To the nurses out there...

PattyCake123

I am a new grad nurse struggling to balance healthy eating/exercising with the hours I work. I work 12's and usually work 2 - 3 days in a row, rotating days/nights. I know I under eat on work days because let's be honest, it can be a challenge some days to even get 10-15 minutes to cram a bite of lunch in your mouth. And by the time I get home on day shift it's 8:30-9pm and I just want to walk the dog and then go to bed, which also makes working out a challenge. Night shifts I actually get stomach aches eating at 2 in the morning so i usually have something bland, like tea and toast. off days then of course I want to a)sleep and b) binge because my body hasn't gotten what it needs the past few days.

To sum it up, how do other nurses handle staying healthy when working long hours, or do you not have these issues? Any tips, suggestions etc? thanks so much for input!

Justjoshin

As with any other demanding job you have to plan out your meals a little better.

Bars/Shakes/MRPs can definitely help you out here and there, but you can't rely on them totally.

Packing your meals ahead of time is a must. Teach your body to accept food at the times you need to feed it, and it will get used to it (2am for example)

You have to work at staying healthy on off days. Get a run in, some workout. Don't just lay around and binge eat, cook healthy meals for yourself.

Not a nurse- Just a man who works insane hours sometimes too!

xraylady33

I have worked in the profession for 25 years. You must adapt and pack and plan! NUTS FRUITS VEGGIES and stay away from the vending machines. Keep your snacks in your pocket and refill on Bathroom breaks. YOU GOT THIS.....I PROMISE>

lcchrt

Pack easy healthy snacks/meals and lots of them!! Pack a wrap cut in two, eat it while your charting. Fruit, protein bars etc. Easy things to eat and things you don't have to prepare!

katemateg

Hi, I'm a nurse too (in the UK). I too do 12.5 hour shifts which tend to be half days, half nights. At my place of work (a children hospice) obesity is a massive problem. We get our lunch and main meals provided but I always take my own as it tends to be very unhealthy and the portion sizes are huge and there are no way near enough vegetables as I like. Even if I was going to be working for 3 days in a row, I plan ahead and out together a lunch box of fruit, soup and ryvitas and a bean dish/pasta/curry etc for my main meal and maybe a natural yogurt with blueberries and sometimes maltloaf. I often make in bulk and store in the freezer till needed. I am very motivated to exercise. I am training at the moment for my 6th marathon so I very rarely have a day off without doing some running. Night shifts I find I am still hungry, especially around 1am and on the occasions I have tried to not eat I definitely feel more sick. I tend to eat a soup before I go to work, then porridge or soup again at 1am. Our jobs are knackering and sometimes I just want to chill on my day off but know that if I get outdoors and work up a sweat I will feel so much better for it. I hope this helps:happy:

MrsBlobs

Prep work! Plan and prep your meals. I would have starved otherwise!

chrisja

I know what you mean. I love my profession but years ago when I used to work at the hospital I think was when I messed up my metabolism. I have never been skinny but also wasn't so out of shape either. Then having to be at work early I would skip or eat a very meager breakfast. Then once I was at work it was not eating anything till I got home 9-10 hours later, or on the days that I ate it was just grabbing junk in the little time you got a break. That continued for years. Even with all the health knowledge and knowing better I still thought I would lose weight the more meals I skipped...so even being out of the busy hospital environment I still was doing the wrong things. Somewhere along the line something clicked and I slowly started eating breakfast to the point now where I see the value of eating healthy at scheduled times. It was very small and slow steps for me. If I had known better then I would have eaten a good healthy breakfast and have healthy snacks like almonds on hand and I would have also made an effort to take a packed lunch too to limit the junk I ate. I am sure it would have taken about the same amount of time to eat as the junk did back then. Night shift was the worst since its like I was eating after I got off duty and then going to sleep all the time so I gained weight while on that duty.

The only good thing I can say about then was that I sure got a lot of exercise moving about much more than my present job allows.

lauratwigzy

I don't know how graduated nurses do it but I am a nursing undergrad still.

For snacks:
I found that my favorite food are
- Pretzels (Snyder pretzel snaps) are 110 calories for 24 pretzels
- Sugar free jello (meijer or kroger) 5-10 calories
- special k cracker chips 110 calories for 27-30 crackers (depending on sea salt/sour cream and onion)
-For those days that you don't feel like cooking- healthy choice microwavable meals are good.
- Also, keep tons a veggies, both steamable and raw in stock
-I don't happen to like to eat breakfast but I have to b/c I will tend to feel dizzy later in the morning so toast with peanut butter has been good. Weight watchers has low calorie bread. Also, aunt millies healthy choice bread is about 35 calories per slice.

As for exercise, I am still working on that myself... the only thing I would probably suggest is making up a weekly schedule to workout... I don't like working out after my clinical b/c I am tired after so maybe try before work. Gyms such as Planet fitness are open 24 hours/5 days a week. Also, maybe only try working out 4-5 days a weeks like on the days you don't work.

I hope this helps!!

KiDark

I am a new grad nurse struggling to balance healthy eating/exercising with the hours I work. I work 12's and usually work 2 - 3 days in a row, rotating days/nights. I know I under eat on work days because let's be honest, it can be a challenge some days to even get 10-15 minutes to cram a bite of lunch in your mouth. And by the time I get home on day shift it's 8:30-9pm and I just want to walk the dog and then go to bed, which also makes working out a challenge. Night shifts I actually get stomach aches eating at 2 in the morning so i usually have something bland, like tea and toast. off days then of course I want to a)sleep and b) binge because my body hasn't gotten what it needs the past few days.

To sum it up, how do other nurses handle staying healthy when working long hours, or do you not have these issues? Any tips, suggestions etc? thanks so much for input!

HI!!!! i'm also a new grad! (well in mexico already a nurse, i'm studying for my NCLEX on Nov. 7!!!) and i'm also struggling to balance my study/work-nightshifts/sleep! its hard! right now i'm only focusing on my diet, with the app, but still i know what you mean!
In Mexico they dont rotate us that much, probably each month, depends of the staff in the hospital, though what helps me a lot are protein shakes, i dont know what you think of them but i buy isolated protein, the ones without extra carbs, and keeps me full for 2-4 hours...depending on my workload, and when i go back home, i drink another protein shake, but that one with half a scoop, and it gets me trough my sleep, though my biggest fault, is exercise i need to step i up...

allie1904

Take my own!

I work 12.5 hour days or nights.

Day shifts I have 10 minute break in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon, because of the short break times I can't eat heavy meals. Porridge in the morning, and salad or a cup a soup in the afternoon.

Night shifts are a bit different, as we spend more time at the station so can pick at a bigger meal if need be. Or take two smaller portions.

Alot of days I do eat a pathetic amount of food but it's better than nothing I suppose.