Nurses on a diet...

Rhianne18

Any nurses out there on MFP? Just looking for some people in same boat with.inconsistent break times at work and working long hours. How do you manage your food intake? I find work so much harder than home cos I'm often so hungry by time I get a break it takes all my willpower to not overeat!

mosbyp

I'm also a nurse. My problem is some of the nurses put food out to share. It's so much easier to grab a handful than to take a break and prepare my home brought food. Mostly, I need the will power to take the time to get my own food. One positive, I'm running up & down the halls much of the time. Somehow that must count!!!

dalgirly

Or NO break times!!

For me, I bring enough food for my day, and I bring most of it in small snack forms. So I can just run and grab a bit of something quickly, rather than needing to wait for a full break. Just step out take 1 min, like I'm going to get some water or something.

Although, I've found it still is hard, as when I get home I am sometimes ravenous and want to eat my own arm due to running around all day and barely eating a thing.

It is hard! And shift work messes with you! (and I'm no expert, but I'm getting there).

I've found just bringing my own lunch and ensuring I'm good on my days off with exercise and eating, it works.

fitmomommaof2

I am also a nurse. I start at 6 am so eating breakfast is out of the question. then to top it off I don't go to lunch until 1230 if I am lucky by then I am so hungry i over eat!!!!! then same with dinner, I need to start packing small snacks for work but it just a matter of finding the time to eat it. LOL
I also joined a gym and have been going atleast 4 times a week for the last 2 weeks. I hope this helps
If anyone has any advise please send it my way.

purpleipod

I've never understood why nurses don't have set breaks when they expect you to work such long hours. Given the job you do, I think it'd make more sense if you didn't want to pull your hair out or punch something all day.

Rhianne18

Well the job I've just moved to has set breaks (if it's not too busy) but both breaks are within first 5 hours of shift so then go the other 7.5 without one which is when I seem to find the vending machine early evening on my way to toilet! I've started taking my own food which def helps but we don't have a staff room and have to take breaks in canteen which is torture most days! It's a wonder I'll succeed at all really haha

Rhianne18

And another issue is biscuit and chocolate based gifts from relatives. Definitely not ungrateful but when you're a bit peckish it's hard not to go overboard!

kimberliiw

Not a nurse, but a medical technologist. I go into work at 4 am and by the time I finally get a break around 10 I am famished. I bring preportioned food and don't get anything out of the snack machine. When I finish eating I usually still feel hungry but within half an hour I'm full feeling. It's really important to my weight loss to portion out my food because my satiation trigger is evidently broken.

Rhianne18

I think that must be the key. Preplan and prepare your food then stick to it at all costs!

cuteazz1

I used to bring some type of lean cusine or Subway sandwich...now,its greek yogurt,fruit,almonds....and I just save my belly 4 a good meal once im home...I work 8 hour shifts now...when I was 7pm-7am things were rough..I just ate whatever the rest of the crew was ordering or bringing from home..including the "Celebratory CAKE" Thats always around at EVERY place that ive worked..Its ALWAYS someones Birthday,retirement,Holiday..or something lol!

BeautyFromPain

I've never understood why nurses don't have set breaks when they expect you to work such long hours. Given the job you do, I think it'd make more sense if you didn't want to pull your hair out or punch something all day.

I would say it is due to lack of nurses>patient ratio..?
Plus, it's not like someone is going to hold off on dieing for them to go get a break.

Thanks for working your *kitten* off to save lives :flowerforyou:

cgarand

I'm a nurse too. But, I don't consider my eating and exercising plan a 'diet'. I'm just trying to make healthy choices and live a healthy lifestyle. I pack meals and snacks and occasionally get something like a salad or fruit and yogurt from the cafe. I typically bring a nature valley granola bar, strawberries and blueberries with some fat free greek yogurt and a little granola, a turkey and hummus sandwich made on pepperidge farm light bread, an apple, some baby carrots and snap peas or green pepper strips...etc. I avoid the food that people bring in like the plague. I find it hard to get my workouts in on work days since it's such a long day (12hr +) but, I get up early or will work out when I get home. It's a challenge but it can be done!

