Hi Fellow Members!

I'm a 49-year-old Bay Area doc, dad of 3, who just joined at the beginning of January 2012. Certainly being in the healthcare field, I value good health and also want to model good behavior for my patients.

By observing a 1600 kCal diet (calorie-wise, about equal parts protein, fat, and carbohydrate), after 6 weeks I met my initial goal (-17 lb) and am now working on my stretch goal (-27 lb), which I hope to achieve well before I meet with my PCP this summer for my 50 yo checkup. By the end of the year I am hoping I can be close to my ideal body weight (-47 lb). While I'm glad about the progress made so far, I know the hardest part lies ahead -- especially lifestyle change. Beforehand, I would consume nothing between a light 7 AM breakfast and a heavy 9 PM dinner -- the latter of which would invariably be consumed in a starvation-fueled hunger. Going forward, I need to take time during a day to consume a healthy, nutritious mid-day meal and ideally some small snacks. This will take a very conscious effort on my part!

I also need to incorporate exercise into my program (cardiovascular and muscle toning) but like others have limited time due to my work schedule. Complicating this is a recent back injury that will limit my lifting, bending, and stretching until the summer at least. I'd appreciate any comments or advice about exercise routines, especially about HIIT or other similar regimens.

I look forward to being a part of this group. As health care providers we have special insights but also face unique demands. Please feel free to friend me if you wish!

Hi, I'm a 32 year old general internist. I'm struggling with residency and baby weight. I was obese when I was younger and was able to maintain a healthy weight through calorie counting - but I stopped at the third year of medical school, and started gaining, and by the time I delivered my baby I was 100 pounds over a healthy weight. I'm down 50 and have 50 more to go. The first 8 lb, 1 oz was easy but I've had to fight for every pound since then. I follow a 1300-1400 diet and that translates to a half pound or a pound per week on average.

Hey all! Checking back in, now that I'm a first year internal medicine resident! I gained more weight at the end of fourth year and through my first month of residency. I'm just so tired when I get home I usually can't talk myself into going for a run... So now I wake up an extra hour early (4:00-4:30, ugh) and run. It actually makes the rest of my day a whole lot better. I've kept it up for a few weeks now and hope that it will become a permanent habit. I also bought a FitBit Flex that is super awesome and motivating to see how much I walk during the day.

Hi, I'm an ObGyn in NY, 32yo. Started using MFP after I finished residency. I initially had great success, but have been on and off the fitness wagon a few times since then. I'm now almost 7 weeks postpartum from baby #2, so am now trying to get back on track to lose the baby weight (and then the remaining residency weight) Also, as several others have mentioned, it's hard to tell patients to do the right things for their health when you're not doing them yourself.
My biggest challenges - avoiding the post-office / on-call binge - after running around taking care of patients all day, it's so much easier to crash on the couch and eat way too much while finishing notes or watching TV than to hit the gym and stick to a healthy diet. Also, not feeling guilty about spending less time with the family in order to take that extra hour or two for myself to get to the gym. Being a working parent is tough, but add in being a physician ... well, you know.
It doesn't look like this group is too active (not surprising, I guess), but I'd be interested in making some monthly challenges to help keep motivated, or if anyone is looking for another "friend" for support, rather than just posts through the group.
Would anyone be up for a body weight percent challenge I.e. a goal of losing 4% of your body weight by the end of October? If so, we can start a new thread/topic.

Hello everyone,
My name is Victor. I'm 36 and an oncologist. I've been obese most of my life but it's starting to really take its toll on my energy levels, particularly now with a 14 month old and another baby on the way. I am hoping to really step it up and get myself back on track so as to be a good role model for my kids and frankly to feel better. I think my biggest issue is not necessarily the exercise, since I actually like to bike ride, it's just simply that I LOOOVE carbs! Trying to kick out the carbs and decrease portion size is really going to be my biggest challenge going forward. Anyways, hope to see some results in the coming weeks. Good luck to everyone!

Hear hear!

There is a real learning that no matter how important my work and patients are, my bike ride, my fresh cooked salmon for lunch, my good night's sleep is actually more important. Good luck for all of you this year.

Hi All,

I am an intern and soon to be anesthesiology resident (July 1st!). I have always been a bit chubby. Until medical school, I always had the summer to be more active and naturally came down to a reasonable weight. However, since med school I've been so busy that my weight has continued to climb - or rather just hasn't come down. My BMI is currently 26.5 - which on someone 5'1 is hard to hide. I am hoping to get back to a normal BMI and hopefully gain some confidence about my appearance in the process.

My eating and exercise habits have been sub-par in internship. Primarily because it is just so easy to feel that I "deserve" a snack or to sleep in on days off or skip the gym because "I work so hard!" I am trying to change my mindset to be that I deserve healthy food and a I deserve exercise because I deserve to be healthy and look good.

This is my first time really using MFP. I find the logging of food to be somewhat tedious. I also notice that I am thinking about my food and calories all day long. It's not even that I'm hungry all the time - I am just thinking about what happens IF I eat all my calories and I'm still hungry?

I'm only on day 2 - does that feeling go away with time?