Carb lover and hater of all things green!

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kphilli403
kphilli403 Posts: 12
in Introduce Yourself
Lover of all carbs, caffein and sweets! I am currently in nursing school, working full time and the mother to a 4 year old little girl. My biggest issue is I have zero time for things like exercise, adequate sleep or healthy meals. Hopefully can get some support here to whip me into shape (literally)! Looking to lose about 15 lbs and start healthy habits.

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  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    Green things are mostly carbs.

    If you're in nursing school.... eat your vegetables. If you're a mother, eat your vegetables.

    Everyone is busy. Find time for you.

    (you said whip you!)


    ps: WELCOME! to the forums, there's some great folks here. Start small: eat less, move more.
    And try to integrate some healthier foods into your diet (yes, including green things)
    cheers!:drinker:
  • aeviescas
    aeviescas Posts: 26 Member
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    If you really have no time, the best thing to work on is portion control--practice estimating portions and before you start eating, throw everything out of your portion in tupperware for later.

    Also, activity monitors (Fitbit, iPhone Health app, etc) are great especially for busy people. IME, healthy habits start with awareness.
  • beachbum4044
    beachbum4044 Posts: 57 Member
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    welcome! I love carbs too, pasta is my fav as well as soda. Tackle things one at a time. I kicked the soda first. I forced myself to drink a glass of water between each glass of pop, then 2 and so on. Feel free to use sparkling water too......I needed the carbonation. I also used the water flavor packs/mio options. There are ones with energy that are low calorie or no calorie that have caffeine to help with the caffeine withdrawal. The next step that I took was meal plan. I use the weekends to meal prep, clean produce, make up a meal or 2 that my family can eat through out the week. I incorporated whole grain pasta when I do make a dish. I also dislike veggies so I find ways to get them into foods. Finely chopped carrots, mushrooms, onions, even zucchini get added to foods. There are recipes out there for sweets that are healthy as well. Don't let things overwhelm you.....take it 1 day at a time and pick one thing to work on. Feel free to add me. Good luck to you.
  • kphilli403
    kphilli403 Posts: 12
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    kphilli403 wrote: »
    Lover of all carbs, caffein and sweets! I am currently in nursing school, working full time and the mother to a 4 year old little girl. My biggest issue is I have zero time for things like exercise, adequate sleep or healthy meals. Hopefully can get some support here to whip me into shape (literally)! Looking to lose about 15 lbs and start healthy habits.

  • ComingUntrue
    ComingUntrue Posts: 65 Member
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    If I were you, I would focus my attention on getting your sleep in order as best as you can. Then I would suggest cutting down and eventually phasing out the sugars. Maybe try a 21 day sugar detox.
  • kphilli403
    kphilli403 Posts: 12
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    Thank you! I've never been a soda drinker, iced coffees are my weakness and not just iced coffee.. Caramel iced coffee with cream. I've cut them down to 2x a week instead of 2x a day. By doing that I lost 7 lbs in 2 weeks! Definitely going to start meal prepping as well. How do I add you as a friend? I'm new to this :)
  • aeviescas
    aeviescas Posts: 26 Member
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    You can add ppl by clicking on their name in the forum and clicking the "Add Friend" button.
  • kphilli403
    kphilli403 Posts: 12
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    Do you cut out all sugars including fruits?
  • aeviescas
    aeviescas Posts: 26 Member
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    I don't... in fact I drank an entire glass of hot Tang yesterday because I went over my protein and fat recommendations but had way more sugars "left." =P

