Just out of curiosity, do you have a profession that you think helps or hinders your weight loss.
Do you have a job in which you engage in physical labor(obviously good exercise)?Are you in a profession that requires major attention to detail(beneficial for journaling, counting calories...points...) ?
Do you have a desk job? Has this affected you weight at all?
This interests me after a recent trip to NYC.I was walking down wall street and noticed the hundreds of business people walking (Very briskly I might add).I saw very few overweight people.....On the other hand, I work with many overweight physicians and nurses.I have a coworker that wears a pedometer to work (she is a nurse) and logs 5-7 miles a day.She is very overweight.Can the stress of our professions make it more difficult to lose?
So...what is your profession and have you made any changes in your daily work routine since you began your weight loss journey??And how has your profession benefited or hindered you in your journey?

I sit at a desk and take calls all day, and there are tons of overweight and morbidly obese people in my profession! There's also the opportunity to snack in between calls...either due to stress or boredom depending on what's going on. And of course our rewards often involve food...pizza party, cupcakes, donuts etc. So I definitely think the job has something to do with it. It is funny about the doctors and nurses. My sister is a nurse and works 12 hour shifts...just had the gastric sleeve done because she was over 300 lbs. Maybe you're right about the stress level of the job as well.

I'm a nurse and work a mix of day and night 12 hour shifts, an equal mix of each. Going onto and coming off nights is my biggest killer.

It messes with my sleep patterns and means I am awake for longer than people in normal jobs. If I'm working a night shift, I try and sleep in until 10-11 am, but am not always successful. So I have breakfast when I get up, and lunch mid-afternoon, then dinner at 10:30pm or so while I'm at work. Then supper around 2am, and a quick break around 5 or so to get me over the hump.

Coming off nights, I go through this same routine, but then try and stay awake as long as possible so I get back into a normal sleep pattern. So I'll often be awake for 24 hours straight when I start nights, and 28-30 when I'm coming off. I'm not going to eat any less often than every 3-4 hours or so, so that means reducing the calorie count of my individual meals.

Every few months they come out with a new study that says working shift work, particularly nights, messes with your metabolism, increases your risk of cancer and heart disease and reduces your lifespan. Hey, we know that already! Enough of telling us we're going to die, how about concentrating a bit more on what we can do about it? And not working shifts isn't an option. I'm in NICU. The babies can't look after themselves...

I have a job that could VERY EASILY cause me weight control complications, but that I have chosen to use to enable me to more success, and that offers some advantages as well. Every situation can probably be a blessing or a curse depending on how you look at it.

I work from home, using a computer all day. Now, in addition to being a standard computer job, where I sit all day, I also have the added temptation of having my entire refrigerator, cabinet, and pantry available to me all day, every day. I also have a very high-stress job, which often goes into long hours, and that can trigger overeating (and again, I always have snacks, healthy snacks, at arms length...it's not like I have the food I packed and that's it).

The positives, though, are pretty nice. I have healthy food options from my pantry available, so I can make healthy meals even if I didn't plan ahead. I eat at my desk, and use my lunch breaks for workouts, without worrying about being sweaty/gross afterward, because no one has to see me. And in those meetings where you need to listen, but don't need to talk/interact much, I sometimes do some strength training with my phone on speaker, while watching my monitor. And, of course, I avoid the break-room snacks and vending machines because I don't have them in my house.

Yeah, one of the advantages of working nights I guess is that there are no options, so I have to take my own food. Which means that the decision about what I have is totally up to me, and I am able to take healthy options without being able to buy anything else. So it's totally up to me.

I do feel not only the job you do, but what shift. I do have a job that I'm on my feet for most of my shift, but my food choices cancel out all that moving I do everyday.

