Any Professional Students On Here?

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mpetruk
mpetruk Posts: 3
in Introduce Yourself
Hi!

My sister and I both found this site to try to eat healthier and use it as a motivational tool for exercise. Sometimes I find it INCREDIBLY difficult to be consistent about this though as a dental student. I mostly cook my own meals, a lot of it ahead of time and stored in the freezer. Same goes for my sister, who is in a Physician's Assistant program. The schedule is just too unpredictable leading to 'college eating habits' that I feel guilty about. My Part 1 National Board Exams are next week, and I haven't seen the gym in 3 weeks. Food, forget about it. So any other med, law, vet, opt, dent, etc. students on here? How do you stay on track with this mess of a life?

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  • metapixie
    metapixie Posts: 6 Member
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    i'm a fourth year PhD student trying to advance to candidacy. So, I've got to prep for my orals, my portfolio defense and my dissertation prospectus defense. I also taught summer school, I'm prepping my fall syllabi, and my current research proposal is in front of institutional review right now. Life is trying to kill me :grumble:

    So, I totally get where you're at. I live in the Sonoran desert so, it's 115 during the day here. I've got to get up at 4:30 or 5:00 if I want to ride. i want to cook, but it's easier to sit at the local sandwich/salad place and drink diet soda and use their wifi all day. But, I'm really trying to just say that my health is more important. I don't have time to ride every day, so I do it every other day. I park father away in the parking lots at school and at the store. I'm just trying to do the best that I can and remind myself that the individual choices matter. I'm trying to celebrate the small victories. Any progress is still progress.

    How are you handling your friends and family? I feel like I never see mine and they're all grumpy about it.
  • shay1901
    shay1901 Posts: 2
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    I'm a 3rd year Medical student and it's been a rough trip. I just got done with boards and am trying to get back to being healthy. My cousin is a resident and we go on here together to lose the med school weight - it's been crazy! I love that it makes me face the horrible stuff i'm eating and makes me think twice before stress eating. I also can't work out due to the Phoenix weather and the 12 rotation schedule, but at least it gets me thinking about my eating habits. I usually try to plan for healthy snacks through the day and I removed all my junk food. Now I have no choice but to snack healthy!
  • ahinescapron
    ahinescapron Posts: 351 Member
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    I am a PhD student and have been working on my secondary comps and getting ready to advance to candidacy. I have been at it for a while, since I also have a 6 year old and had a baby halfway through my program. I also had gallbladder surgery last year, so that also slowed me down. I am currently on academic leave due to a car accident that aggravated a chronic neck injury. The last few months have been pretty bad. I understand where you are coming from. It is hard to balance everything. I feel like I am always dropping one ball or another...lately all of them.
  • shay1901
    shay1901 Posts: 2
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    Don't drop the ball! Being a PhD student isn't something everyone can do... you already know that. That being said, if you have the mental will to do that, there really isn't anything else stopping you. You seem like a strong person, just don't give up on it. I've wanted to give up SOO many times. I'm just so grateful I'm doing this now and feeling healthier. Good luck! I hope you can cross this bridge!
  • anna_lisa
    anna_lisa Posts: 486 Member
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    Hi!

    My sister and I both found this site to try to eat healthier and use it as a motivational tool for exercise. Sometimes I find it INCREDIBLY difficult to be consistent about this though as a dental student. I mostly cook my own meals, a lot of it ahead of time and stored in the freezer. Same goes for my sister, who is in a Physician's Assistant program. The schedule is just too unpredictable leading to 'college eating habits' that I feel guilty about. My Part 1 National Board Exams are next week, and I haven't seen the gym in 3 weeks. Food, forget about it. So any other med, law, vet, opt, dent, etc. students on here? How do you stay on track with this mess of a life?

    Me and kids too. It is hard. I wish I had advice. Before going back had no real issue with maintaining healthy weight where I was comfortable. I struggle now, not even cause I eat horrible, I just have a hard time being consistent. And not a regular sleep pattern and the stress is a killer. The only thing I can say is that, don't give up. There are moments as I am sure you know that are good and others that are bad. But don't give up and in the long run, you will be in better health for it.
  • ChunkiChica
    ChunkiChica Posts: 150
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    I just completed my MS in soil science, and I was a wreck with my health. Gained about 40 pounds in two years. Between classes, teaching, and thesis, I just did not eat healthy or get out of the dungeon enough. I didn't start focusing on my health until I graduated...a poor decision, in my opinion. I have friends in grad school who managed to go to the gym 5 days a week and advance to PhD candidacy, so I know it can be done. I wish the best for all of you - grad school is a doozy!

    When I needed a pick-me-up, I always visited phdcomics.com and cuteoverload.com. I highly recommend these sites.
  • sweetage123
    sweetage123 Posts: 100 Member
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    I start a 4 year Pharmacy program in about a week and a half, plus a graduate assistantship. I hope I'm not a victim of stress weight! :ohwell:
  • DrJanet98
    DrJanet98 Posts: 138 Member
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    I'm not a student any more, but I do remember trying to keep my weight under control while I was a vet student. On my Equine rotation, I was often too busy to eat, so I'd bring two Slim Fasts and drink one at 10am and one at 2pm. I moved back in with my folks while I was in vet school, so I didn't have to worry about what to do for dinner, but lunch was either pack PB&J or get something in the cafeteria.

    Now that I'm a vet, I end up stuck at my desk finishing my charts at the end of the day, so I've got a couple of dumbbells on the floor next to my drawer, and I'll either alternate arms (right while reading, left while writing) or take a break to do a few two-arm exercises in between charts. I can definitely see doing that in vet school while studying. There's always junk food someone's brought in to share, so I have to try to keep plenty of (relatively) healthy snacks at my desk, frozen dinners in the freezer, and some sort of fast-to-eat meat in the fridge. Lately that's Hillshire Farm's Grilled Chicken Breasts of various flaovrs and some sort of sliced turkey. It's easier to resist the cookies, Twizzlers, cakes (a client is taking a cake decorating class), and candies if I've got something else, especially at the end of the day when I'm hungry and the junk food is so convenient!
  • mpetruk
    mpetruk Posts: 3
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    Ha! So glad I'm not the only one! I think, 'I'm an adult now, why am I doing this to my body?" but I end up drinking 3 cans of coke zero and staying up sitting in front of the desk anyway. As far as seeing my family goes, home is in south Florida, and I've been in New York City all but 9 weeks in the past 2 years :/ The sad thing is I have really good friends in my program, but we're always so busy with the next thing that needs to be done that we don't do that much that often, and before you know it school will be over and we'll all go our separate ways. Anyway, I'm going home next week for a week and a half or so, I didn't go to trader Joe's because I'm trying to empty out my fridge-just eating whatever at this point LOL.
  • dianita22
    dianita22 Posts: 28
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    I'm the PA!!! =] I just sit in classes all day it sucks, at least in undergrad I didn't spend 12 hours a day with my butt in a chair.

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