Any med students here??

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d_89
d_89 Posts: 30 Member
in Motivation and Support
I'm currently in med school and i find it extremely difficult sometimes to maintain my exercise routine. its also hard to eat frequent small meals throughout the day cuz of rounds,OT etc... Any one else having that problem???
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Replies

  • BlessedShauna777
    BlessedShauna777 Posts: 118 Member
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    im still in undergrad but im a pre-med junior at siue.
  • jenniejoy07
    jenniejoy07 Posts: 78 Member
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    I'm in optometry school and it so hard to find time to work out in between clinic, classes, labs, AND the tons of studying I have to do. I either work out early in the morning or late at night!
  • chuckles217
    chuckles217 Posts: 123 Member
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    Yep medical student. End of 2nd year, studying for boards, kid on the way, and all the usual stuff.

    So what, you're busy? So am I. Make time, it just doesn't happen to schedule itself.
  • bb0322
    bb0322 Posts: 11
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    Wow chuckles is tough love...
    I'm a first year med student, gained 10 pounds and now losing it. I recently joined MFP and it's definitely helping. Yes we're busy no time to work out no time to cook but we can try harder. protein bars/canned tuna/frozen veggies, drag yourself for 30min workout a few times a week.
    good luck!
  • superstankazz
    superstankazz Posts: 193
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    I'm not in med school but I am in the process of earning a Science degree. I find it very hard to squeeze in time for workouts. Spring break is about to start for me soon and I'm going to work on getting into a regular excercise routine.
  • EgyptianMushroom
    EgyptianMushroom Posts: 341 Member
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    I'm more of the lab/management side of medicine. I try to squeeze in a workout. My schedule is pretty lax though.
  • MarandaPanda86
    MarandaPanda86 Posts: 112
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    Nursing school here and it is VERY hard to fit it all in between clinicals/studying/homework/lecture/working. I guess we can sleep when we're dead!
  • chuckles217
    chuckles217 Posts: 123 Member
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    Haha it's tough love but it really is possible if you schedule it.

    If you can find time for a favorite television show or a dinner out with friends, then you can make time to work out.

    For the longest time I used time as an excuse and as long as treat time as fast food and manage it poorly, you will never make progress. My life's a lot more complicated since i got stricter with my routine but it is less stressful and more satisfying.
  • skadoosh33
    skadoosh33 Posts: 353 Member
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    Go Bulls! I'm currently in the FNP program there after earning my BSN.
  • ShrinkRapt451
    ShrinkRapt451 Posts: 447 Member
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    I'm an attending, but I lived it. (It gets worse in residency, so enjoy your free time now....) Now, I have a hubby, two kids, a 50-minute commute, a busy and very high-acuity patient unit to manage, extra duties as the president of the medical staff, chairmanship of three committees and participation on five more (did I mention I'm busy?), and I do actually try to fit in some of my leisure interests from time to time.

    And I agree with Chuckles. Back in the Stone Age, a lot of my med school classmates would get together every week to watch ER. Or House. Or to drink. If there's time for an hourlong TV drama, then there's time to work out. You just gotta pick the one that's more important to you. And schedule it. I exercise after the kiddos are in bed, in lieu of watching 2 hours of TV (or more) a night.

    As for the eating issue: my niece struggles with this. Her job does not permit much in the way of breaks. She eats three larger meals instead of snacking on the days she works. (Seriously, frequent small meals is not magic. You do what you can, and larger meals do a better job of triggering your satiety reflex. Which, if you're significantly overweight, is out of whack. And yes, that's a technical term.) ;)

