Nurses?

Heya! 23 year old EN in Australia here. I only work nights too, but casual so not too many. I've been off the wagon for a bit, but desperately trying to catch up with it and jump back on at the moment, so anyone can feel free to add me!
x

Im a doctor.... is that close enough?

I cut out simple carbs (potatoes, pasta, rice and bread) and sugary sweets back in June and after the first week or so, I just dont want them anymore. The more you eat the more you crave I reckon.

I think it does depend on the person. I like sweets and I love to bake so I have spent a lot of time modifying recipes and switching out ingredients. Who knew that you could use tofu to make a chocolate cake?! I allow myself to have a small treat in the evenings if I've had a good day. It's motivation for me to stick to my plan. However, my weakness is the salty, crunchy, crispy stuff. I have cut that out completely because I am WEAK when it comes to those and I just can't stop! Also I find it helps to log in advance if I'm working a long shift. I have less self-control and tend to eat poorly when I'm sleep deprived.

I cut out simple carbs (potatoes, pasta, rice and bread) and sugary sweets back in June and after the first week or so, I just dont want them anymore. The more you eat the more you crave I reckon.

I should also add that I was diagnosed with type 2 DM in June so I had a good reason to cut this stuff. But my blood sugar has improved incredibly along with my weight loss, so something works!

Lyndal

First thing first: You cannot get by without eating smaller frequent meals. CANNOT. This is the hardest thing for me to do, because 12 hr shifts only allow you to- maybe- take one break to go eat, and let's face it, our jobs don't always allow us to do that even. I'm not hungry after 3 hours honestly. I set a beep on my phone to remind me to eat. At first (2 days) I thought I was going to die only eating 300 calories a meal. Then after a week, I was annoyed with eating because I was never hungry when I had to eat. So, if you can push through the first week, you'll be golden.

Second obstacle: Eating so frequently. Assuming you are doing 1800 calories (for easy math examples). You want 6 meals a day (not variable) and about 2.5-3 hours apart (not variable) and 300-ish (variable based on your calorie goals) calories. This is important (the timing). Think of your metabolism as a fire. To start the fire you need kindling, right? So, the small frequent meals are the kindling, getting the fire started, you need these small meals to keep your body fueled, ALL the time. Now once you have the fire going, at least 2 weeks (it takes that long for a real adjustment to happen in your body as far as diets go- long term, I'm not talking a quick weight loss), THEN you can add a cheat meal occasionally 1-2x a week (not a cheat day, a cheat meal). Now this cheat meal is like a big fat log that you throw on the fire. If you have a good base of burning kindling and small sticks, the log will catch fire and it will burn up. If you threw that same log on some leaves and sticks that have been burning 5 minutes, it will put the fire out, or not catch fire at all. The point is, once your metabolism gets going, your body will burn things constantly and you can afford to relax a bit.

How the hell do you eat 4 meals while at work? Pack them. How do you pack 4 meals every day? Do it 1x a week, and stock your fridge with a bunch of Tupperware. When you cook, you dont cook 1 serving, right? It is just as easy to make 4 salads as it is one. That is 4 meals, for 4 days (one a day, nobody likes salad 4x a day!) Grill 4 chicken breasts, make some whole grain pasta (a serving, pay attention to serving sizes)(310 cals with spaghetti sauce), and Boom! 4 more meals. Oatmeal- 2 packets are 320 cals (easy meal), Greek yogurt and an orange (250 cals), 2 servings of reduced fat triscuts and a serving of colby-jack cheese (270 cals). See my point? Protein shake with milk (~200 cals). 2 servings of Honey nut cheerios + 1% milk (300 cals). 2 whole eggs + 3 egg whites = shredded cheese (300 cals).

If you can consistently eat at those time intervals, after a couple days, you will not be hungry. Try to go 2 weeks without a cheat meal. if you feel that you HAVE to eat something sweet. Try a healthy sweet first (apple, orange, yogurt, toast with honey, etc) but if you HAVE to have a twix bar (which I promise, you dont have to have it), you take ONE bite, get your craving fixed, remember all the time and effort that you are putting into this, and stop at one bite. if you want, save the rest of the candy bar for a bite the next time. You like Sour patch kids? Buy the fun size bags at 30 cals of pure unhealthy sugar, and eat them at the end of your next meal. Dont every get sweets that are more than 100 cals, OR any that come in a multi-serving container.

