Any nurses on here?

weightliftinggirl wrote: »

Hello,

I am a registered nurse and I was wondering how other nurses stay on track with their weight loss? Working 12 hour shifts and not knowing if or when I will get a lunch break makes it had to plan my meals. If I eat a smaller breakfast then I will be starving for lunch, but if I can't get a break I am out of luck. But I also don't want to overeat breakfast in anticipation of not eating lunch. Any suggestions?

Thanks all!

Hi. Not a nurse, but a medic so I also work 12 hour shifts. I have a cooler that I bring with me to work and I don't allow myself to eat anything else (mostly because of allergies). When I do get to eat, I make sure it is something with quite a bit of protein in case I don't get to eat again. I also bring things that I can eat in 1-2 minutes. That way, if we get hammered with jobs all shift, I have something I can quickly grab on the way to the call.

I am a registered nurse. When I worked in the hospital setting, I felt like it was really hard to regulate my diet. planning your meals ahead and packing them or making healthy choices if your buying food at work is probably your best bet along with regular exercise. I left the hospital to improve my quality of life. I do home care now. It works better for my life. My high blood pressure has gone away as well since I have left the hospital setting.

I eat well before the shift- not huge, but I'll pick up a salad (I work nights) and eat that before shift then I bring preportioned quick snacks (cheese, nuts and the P3 packs are great), fruit and a frozen meal. If I don't get to the main portion of my meal I can still cram down the protein and fat rich snacks and they keep me going for the 12 hours.

I work A LOT of double and I would def suggest meal reversal. It helps me quite a bit eat a large breakfast(like dinner) snack, your average lunch, snack, something small and quick for dinner that has what will get you through your shift if you don't get the chance for another snack

Hily93 wrote: »

I used to work at a hospital, but study medecine now,

Please tell me that was a typo lol.

RN at an ICU here. I hate getting up early, but I changed my habbits when working the morning shift at and started preparing and eating a whole breakfast with lots of protein (eggs) and carbohydrates in form of kidney beans or chickpeas - which usually got me through to midday. I prepacked and weighed vegetables like paprika/ carrots to eat them at noon. When I was working nights, I ate a complete dinner at home (7 p.m.ish) and tried to not eat so much random stuff during the shift (we always have loads of goodies like cake and chocolate/ ice cream just at our disposal) - I stopped doing that. Since I am not working in a shift system anymore, I find it hard to eat at the hospital canteen, as there is no possibility to weigh the food and figure out what they put into the meals. So I just stick to salads and vegetables. I also found that it helped me a lot to primarily focus on my fluid intake during a shift - as there were days when I realized I hadn't been drinking anything during the past 8 hours. Nurses, eh?

Note: sorry for the language guys, am not a native english speaker.

RNFA and "physician extender" here. I was taught "eat when you can, sleep when you can, piss when you can." Sometimes I inhale calories in 30 seconds between cases just to get through the day. At the end of a shift I am too exhausted to work out. It cracks me up when people suggest "take a walk during lunch." Lol. Lunch.

I have no advise. I am really struggling with time and energy and getting through shifts on a calorie deficit and feeling stupid and trying not to kill anyone. But I can offer support. I don't think most people get the physical and emotional stress of nursing and the relative incompatibility with a healthy lifestyle. Feel free to friend me. Always looking for fellow nurses to support.

I don't really have any new ideas, but I'd like to follow this post. I'm a NICU nurse working 12.5 hr (if I'm out on time) shifts. I pack a ton of little healthy snacks and I've learned to make a break a priority. Even if I have to stomp my feet for the charge nurse to feed one of my babies, I make sure I get a couple minutes to have a snack, or I pay for it later with a migraine and leaving early.

txrn123 wrote: »

RN here...I work 12 and 8 hr shifts in the afternoon and evening. I pack a lunch and log everything before I go to work just so I can grab and eat while there. If I end up not eating something I just subtract it at the end of the day...I don't hit the "done for the day" icon til the end of the day after I have made all the corrections.
Usually I take a couple low cal cheese sticks, a protein bar, low cal trail mix, and a prepackaged salad mix of some kind...not usually with lettuce cuz I'm not a big lettuce fan. I've found ones at Trader Joes and Whole foods that are good. I'm a vegetarian so one of the options I buy
is chicken-less chicken salad.
I tend to snack every 3 hours or so in order to have a satisfied full feeling.
I have been meaning to see if there were other nurses here to see what they have set their activity level at. I'm a floor nurse on the go most of the time so I out light activity since sedentary example was desk job and goodness knows I don't have that. Plus I try to do a brisk walk slow run twice a week which I am trying to do more of each week.

I was wondering the same thing about activity level? I'm an OR nurse. I also set mine to 'light' because it seems like my levels vary based on assignments but i feel like that's not enough? Some days I get my butt kicked and want to fall over after running constantly or lifting heavy patients, instrument trays, etc if I'm circulating (16 hr day yesterday-did nothing but RUN!!) but if I'm scrubbing for example, there's less running but I do stand on my feet all day and lift, etc.
I used to work on a floor and i think the activity level varies daily and by assignment too- you could have full care patient(s) with q2hr turns, q2-4h vitals, ppl calling for pain meds constantly, and/or assist with adl's (which i really believe should be MODERATE activity on here because you are truly hustling at that point). But then you could have patients who are independent with q8h vitals (good day

Im an LPN. I work two 7-3's on a busy rehab floor (nurses will understand that this means 7-5/6) and two 3-11/12's. So bc my hours shift, i find it hard to adjust as well. I log from wake up to bedtime, instead of 12a-12p.
The rehab floor is incredibly busy, so on those days i eat breakfast before work, keep a water bottle with me at all times, and always pack a big salad with a few snacks options in case i dont have time to eat my salad. I also bring my shake cup with protein powder and pb2, so if i can ill drink that, or if not ill jug it on ride home.
One of my goals this past month has been reallllly trying to find 10minutes to eat. I find i work better and am less stressed. But we all know that doesnt always happen. I eat a bigger dinner the days/evenings i work.
One of my past bad habits before i started logging calories- id skip breakfast, get a chai latte or two or three from starbucks, and not eat anything until late at night when i got home, often eating a huge meal and a bunch of junk late into the night. Now i try really hard to eat 3meals or more. But water helps!
Any fellow nurses, feel free to friend me.

I used to work on a tele floor 7p-7a, so I'd eat a real dinner before work then pack a big ol bag of assorted healthy snacks. I knew I wouldn't actually get a lunch break, so the only thing that kept me from subsisting on diet Mt. Dew and gummi bears all night was being able to scarf down something healthy whenever I paused in the nurses station.
Nobody tell Joint Commission that I kept my snacks next to the tele monitors, k?

Honestly I bring snacks that add up to the calories I should have, then when I get a few mins here and there I can scarf em down and get back to work. It's very rare that I end up w a proper amount of time to sit and pace myself with a whole meal. I also sometimes make smoothies w protein to have at the nursing station just to keep me feeling full. I find if I don't have quick things it's too easy to start snacking on junk in the break room!

Emergency room RN here. I have my activity set on light as that seems to balance out my work and non-work days effectively over the week.

Agreed with the others that say bring a good amount of moderate-calories bites to take when you can. I have a bunch of very small tupperware containers that I'll keep with measured amounts of edamame or what have you that I can grab when needed. So I'll throw a couple different ones in my lunch bag.

Often I'll make a wrap or the like at home and cut it up into four or five finger-food pieces that I can get down in a hurry when I have a minute. Adds up to planned calories in the end.