hope I could keep it together and try my hardest to tend to him fairly the same as my other patients. At least that's how that statement came off when I read it. Not as an insult to thin nurses.0 -
Wow, some people in here should be ashamed of themselves.
Absolute idiots!!!!!0 -
all nurses are not obese, i work with some very skinny nurses. and we love the long hours and taking care of people, that is why we became nurses. it is a very hard job and we are emotionally and physically stressed to the max for the whole shift. we often eat on the run and are interrupted while we eat most of the time. but the nurses i work with for the most part LOVE their jobs!! we did know what we were getting into and knew it was a hard/stressful job with long hours. but i am sure most would agree that we didnt realize how attached you become to your pts or how you cry with you pts and their family or how you go home and then worry about your pts all night long. nursing is the hardest job you will every love!! it is very rewarding and if you cant say that about your job then you need to look into another profession
I know it's a skewed group of helper personalities but you nurses are being too nice. Aren't any of you gonna rip a new hole in OP? I think it's royally rude and nonsensical and absurd generalization for her to open a topic like this. I was proud when I opened that ugly title to see that I couldn't even read the original post without clicking "undo" since I had apparently already put the author on ignore in a previous post. I proceeded only because I happen to know some nurses personally and it bugged me that someone would take a pot shot at some of the hardest working, fastest thinking, people out there.
Since there is no proud of my own good judgement on who to ignore on this site gif, this is how I felt when I saw that I had blocked the author of this offensively titled thread.
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I'd like to see half the idiots with horrible comments in here try and do a nurses job.0
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I am an STNA and work night shift. I too have noticed what you are talking about and its not just the nurses including myself there are a lot of Aides that are also obese. I have witnessed both nurses and aides yo yo dieting with diet pills and other supplements. I think that we should have a weight loss club or something to help our staff look there best. I am notorious for not eating healthy and it is hard working night shift and eating when you should be eating. Any tips for an STNA like me who are trying to get healthy the healthy way??? THanks0
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Hmmm most nurses ive been in contact with have big boobs slim waist big *kitten*, i guess ive been at the plastic surgeons too much! :bigsmile:0
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years ago I trained a group of nurses and doctors from a nearby hospital
Yes, the majority of them were very overweight and very unhealthy(smokers, terrible eating habits,terrible exercise habits, etc)
it is a high stress environment with horrendous hours and a culture between the staff members that tends to learn towards multiple unhealthy factors
that being said I still feel it IS very possible to work in health care and also live a healthy lifestyle. These people do a amazing service to others but that is not a free pass to let their own health fail.
as anything it all starts with a decision and then preparation for success. The hospitals all have break rooms with refrigeration so that the staff members can bring food from home instead of eating out or eating the cafeteria food.
there are many many many things these people can do....they really just have to make the decision to do it.0 -
Nurses ARE taught nutrition. I completed a 3 hour course in nutrition, required for my BSN degree.Also 2 semesters of chemistry, A and P, microbiology, and biology. Just because you take a course doesn't mean that you embrace the science. Ex. I know a lot of nurses who smoke and have studied the effects of smoking on lungs and cardiovascular system.They aren't taught nutrition.
My mother was a nurse and couldn't tell you the first thing about nutrition.
I can vouch for how stressful the profession is and although we were aware of the long hours, most of us were not aware of how stressful this occupation actually is. I can cope better with the stress now mainly due to incorporating exercise in my lifestyle.0 -
because we are human!0
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I'm a nurse and sadly I'm obese. I'd like to think that it's due to the long hours and not as much time to work out. However, now that I'm taking better care of my body and packing my lunches and snacks and finding the time to workout, I'm not so sure.
I can say that it's a hard profession, and sometimes the stress leads me to binge eat at night. We nurses work 12-13hr days on our feet with only lunch breaks. We snack in between, but sometimes these snacks are the wrong kinds of foods.
It's sad, but I'm not trying to be part of this statistic anymore. I've lost 9lbs from swimming and packing lunches and plan to keep it going.0 -
years ago I trained a group of nurses and doctors from a nearby hospital
Yes, the majority of them were very overweight and very unhealthy(smokers, terrible eating habits,terrible exercise habits, etc)
it is a high stress environment with horrendous hours and a culture between the staff members that tends to learn towards multiple unhealthy factors
that being said I still feel it IS very possible to work in health care and also live a healthy lifestyle. These people do a amazing service to others but that is not a free pass to let their own health fail.
as anything it all starts with a decision and then preparation for success. The hospitals all have break rooms with refrigeration so that the staff members can bring food from home instead of eating out or eating the cafeteria food.
there are many many many things these people can do....they really just have to make the decision to do it.
Pretty much what I said about myself in my earlier response. You make sense.
