I am a RN. Work nights, have for years and years. I am a nursing supervisors and work either 12 or 16 hour shifts. I walk about 6 to 9 miles a shift. When I am working nights, it does not matter how well I stay on my program I will not lose a pound, I will gain!
And then my days off come and I fall flat on my face. I try so hard, but DH and I eat out a lot, and I cannot say no, I don't want just salads.
I can have something nice like a salad and coconut shrimp, diet pepsi and that it is and I will gain 5 pounds. I am post menapausal, almost 50, I hate exercise. I am a grazer and not a big meal eater. I have developed bad habits over my years of nursing when the majority of my career was in Trauma and I learn to eat on the run, grabbing a bite here or there. No long lingering meals and I still don't get meal time, so it is easier to have junk food that is quick to eat, no time to cook, and who cares if it is cold or not.
But even if I stay religiously on program (I am on NutriSystem) my body hangs on the every pound it has. I can go on the same exact diet as my friend who works days, never eat anything she does not and she will lose and I will gain!
I have gone from 230 pounds down to 178 over the last year, but for months now I cannot lose. And I have gained weight and am back up to 188. I am finding it really hard to diet, and am losing my motivation.
Any suggestions from some fellow RN night shift workers? Or any night shift workers that have this problem.
Thanks
Any suggestions from fellow night shift RNs?

I'm not an RN or a night shift worker, but I do feel like you are at the point where your body needs another jolt in addition to cutting calories. You are most likely gaining water weight if anything from eating different foods. Also, your body might be more stubborn.

There are different opinions on this site, but I feel that exercise and a calorie cut are mandatory in order to lose weight. I don't mean run 10 miles everyday. It can be as simple as a walk around your neighborhood as you slowly work up to a faster walk of the same area, then a longer walk, then a longer faster walk etc. You will like exercise. It gives you a 'high' that carries you throughout the day or for the rest of the day as the case may be. You should definitely try calorie counting and exercise. It's working for me.

I guess we'll have to wait until later for the nurses to show up--after their shifts!

What a hard time you're having. The length of that shift sounds so rough! And of course, stress also causes weight gain in some people. So, first of all, you did really well to lose the weight you did!

Now your weight is starting to creep upward, and you say it "doesn't matter" how well you stick to your program. First of all, and I ask this with all respect, are you being honest about that? The reason I ask that is because it's easy to think one is "on program" and overlook the snacks from the vending machines or the eating out with DH as a cause of weight gain. People don't gain weight on air and water, so it must be food at some point.

So, maybe Nutrisystem isn't the program that works best with your career. You might want to look into other ways to lose weight at this point. Calorie counting is pretty easy, although not everyone likes that. Weight Watchers is a program with lots of support. I'm sure you've heard of everything before and probably even done some of the other methods--but look again!

One good thing about calorie counting is that you can plan ahead and have your foods on hand. Other hospital workers on 3FC have commented on how hard it is to stay fed properly, so planning seems always to be necessary.

Also, you don't have to eat just salads! That's a dieting myth. Yes, salads can be good because they fill you up, and they have vegetables, but I maybe have a salad with one meal a day.

I hope some of the 3FC nurses will offer some ideas!

Don't give up! You can lose weight!

Jay

Eating out can be a calorie killer. Try to limit eating out. Don't eat the crap at the nurses' station. There is a reason lots of nurses are fat and the donuts, cookies, pizza, etc that patients bring in as a thank you might have a thing or two to do with it.

I work 24 hour shifts so I know of what you speak. Plus I worked years FT nights. It's a killer.

I see a lot of excuses in your post. I see them because I know excuses. I am the Queen of Excuses. So move past the excuses. People who lose weight successfully do not make excuses.

Control calories. Exercise. There ya go.

The challenge of working nights is how to spread your calories over a 24 hour period. But within that 24 hour period, you need to control your intake.

And find exercise that you like. There are hundreds of choices. Get up and exercise before work. Or on the way home stop at the gym (and yes, I am personally familiar with feeling like crap after being up all night). Do it anyway.

And good luck!