    Your other alternative is to carry a protein bar in your white coat pocket and scarf it when you have a moment. Not ideal, but better than not eating at all.
  • d_89
    d_89 Posts: 30 Member
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    haha i'll definitely try and hide stuff in my lab coat :D as for exercise, thinking about it, i guess im full of excuses afterall, cuz i do find time to relax for an hour in the pm, thanks for the advice guys
  • JulieH3art
    JulieH3art Posts: 293 Member
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    I'm in my 2nd to last year (in Europe) and I've no problems with exercising. Although it sometimes gets frustrating, EVERYONE in my class are obsessed with maintaining health so it's what we all do to be social sometimes.
  • douglasmobbs
    douglasmobbs Posts: 563 Member
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    If the med students cant sort out their exercise or diet routines what hope do the rest of us have when we go to them for advice.
  • sophielilirose
    sophielilirose Posts: 41
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    Im currently training to be a nurse and its a pain in the backside trying to diet :(
  • Newf77
    Newf77 Posts: 802 Member
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    Spent many years inside the walls of medical institutions; they have these strange things called stairs. They require effort to move between the levels. Plain and simple. Chuckles said it you make the time.
  • Mazzyx
    Mazzyx Posts: 131
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    Im not a med student but a Student Psychiatric Nurse (finish in August) so I can completely agree with the difficulty in finding the time to exercise and eat sensibly! I suppose running round the ward counts as exercise though....but its the eating at silly times in the day and the wrong things. I mean its the last thing on your mind when you come home after a late shift or up before dawn to make something nice and healthy for lunch the next day or for that day. Its usually easier to quickly grab something like a bag of crisps! Plus when do you find the time to eat it?! Between dealing with an emergency on the ward because of course that shift means there is not enough staff on and having to do notes, its grab what you can in the mean time! (Usually the left over croquets from the patients dinner...not from their plates I may add lol)
    xxxx
  • clh126
    clh126 Posts: 115 Member
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    As others have said, you just make time if exercise is a priority for you. This becomes much more difficult during your clinical years and residency when you do not own your schedule and are required to be in the hospital for really long hours whereas during first and second year, sure I had to study, but I could take breaks whenever I wanted to. Even while studying for boards, I ended up running twice a day just to deal with the stress and because my body hurt from sitting! I could have taken that hour or two each day and watched tv or something, but I figured it was probably good for me to get out and plus I was in damn good shape by the time step1 rolled around and even ran a 5k along the river on that beautiful sunny morning before I was shut in the test center for 8 hours. I'm convinced that the early morning fresh air energized me and really helped me make it through that day!

    You may find that you will have certain rotations where you really cannot fit in exercise. I would get home and realize that I had to be awake again in 4 hours to start the ridiculously long day over again - no time for exercise, no time for cooking, no time for TV, no time for studying, and my friends didn't hear from me for weeks, but these are finite periods of time and you will get through them. You will also have rotations where the hours are more normal, so take advantage of that time. I don't have to be to work until 8:45 right now and even with a half hour commute and ferrying people around in the morning, I still fit in exercise because I get up at 5am. Do I want to get up at 5am? No, especially in the cold, dark winter, but I know I won't get time again in the evening to exercise. Someone mentioned the stairs. Great idea! Our medicine wards are on the 7th floor and there are people who I know only take the stairs and that's how they get in their exercise. It can be pretty legit exercise too b/c you end up having to go to different floors for things all day long.

    For food, I often didn't have time to eat a "meal" at all during the day even on lighter outpatient rotations if it was a busy clinic, so as others suggested, protein bars in your white coat pocket are helpful. String cheese is good too. Almonds and small apples fit in your pocket. On surgery, people didn't have time to cook or prepare foods, but people did bring a lot of fruit to snack on. Veggies were harder b/c they often have to be cut up or prepared (except for baby carrots). However, in one of our noon lectures the other day the girl next to me busted out a bell pepper and started eating it like an apple, no cutting necessary. You gotta do what you gotta do;)
  • cba4994
    cba4994 Posts: 147 Member
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    Good luck with the FNP program. In my first year practicing as a NP I cut back from exercising 4-5 times a week to maybe once a wk and gained 25 lbs. Now I still work 12-13 hr day but I have had to make working out as high a priority as sleeping and eating. I found the less I worked out the more stressed I was.
  • AJ_MotherRunner
    AJ_MotherRunner Posts: 175 Member
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    I am in Grad School to become PedsNP. I also have two children, a husband, work full-time, training for multiple races. It is very often hard trying to study and get in your workout, but it has to be done. Good Luck!!!
  • Tindomerel
    Tindomerel Posts: 28 Member
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    Doing veterinary medicine and I feel your pain! Just about to start a month of equine with 14 hour days plus all the case work at home. Wish I had good advice for you but all I can say is do the best you can, don't beat yourself up about it if you have a few weeks where it all goes wrong.

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