Any other nurses out there?

[ChisJo]

Just wanted to say hi! And to ask my fellow nurses a question about their weight loss.

I work the 12 hour night shifts, no days, in peds. It can be exhausting at times...understatement. It is exhausting. Do you find that your eating habits are awful at night, no matter how good your intentions are? I work full time, and am picking up an extra shift a week to help bring some debt down. I am having a hard time trying to find the energy to get to the gym. I still eat ok. I make all of my own food at home, and try to eat lots of veggies, but as I have cut back on my work outs, my eating habits have gone down the drain. I find that my carb intakes have sky rocketed, despite the fact that I still make my own food.

I want to make the time to work out 3 days a week. I want to eat healthier. How do I do this? I just want some advice on how others have managed their time to make it work for them?

 

[PRINCESS VIJA]

You have a very tough schedule. Night shift is awful, and trying to add in an extra shift I imagine is very hard!!!

I work in Day surgery. I am lucky that it is mon-fri day shift. HOWEVER, my start time varies from 4:15 am all the way to 10:30 am, and I don't know my time until the day before. All depends on the surgery schedule. AND especially in December we don't always get out on time, so I understand the exhaustion part. I give and give and give at work, I come home, spend time with the family, I mostly want to crawl into bed and just "veg".

the best advice I can give you is to try and join a class of some sort. I have TaeKwonDo that I will be going back to once I have clearance from my doctor to exercise at that intensity again. It is "scheduled" in for Mon. and Thurs. and I just make it work. If I have to be up before 3am the next morning, I will usually skip the class. But otherwise I look at it as something I can't miss.

hope that helps. Good luck!