Fat Nurses

I have been one.  And felt like an absolute hypocrite when preaching excellent nutrition, exercise, and rest education that I struggled practicing.
 
It is not just nurses, but healthcare workers in general often make horrible role models of wellness. We eat out of vending machines, grab the greasiest thing in the cafeteria or drive thru, work long shifts without taking breaks thinking it is good for the waistline to skip meals, bring in baked goods for any reason that presents itself, crash diet, OD on artificial sweeteners, consider walking during their shift/playing with their kids the big exercise of the day, and on and on. Although I have never been a smoker, it falls in the same category. Many hospitals have banned smoking on-site leading workers to retreat to their cars or form a line-up across the street of scrubs and smoke. If there is anything to the detrimental effects of 3rd-hand smoking, I think hospital staff has to be the worst of the offenders. Yuck.


Since last year I have lost roughly 30 pounds. The first year of the DNP program has left VERY little time for food tracking on Sparkpeople which was a big contributor to helping get realistic about how much I was eating previously. I was in a total exercise rut for a good part of the winter. I had a feeling it was going to happen so I lifted heavy in January/February before slacking in March/April. I think that was a big help since I have been fluctuating between the same 5 pounds since the beginning of the year. I used to be a huge snacker, especially with stress, but I forget to when I am caught up studying and writing papers on things I find interesting. 

I am currently on a 30-days to Vegas personal challenge to get back on the fitness wagon and have been doing a ton of new circuit training videos. Despite being a total narcissist, I love Jackie Warner's Xtreme training DVDs - she is very encouraging, tough, and motivating. Your Body Breakthru Circuit with Michelle Dozios is also solid. I picked up Kelly Coffey-Meyer's 30 minutes to fitness and while I like the workout and variety of pre-mixes, I cannot get over her background exercisers are wearing tank tops with her name on them. Naturally, I am also continuing with Beach Body workouts and supplements - sure it's a big fat pyramid scheme (excuse me, multi-level marketing) but both Shakeology and their fitness programs are awesome. If you want to help me pay for next semester, order something from my site: http://jingbody.com and make sure to select me, Jing Body, as your coach ;)

I plan to finish up with the required clinical hours before my vacation and, in theory, I could take a month off before classes start back in August. However, my awesome and savvy teachers gave everyone an incomplete in clinical so we could front load hours over the summer for the next semester. I am taking full advantage of this and should have an extra 40 hours to my credit. I am probably going to take a break from teaching in this Fall as well so I can grab an extra clinical day and front load for the Spring. And so I can avoid the fat-rut for the winter!