    I don't believe in "cutting out" anything. Moderation and awareness are the key unless you really have a self-control/addiction problem.
  • mohawkRN
    mohawkRN Posts: 40 Member
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    Check out some of the "clean eating" blogs where people show you how to prep healthy food for the week on a weekend day. It's more work, but worth it. Nursing school can be BRUTAL (trust me, I've been there, and I gained back the 25 lbs I'd lost just prior, then I lost the whole lot of it and then some after having kids, so don't get discouraged!) Finding time for exercise will get more difficult as time goes on but one day, you will graduate and hopefully have more flexibility (beware the 12 hour shift!). Good luck to you! (and I'm not being sarcastic - you will be SO glad that you did this in the end! It will all be worth it!)
    -
  • jpaulie
    jpaulie Posts: 917 Member
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    exercising is a healthy habit
  • kphilli403
    kphilli403 Posts: 12
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    Thank you so much! I'm glad you can relate to the torture I am experiencing :) I am looking so forward to the days the I have free time and time for myself. I really need to learn how to get more sleep and depend less on caffein to get me through the days. It's amazing how I'm eating less but since the quality of what I'm eating is pretty horrible I've gained 15 lbs since I've been in school. Thank you for the support!
  • kphilli403
    kphilli403 Posts: 12
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    Oh and the stress just makes the lbs creep on a little easier!
  • scorpiophoenix
    scorpiophoenix Posts: 222 Member
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    aeviescas wrote: »
    I don't believe in "cutting out" anything. Moderation and awareness are the key unless you really have a self-control/addiction problem.

    This. I love carbs and candy, etc too and lost 35lbs through portion control while still eating the same stuff I used to, just less of it. Cutting out foods you love could lead to binging later. That said, yeah, it's a good idea to throw the odd vegetable in there from time to time. ;)
  • carolinafirefly
    carolinafirefly Posts: 33 Member
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    I'd say that I commiserate and that I gained 20 lbs of my excess weight while in nursing school, but that's a period in time I have since blocked from conscious memory (although I do still wake up from nightmares mumbling, "oh God, not another care plan" on occasion).

    Really, it didn't get much easier after school as a novice nurse, so whatever techniques you learn and practice now for your health/nutrition are the same ones that will serve you well as a nurse, too.

    It's all about time management and prioritization (I think I just triggered those memories again. I might have even said it in a nursing instructor's voice.) Love mohawkRN's idea about using a weekend day to prepare your food for the week. Then you could just toss lunch in a bag to take to clinicals/school and have something in the freezer or fridge, ready to put into the oven for dinner.

    Exercise is probably the more difficult one... I remember being totally wiped throughout nursing school. Exercise was the absolute last thing I wanted to do. You have even less time than I had since you're working the full-time job. An activity monitor that lets you track every step, etc. might help. When you have a day or half day free to spend with your daughter, choose more active things to do...take her on a nature walk, run around the park with her, etc. At work and school, park further away and walk further (maybe not at night, though), take the stairs. Start challenging yourself to get in more and more steps. I know next to nothing about activity monitors so have no recommendations on them beyond that.
  • NurseSassy76
    NurseSassy76 Posts: 23 Member
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    Fellow nurse here...I remember how stressful nursing school was. It's so easy to make poor choices when you are that busy...I know! It's all about being purposeful! Would love to encourage ya ! Sending friend request :)
  • kphilli403
    kphilli403 Posts: 12
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    Thank you! Luckily in the spring and summer we got out often. Every single evening we go for a walk, but right now in Maryland it's snowing lol the winter months make things a lot harder to be active for me at least. I went and did a $270 wholefoods shopping trip with intentions of cooking this weekend and packing my lunches and dinners throughout the week. I did have a Fitbit but got sick of always charging it. I may have to pull that out and give it another try!
  • kphilli403
    kphilli403 Posts: 12
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    Nursesassy my dinner came from a vending machine last semester lol I have all intentions of doing better this semester!
  • cocates
    cocates Posts: 360 Member
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    I know the stressors of NS! If losing 15lbs is important to you, you will find time. Not to sound harsh (because I hate those kind of replies to my questions on the forums), but you found time to look up/investigate MFP and post on a forum. That could have been 15-30 minutes, maybe more, depending on how much time you spent lurking on the site/forum before posting, that you could have worked out (walked, etc.), made an eating plan for tomorrow or longer, or studied the nutrition part of schooling.

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