Yeah, I recognize a certain attitude that I had when I wasn't giving 100% and then complained that the weight just didn't want to move and swore that I was trying. But, I wasn't. Now that I am, I'm losing! Not to say you're not really trying 100%, but it's something to consider. You can't try some of the time and not other times, it has to be a lifestyle thing. I am big on calorie counting, and I think it would be easy for you to bring in snack size bags of cut up carrots/celery/cherry tomatoes or other snacks like 1/2 serving size of nuts rich in protein or dry Kashi cereal when you work at night, and a wrap with lean meats and veggies for a meal.

I wanted to add that planning foods is not as painful as you might think. I was a firm believer in "grab and go" meals so I'd either eat too much if I bought lunch or eat hardly anything at all (an apple/banana from home). Now I go grocery shopping during the weekend and buy what I have planned for. I alternate between salads (spring mix) and turkey sandwiches (PLENTY of spring mix as my lettuce). I also add a fruit (cherries, cut up pineapple, banana) as a side sometimes with grape tomatoes or cut up carrots. It's a pain when you first start out, but I've only been doing this for three weeks now and I was a pro at it after my first week. If you don't feel like cutting up pineapple or other fruit, just grab a bunch of bananas, have one or two/day. They're a grab and go food too.

I do the Slim-Fast plan and my sister (who is a paramedic and works 24 hour shifts) also enjoyed this program and lost weight and has managed to maintain for over 2 years.
Planning is the key! I have my entire day of food planned the night before and make sure all of my snacks are in individual containers/bags as well as my lunch and my shake mix and blender are ready to go for a quick start in the morning. I would think that it would be fairly easy to stick to a plan like this even working on a night shift. You can have a ready to drink shake (if you don't have access to a blender) as your first meal, then make sure you have your snack planned, lunch will be either another shake or a bar and something else (turkey sandwich, yogurt & peanuts, etc), then a second snack (planned and ready to eat) and then your largest meal, I use the SF recipes cause they're soo good and you can make some of them and then separate for individual meals like turkey chilli or black beans and rice and have them with you, or you can have something easy like a salad and a Lean Cuisine dinner with a ww roll and then finally another snack.
The SF website gives me a daily meal plan and I can change and substitute if I don't like something. The good think about it for someone like you is that the meal bars/shakes are easy to have on hand at the hospital and you can just plan your additions and snacks. This may work very well for you. Just a thought.
Tamara

I don't know how ANYONE works shift-work like that... so I really feel for you!

But I do understand the crazy eating times, etc. We've been doing renovations on our house the past 6 weeks, and it's just crazy all the way around. Kitchen, bathroom, roof, etc... most of the house is a total WRECK... and I am sooooo stressed about it. So we've been "eating out" a lot & eating quick/easy *CRAP* a lot... thank god I've not GAINED any weight, but of course I'm not LOSING either.

I have to say - the SouthBeach refrigerated wraps & frozen meals are some of the BEST I have ever eaten. Better than WW, better than Lean Cuisine, better than any of them. Maybe you could give some of those a try? They're quick, easy, tasty, and not too caloric-filled.

I wish I had more suggestions for you... but I'm tapped out myself right now! - I'm sure you'll get plenty of good advice from the regulars here ... they're always on their toes, or so it seems!

What a schedule you have! No one commented on the miles you walk at work. Certainly that counts as exercise.

I know it is a bit more expensive, but I buy the "spring mix", ready prepared baby carrots, serving sized yogurt, apple sauce etc. I also freeze any leftovers that are appropriate for me in serving sizes (I use a muffin tin with a baggie in the cups for freezing). That way when I am fixing my lunch, I just grab it and run.

I like to be eating all the time. , so I have lots of really small containers that I can fill with a couple of Tbs of food.

Wow, thanks everyone for all your replies. And yes, I am making excuses..I have gotten stressed and allowed it to take over my life, gave up, lost motivation and said poor me.
I work horrific hours, and I too am going thru the home renovations. My kitchen and living room have been torn up for months. Dust all over, hard to sleep during the day...yada yada.
But in my defence. Even when I do stay 100% on program, I will gain weight after working 3 or 4 nights in a row. My ankles will be all swollen and painful and my face is all swollen. I call it the survival mode. I think the body goes into survival mode after all the walking and being up all night and of course I rarely get my water in either as not time to drink, let alone go to the bathroom!
The suggestions of packing a lunch vs grabbing from the nurse's desk makes sense thou. So much junk food at a nurse's desk.