I happen to work as a machine operator, on my feet 8hrs a day, and I do alot of walking, and try to go out of my way to sneek in extra steps, whenever I can. With that said I find it so hard that I do work 2nd shift, 3-11pm, which is alot, better than the 8years on was on 3rd, 11-7am, those hrs were so hard. I do find when I get home at 11pm I want to have a snack while I spend some time on the computer. {never have time in my morning to get on-line} I'm trying to break that habit, but after working 8hrs, can't come home and just go to bed, need to unwind a bit. Which, I then stay up for 3hrs and can't get myself out of bed under 10 or 11am, the next morning, which leaves me so little time, in my mornings {to get my butt in gear, and get some exercise in}

The one thing I do, every Sunday is cut all my veggies and fruits for the week, I also try to make at least one crockpot meal or DH will grill up extra meat, for my lunches for the week. I do find that helps alot with my stress level, before I would just buy my lunch everyday, I did try to eat a salad most days, but those salad dressings are loaded with salt, and some days I would just give in, and get a full fat chicken salad wrap with baked potatoe chips, which would then lead to "I blew it for lunch" so why not add some other junk foods to your day!! Now I pack my lunch, and stay out of the cafe for my last break, and enjoy the snack I brought. Now I just need to work on those nightly snack attacks.

look forward to other replys

I'm in NYC and as the OP mentioned we walk a lot here... in a NY pace. I'm a freelancer by profession and I work all around the city and the boroughs. I have to trek to these places usually by subway which means stairs and walking, and probably standing during the train ride. Lots of old buildings don't have elevators either so my job helps me in my weightloss.

I work in the largest academic department at my university, and we frequently have invited speakers that we take out to dinner, or at least greet with wine, cheese, and other snacks following their talk. Conferences are essentially funded bar and restaurant hops with intermittent scientific symposia. And then there's the semester barbecues, holiday parties, and prospective faculty and grad student visits (which usually involve copious amounts of pizza and cookies). Basically, my job is one big food fest. I guess the only consolation is that since I live in Burlington (the organic food capital of the world) everything is pesticide free

This is my life, too. I'm a graduate student right now... so as if the constant stream of free food and alcohol wasn't tempting enough, it becomes MORE tempting when you're poor.

I drive a school bus. I think that the stress involved in my occupation plus the fact that I am constantly moving helps me to lose weight. I am not a stress eater.

I'm a software developer (for now) so I sit at a desk all day long. Before I had kids, I also had more active jobs like working in a grocery store and fruit packing sheds, so I was on my feet and moving all day long. I was slim then. Now I sit on my butt all day so I think that my job hinders my weight loss.

The programming part of my job is coming to an end so there will be other jobs opening up; hopefully I can snag one that is a little more active!

I'm a midwife (duh) and it definately can hinder weight loss/maintenance. There is always crap food at the nurses station and one of my triggers is being tired and anxious---and a 2 am with a worrisome situation--that is not a great time to see 2 dozen donuts. In addition, families bring food as thank yous, drug reps cater lunches (although I avoid those from a moral standpoint), and the provider lounge at the hospital is like a convenience store---all sorts of free sodas, candy, donuts, juices, cookies, chips----whenever I might desire 24/7. And then there are the days I am at the hospital for 24+ hours....it can be hard to fit in exercise. And sleep deprivation makes exercise the next day hard too.

But excuses suck, so I set up guidelines. I don't eat catered lunches, I avoid the junk in the breakroom, I avoid the lounge unless it is to grab a salad, I get up and run before my hospital call days/nights, and I know it is better for me to forgo the first bite of junk than to struggle against the urge for bites 2-200.

I'm a barber/hairstylist. I absolutely hate eating lunch that I made ahead of time AND I'm poor and can't afford fancy things like PRODUCE. If I'm at home, I eat well with fresh sandwiches on whole wheat bread with lettuce and tomatoes. Unfortunately, I hate sandwiches made ahead of time because they're soggy and flat. Basically, I only like things made fresh and I won't eat it if its not...if I do, I literally feel sick to my stomach. Yogurt everyday with an apple got old a few days into it.

I also have the constraints of running a walk-in business. People tell me I should take time for lunch....but, of course, after I've finished their hair. I just don't have time for lunch most days and when I have a few minutes, I need fast and convenient. So, I end up at the gas station/convenience store across the street and eat a muffin with a cup of coffee for lunch. If I don't, I binge when I get home because I'm starving.

Also, before I started working, I was sticking to my Sugar Busters plan and lost over 25lbs. I had time to exercise when the kids were at school and could eat fresh, healthy stuff right from the fridge. Since I've started working, I've gained the weight back and then some. I'm disgusted and living off empty carbs.

What to do.....?

Sounds like mandalinn82 and I have the same job situation. I expect this job to evaporate in the next few years so have been thinking a lot about my next profession and want to find something that has some built in activity.