Feel free to add me, we are all going to be some fierce, fit nurses!

karengardnerjr

I am also a nurse and work 12 hour night shifts. For me, it is key to plan my meals and bring my food with me, so that I don't go to the cafeteria ravenous and eat until I burst!! haha. I make sure that I have easy snacks, (like fruit or veggies) ready to go, in case I get a small, unexpected break. It's tough, but we're worth it!

1Lovely87

I'm a CNA so I understand ladies. For me its working graveyard shift and trying to care for my one year
old daughter and loving the hubby when he gets home. Not enough sleep is my problem....how do you ladies manage
work and family with those shifts? Bless you all.

MarciMelts

I've been a nurse for 25 years. I also got into the mind set that eating breakfast was out of the question because of how early the day started. Not true. There is no reason not to eat breakfast before starting the day. Hard boiled eggs in the fridge ready to go or made into egg salad for a sandwich, leftovers from dinner the night before nuked in the MW, a bowl of cereal, cooked or cold, toast with some peanut butter on it.
I made myself get back into the habit of eating breakfast. It makes a huge difference.

MissSusieQ

I'm a nurse, but with the added challenge of being a theatre nurse. there's nothing worse than being scrubbed for a long case and getting all light-headed and shaky from hunger, but then I don't like to eat just in case I'll be hungry later, so it's a fine balance.
on a related note, it makes drinking my 2.2L of water per day tricky too... imagine having to stand at a table, watching a surgeon teaching a junior some technique, knowing there's still an hour before the case will be over, while your overfill bladder screams for mercy It's a situation you only put yourself in once.

wilsoje74

why can't you eat breakfast if you work at 6am?

krystina_letitia9

I've never understood why nurses don't have set breaks when they expect you to work such long hours. Given the job you do, I think it'd make more sense if you didn't want to pull your hair out or punch something all day.

It's a nice thought - but if the floor is going crazy with admissions/discharges/patients doing badly, someone may not get a break on time on a "set schedule". Basically, you get a break when you get it, IF you get it. My manager PUSHES everyone to get breaks, so that's a perk - however, sometimes it's not till an hour before the end of the shift, somedays!

That being said, I'd love some more nurse friends on here to exchange easy lunch ideas! Feel free to add me I get really tired of frozen meals and sandwiches!

krystina_letitia9

I start at 7am and the first thing I do when I get up at 545 is eat breakfast - I might not be hungry but if I don't shove food down my throat, I know I'll be starving and I never know if it's going to be a day where I miss my lunch break or don't get it until 1:30/2:00pm!

sandylion

I'm a community nurse, so my break consists of driving to my next client's house. It can be a challenge to not get super dull with the same easy to eat and drive type foods. Also my hours are super inconsistent so if it turns out to be 'a long day' and I didn't expect it to be, I start eyeing those fast food joints. I find if I take more food then I think I will need, but keep it to healthy stuff that is easy to eat, and then stash an 'emergency' granola bar if it's going to be one of 'those days' I don't die or crack under the cravings.

cbaac03

Another nurse here. Some important changes for me have been: I don't order out with my co workers anymore. I tend to be lazy in the morning so I always pack my lunch the night before and sometimes even log it the night before as well so I don't have any excuses (running too late to make a lunch) for ordering or buying from the cafeteria. Plan ahead always!

I also like to take some extra things that fit into my calories that I could eat with my lunch if I am having a super busy day and am lucky to get a lunch and starving by the time I get to the break room or save and munch on if it is a slower day with family gifts/cake/cookies/donuts/bagels/candy in the break room that I'm tempted to munch on such as 50 calorie string cheese sticks, pre-portioned nuts, dried fruit. Good luck and stick with it!