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First off I have been an RN for 22 years and am very proud of the job I do! I can tell you honestly, that 96 to 97% of my patients not only like, but respect me, no matter what size my body happens to be. I have a reputation for 'taming the beasts' and if there is a patient who is unhappy, unable to be civil, throwing things at people, refusing to do what the doctor has ordered, 'firing' certain nurses, I invariably end up with those patients. By the end of my shift, there is always improvement!
Do I justify my weight because of my profession? Absolutely not!!! Before I lost the weight I have lost, I would approach my diabetic patients, or morbidly obese patients with nutrition teaching. This would include the fact that being obese, I knew the risks and had some of the co morbidities that occur with obesity, but that I wanted them to learn from me how to be healthier and avoid the complications of being obese.
Did I at times feel hypocritical, giving advice I clearly wasn't following? I look at it this way. In my nursing career, I have been heavier and thinner, obese and overweight. It has not hampered my ability to care for my patients and they would listen to me 'despite my weight', because they knew I cared about them! They knew that when the call light rang, I would be there taking care of them. They knew I would do everything within my ability to make their night better than their day was. They knew I would go above and beyond. They knew their care was my concern the 13 hours I was there. They knew and still know that I am their advocate!!
Now, I still am overweight and working on that. People I work with, patients I take care of call me skinny. I am not or ever will be skinny, but this shows in general how warped our sense of body image and what is 'normal' has become in our society!! I tell them that since March I have lost 61 pounds. When they ask how I could do that, I tell them!! I give them the same information I have always given my patients. Thing is, some will listen, most will not, no matter what size I am when I give them the information. Do I feel even better 'practicing what I preach'?? Of course, as do most people who have been obese and now are not!
The reason for that? We are all, every one of us, human. We all have things that are personal stressors, a lot of us work, many of us care for others. We know when the 'right' time is to make a healthy lifestyle a priority. Until then, it is just words.
As far as nutrition education, I took one nutrition course prior to nursing school as a prerequisite to enter the program. There are no more overweight/obese nurses, aides, techs, radiology techs, pharmacists, pharmacy techs, doctors, physical therapists, ambulance crews, that are overweight or obese, then there are bankers, teachers, lawyers or bartenders. We are all just human, learning as we go, trying to do the best we can. Again, it's called being human!
In my honest opinion, it's a small minded person, that would refuse treatment by someone who is capable and competent due only to the size of their body. I hope that overweight person would not be the only one there if they were in a car accident or having a heart attack, an asthma attack, victim of a mugging, etc.
Nuff said. I really don't want to waste the time trying to convince those who judge our profession as a whole and not by individual performance, as we save lives, and help others end theirs with dignity, on a daily basis!! That is what is important! Not the size of our body!!0 -
totally excellent post!First off I have been an RN for 22 years and am very proud of the job I do! I can tell you honestly, that 96 to 97% of my patients not only like, but respect me, no matter what size my body happens to be. I have a reputation for 'taming the beasts' and if there is a patient who is unhappy, unable to be civil, throwing things at people, refusing to do what the doctor has ordered, 'firing' certain nurses, I invariably end up with those patients. By the end of my shift, there is always improvement!
Do I justify my weight because of my profession? Absolutely not!!! Before I lost the weight I have lost, I would approach my diabetic patients, or morbidly obese patients with nutrition teaching. This would include the fact that being obese, I knew the risks and had some of the co morbidities that occur with obesity, but that I wanted them to learn from me how to be healthier and avoid the complications of being obese.
Did I at times feel hypocritical, giving advice I clearly wasn't following? I look at it this way. In my nursing career, I have been heavier and thinner, obese and overweight. It has not hampered my ability to care for my patients and they would listen to me 'despite my weight', because they knew I cared about them! They knew that when the call light rang, I would be there taking care of them. They knew I would do everything within my ability to make their night better than their day was. They knew I would go above and beyond. They knew their care was my concern the 13 hours I was there. They knew and still know that I am their advocate!!
Now, I still am overweight and working on that. People I work with, patients I take care of call me skinny. I am not or ever will be skinny, but this shows in general how warped our sense of body image and what is 'normal' has become in our society!! I tell them that since March I have lost 61 pounds. When they ask how I could do that, I tell them!! I give them the same information I have always given my patients. Thing is, some will listen, most will not, no matter what size I am when I give them the information. Do I feel even better 'practicing what I preach'?? Of course, as do most people who have been obese and now are not!
The reason for that? We are all, every one of us, human. We all have things that are personal stressors, a lot of us work, many of us care for others. We know when the 'right' time is to make a healthy lifestyle a priority. Until then, it is just words.
As far as nutrition education, I took one nutrition course prior to nursing school as a prerequisite to enter the program. There are no more overweight/obese nurses, aides, techs, radiology techs, pharmacists, pharmacy techs, doctors, physical therapists, ambulance crews, that are overweight or obese, then there are bankers, teachers, lawyers or bartenders. We are all just human, learning as we go, trying to do the best we can. Again, it's called being human!