Let's be honest, we love food. All the not good, unhealthy, salty, sweet, fatty, fried, juicy foods. Eat to live. Give your body what it needs. Don't live to eat. Enjoy the things you like, honestly, you will enjoy that bite of a twix bar after a week of sticking to your diet 100x more than you would if you ate a king sized every day.

If the type of food we were eating was good for us, or if we were eating at regular intervals like our body needs, or if we ate the serving that was intended for us, we wouldn't need to lose weight, right?

Be honest with yourself. If you ate 2 servings of pretzels, record 2 servings. if you dipped them in 2 servings of ranch, record it. The worst feeling is looking at the scale and thinking "WHAT THE HECK?!" But if you were honest, you know exactly why the scale didn't change, and it will be easier to make the adjustments.

Hey everyone I am a CNA/CMT/(soon 2 b)Cert. Phlebotomy Tech. I work night shift also (11p-7:30a/8a)! I have a total of 26.6 pounds to lose, and my first week here (first weigh in was12/14), I lost 2.8 punds.

What I do s far is plan my days/nights in a 24 hour sequence. Starting at midnight, an hour after my shift starts, my new day of calories begin, and thus end 11:59 pm the end of the day. I'm allowed 1540 calories daily, and allow myself 500-600 of those for work.

I usually bring:

Danon fit and light yogart w/ 1/4 of a serving of granola - about 130 cal

2% cottage cheese w/ water packed mandarin oranges - about 120 cal

I rotate a main meal

1. Spring salad mix, with peppers, mushrooms, feta, grilled checken and some type f dressing under 90 calories for 2-3 TBSP.
2. A pb&j (high fiber bread/2 slices - 100 cal), natural pb - 95 cal, and organic fruit preserves - 25-45 cal)
3. Meat and cheese sandwich w/ lettuce, tomato, pickles, banana peppers (mainly what im in the md fr lately)
4. Oatmeal w/ berrys or cinamon and apples.
5. (if someone goes to fast food) A hamburger w/ only mustard and ketchup with all the veggies (lettuce, tomato, pickles).

I also drink about 6-8 (8oz) glasses of water throughout my shift.

Once I finish with exams, I will encorporate more exercise than work :P

Feel free to add me

Hi all! I'm also a Cardiac Care nurse working from 7p to 7a. I'm currently 202.6 pounds. Starting weight 215.8 lbs. Goal weight 160 lbs. Currently I'm doing the Master cleanse because I feel like I need to rid my body of all the crap I've been eating and also end the emotional relationship I have with food. I am on day 5 of the master cleanse and have lost about 13 lbs. After I complete the cleanse I plan to continue with a raw food diet and definitely start working out using turbo fire.

Great post! Add me if you like. I am an RN. I have lost 11 lbs slowly and am loving MFP. I am losing slowly because I still eat and
dont restrict whole whole alot because I dont want to get hypoglycemic episodes. I tend to get those easily when working or working out which I then used to overcompensate by eating too much and everything got out of whack. I am now able to concentrate on what s going in and out and balance it with exercise. Also having the great support of my MFP friends has improved my morale and helped beyond anything I couldve dreamed of!

Also have learned and am still learning more about food which I thought I knew alot. Didnt realize how much sodium I was getting til I added it to my daily tracking.

I work 7P-7A in the NICU. The hardest thing for me to deal with is the constant flip-flopping of my schedule. When I am off I convert back to a day schedule. I am also in graduate school right now so I am always trying to find ways to plan ahead to get my workouts and such all in. It helped for me to break my food log down into blocks of hours instead of breakfast lunch and dinner since I literally eat around the clock sometimes. I have also started packing my lunch instead of going to down to the cafeteria where everything is either covered in gravy...or fried...or both! ( really people, this is a hospital...you would think they would feed their employees better)

Anyone feel free to add me

Hey, I worked as a midwife for a few years after having children and it was then that I was at my heaviest. It was so hard to lose weight when I was doing 12 hour shifts and never getting a proper break to sit down and eat something real. People think the less they eat the better but it's so not true. I would go all day without eating on the ward and then when I got home at 9-10 o'clock at night I would pig out on high fat food to satisfy my low blood sugars. It is really hard and when you're tired you don't prepare food in advance but looking back that is what I would definitely do different. Make salads to take into work ready to eat... healthy snacks and have healthy stuff ready in freezer to defrost for dinner when I got home. Preparation like a girl scout :-)

Nurses are a fantasy of mine does that count??:devil: