Hello! Trying to lose weight while doing my residency

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chubisco
chubisco Posts: 3 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hello everyone! :) I'm Angela from the Philippines and I've been trying to lose weight since I was in high school. I'd lose as much as 40 pounds at a time with either diet or exercise but then end up gaining it back plus more. Going into med school and residency training has made losing weight even more difficult but this year, Ive decided that i'm really going to work on being fit (regardless of how stressful residency is) and healthy. I've been using MyFitnessPal on and off but it's only now that I've decided to post here. Here's hoping I can find a great support group here, and hopefully, other individuals who are in the same boat as I am and are willing to give tips or pointers :)

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  • JustSomeEm
    JustSomeEm Posts: 20,203 MFP Moderator
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    Good luck on the residency and the weight loss. For me, committing to using MFP to log every single thing that passed my lips was what I needed to lose weight. It took a while, but I managed to lose more than 70 pounds and keep it off thanks to commitment to logging. You CAN do this. :flowerforyou:
  • trvshm
    trvshm Posts: 79 Member
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    Good luck....yea counting calories was the big difference for me.
  • bigsicklittlesick
    bigsicklittlesick Posts: 55 Member
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    Hi Angela! I'm an ER nurse... Not the same but I can understand what you are going through.
  • fldiver97
    fldiver97 Posts: 341 Member
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    Best wishes for the New Year! Residency is busy, working long hours, irregular schedules is challenging. As OPs already mentioned- log everything to the best of your ability. Take it one day at a time. Try to bring easy snacks in small bags/containers with you.....in hospital you're often tempted to grab junk food in lounges and nurses stations, get something from vending machines etc. 'Free' food can be lots of places, donuts, muffins, cake, pizza are often brought in by/for staff. If you choose to eat it, log it and be aware of portion sizes. That one was hard for me at times. Especially when you are stressed and not always able to eat 'regular' meals. If you can, consider to prepare your own meals and bring them to work. Even if it's salads, sandwiches, wraps. Choices in the cafeteria are not always good but more and more hospital cafeterias have healthy choices with calorie count posted. I would suggest to focus on nutrition first, exercising is good but if you are stressing to make time you can get by trying to walk stairs instead of using elevator, take 10 minute brisk walks, etc. Take a few minutes a day for yourself, try to get enough sleep. Sorry, long post but logging (the good, the bad and the ugly), taking it one day at a time and accepting that weight loss is not linear may be some of the things that can help to change your habits to help to get to a long term healthier weight and lifestyle. Check out some of the stickies on how to get started, logging etc. Good luck!
  • chubisco
    chubisco Posts: 3 Member
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    Wow, thanks everyone for the pointers and the encouragement! So much positivity. :) yeah I think MyFitness Pal really helps because when I log things on here, I become more conscious of how much Im eating.

    @bigsicklittlesick Yeah, Id say it's almost the same as ER nurses are under so much stress as well and the hours are odd or erratic too plus you can never tell when your next meal will be
  • duskbe4dawn6171
    duskbe4dawn6171 Posts: 2 Member
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    Good luck to all trying

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