In my honest opinion, it's a small minded person, that would refuse treatment by someone who is capable and competent due only to the size of their body. I hope that overweight person would not be the only one there if they were in a car accident or having a heart attack, an asthma attack, victim of a mugging, etc.
Nuff said. I really don't want to waste the time trying to convince those who judge our profession as a whole and not by individual performance, as we save lives, and help others end theirs with dignity, on a daily basis!! That is what is important! Not the size of our body!!0 -
This ! I remember many nights that I didn't even slow down enough to take a bathroom break much less a lunch break. We work short a lot of times. In addition, families who are very involved in their loved one's care have many questions and physicians expect us to do the majority of teaching and question fielding. It can be an unbelievable work load. I pack my lunch every bite only to bring it home oftentimes untouched.I'm a nurse, and I'm not obese.
However, I used to be, long before I was ever a nurse. The reason why some nurses are obese? The same reason most of America is obese. Although, it's even harder for nurses, because we work crazy hourse, we're sleep deprived, which I've read leads to overeating. We often have to skip lunches and breaks, because we're too busy, then by the time we get to eat, we're starving to death, and will eat whatever we can get our hands on fast enough. We have people bringing junk, treats, snacks, and fast food on the unit constantly. All to take care of other people's loved ones. 
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Sucks that nurses have to work long hours, they should just be able to have a regular schedule like everyone else
Most nurses only work 3-4 days a week on 12-hour rounds so to be quite honest long hour shifts mean nothing.
Well, yes. I do 4 shifts a week and they're 12.5hrs long. Add on another 4hours to account for getting out of bed, showering, preparing lunch and uniform and the journey to work, plus coming home and doing whatever needs doing. That leaves me around 7hours to sleep, maybe less if I have to be sociable and visit a relative or friend. On my 3 days off I could be working an agency shift of running errands that cannot be done during the week. On my work days I only get 1 hours break, split into 2 and this is at a push between caring for 3 critically ill premature babies. So in 30 minutes I have to use the bathroom, heat a meal, stuff it down, have a drink and get back to the unit. Often I miss breaks because I cannot leave my patients so I eat literally whatever can be stuffed into the pocket of my uniform which is usually biscuits or a cereal bar.
It's not easy eating 3 nutritious meals a day and fitting in 30 minutes of exercise when you're working for 16hours of your day.
Let's not forget that 4 days of the week doesn't mean you get 3 days off in a row. I could work Wednesday, Thursday and Friday day shifts then be back at work on Saturday Sunday and Monday nights. Almost 100 hours travelling and working in 6 days.
That being said I have somehow managed to gather the strength to get out of bed and go to the gym on my only day off work.0 -
I work in a Hospital and the majority of them are slim.0
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THIS IS A VERY SENSIBLE ANSWER TO A STERETYPICAL AND IRRELEVENT QUESTION
good on you!!0 -
Sucks that nurses have to work long hours, they should just be able to have a regular schedule like everyone else
That's nice... in theory. Too bad patients need 24 hour care.
Agreed... i am a nurse and i am obese. It is stressful and crazy hours often night shift or swing shifts. You frequently eat on the go or out of vending machines because your just to tired to do it any other way,.... the biggest thing is STRESS... stress can cause you to gain weight and nursing is one of the most stressful jobs there are. Also, as in my case, a lot of nurses gain a lot of weight during nursing school because all you do is eat, study and stress, so it may just be we have not lost that weight yet.... after 5 years lol 0 -
I don't see how you can work in the medical field, and be obese/overweight. That has always bugged me. How are you going to tell others they need to eat less junk, when you're eating horrible things yourself? And none of that ''I work long hours'' crap. There's something called calorie control.
I'm a nurse. Not a dietician. I've never once told a patient to lose weight. My job is to love and support people unconditionally in their weakest moments. My job is to save lives whatever condition they're in without prejudice or judgment. Not even considering that I'm a nurse, if I was employing a nurse it would be more important to me that they were ****-hot in knowledge and skills, not that they can bench press 200kgs and had a bmi of 25. I'll tell you something though - I might be overweight but I know a few of my 150lb friends couldn't shift a 500lb patient like I can.0 -
They work in a high-stress occupation with extended shifts that doesn't generally allow regular intervals for meals? I'm not a nurse, but I worked in clinical research for a few years seeing patients, and the stress and hectic scheduling involved in each day was astounding. On clinic days, we didn't have the space to store meals from home, or the time or space to sit down and eat them. I personally didn't have the energy to spare to focus on weight loss until about six months after I moved to my desk job.
Also: because nurses (and doctors, and everyone in the medical profession for that matter) are human, and are vulnerable to the same stressors and frustrations and tempting baskets of cheese fries that the rest of us are. If anything, it's a good reminder that simply knowing what you have to do to be healthy is not a guarantor of health.0 -
I'd like to see half the idiots with horrible comments in here try and do a nurses job.
:drinker: thank you!!! You haven't seen hard work until you have worked as a nurse!!!0 -
I'm a psychiatric social worker, and a lot of my coworkers and other people in my profession tend to be overweight. I feel like it's the same kind of deal - long hours, stressful work full of mental and emotional strain (we just had a guy get recommitted today and that was a rough one) and your breaks are always liable to be interrupted by some crisis or another so you tend to eat grab-and-go meals. You're on your feet all the time, and that makes it hard to want to exercise on top of work. These aren't excuses (that's why I'm on MFP, after all), but they are all contributing factors.
ETA: IMO, it doesn't have anything to do with being knowledgeable about healthy eating and exercise. We work all the time to encourage our clients to be healthier when we ourselves aren't always the healthiest. Having the knowledge doesn't always translate to putting it into practice.
Yep, eating to relieve stress.0 -
I don't see how you can work in the medical field, and be obese/overweight. That has always bugged me. How are you going to tell others they need to eat less junk, when you're eating horrible things yourself? And none of that ''I work long hours'' crap. There's something called calorie control.
I'm a nurse. Not a dietician. I've never once told a patient to lose weight. My job is to love and support people unconditionally in their weakest moments. My job is to save lives whatever condition they're in without prejudice or judgment. Not even considering that I'm a nurse, if I was employing a nurse it would be more important to me that they were ****-hot in knowledge and skills, not that they can bench press 200kgs and had a bmi of 25. I'll tell you something though - I might be overweight but I know a few of my 150lb friends couldn't shift a 500lb patient like I can.
Agreeing with this 100 % also... looks like we nurses have to stand together on this thread! If they haven't walked in our shoes they apparently have no clue!0 -
I don't see how you can work in the medical field, and be obese/overweight. That has always bugged me. How are you going to tell others they need to eat less junk, when you're eating horrible things yourself? And none of that ''I work long hours'' crap. There's something called calorie control.
I'm a nurse. Not a dietician. I've never once told a patient to lose weight. My job is to love and support people unconditionally in their weakest moments. My job is to save lives whatever condition they're in without prejudice or judgment. Not even considering that I'm a nurse, if I was employing a nurse it would be more important to me that they were ****-hot in knowledge and skills, not that they can bench press 200kgs and had a bmi of 25. I'll tell you something though - I might be overweight but I know a few of my 150lb friends couldn't shift a 500lb patient like I can.
yaaaaayyy this /clap clap clap clap clap
I will tell you that when I had my kidney transplant, I didn't give a **** about whether the nurses and doctors who worked on me were fat or thin or whatever, I cared that they knew EXACTLY WHAT THEY WERE DOING and would do their best to keep me in one piece. And they did. Go nurses. Thank you for listening to me ramble in the recovery room and not laughing at me (at least where i could hear).0 -
Maybe 'cause nurses are, like, people? And lots of people are obese? Just a thought.
FWIW, the five nurses I know are all thin. One is a seriously fit mother of 4 and runs daily, two are in their early twenties and have always been thin, another is in her 40s and works out regularly, and the last is in her 50s, does hours of gardening every week, and is average weight for her age.0 -
http://www.qualityhealth.com/dieting-articles/10-fattest-jobs-americafor-men-women
Why is it considered rude to ask about the reason behind an accurate observation that health care workers have a higher level of obesity than the general population? Its the truth and creates a general curiousity because they are health care worker and surrounded by the results of poor health daily, a lot of which is driven by obesity.0 -
I don't see how you can work in the medical field, and be obese/overweight. That has always bugged me. How are you going to tell others they need to eat less junk, when you're eating horrible things yourself? And none of that ''I work long hours'' crap. There's something called calorie control.
I'm a nurse. Not a dietician. I've never once told a patient to lose weight. My job is to love and support people unconditionally in their weakest moments. My job is to save lives whatever condition they're in without prejudice or judgment. Not even considering that I'm a nurse, if I was employing a nurse it would be more important to me that they were ****-hot in knowledge and skills, not that they can bench press 200kgs and had a bmi of 25. I'll tell you something though - I might be overweight but I know a few of my 150lb friends couldn't shift a 500lb patient like I can.
Agreeing with this 100 % also... looks like we nurses have to stand together on this thread! If they haven't walked in our shoes they apparently have no clue!
Exactly. There's a certain poster in here who 'doesn't want a fat nurse'. That's cool because when he drops on the floor and has a cardiac arrest at the gym I will decide I don't like skinny patients and I will walk away ...0
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