Weight gain doesn’t have to be a given for nurses, though it sometimes seems that way. There are so many challenges to eating healthy: working 12-hour shifts (especially nights); eating at oddball hours; not always getting a lunch break; often leaving work feeling starved, etc. 

Losing weight is one of the most popular new year’s resolutions, yet according to many experts less than 10% of us actually achieve our goals. So then, how can nurses rev up their resolutions?

First of all, it’s crucial to identify the reasons why you may have difficulty meeting the challenge of change. (That was yesterday’s task.) Then it’s easier to problem-solve those issues in advance so that you’re not facing down obstacles on the fly. After all, problem-solving is one of the things that nurses do best!

Strategies may be focused on the attitudinal, behavioral, or situational — or all of the above. For example: If you gobble up a box of doughnuts whenever you swing by the bakery, you might try repeating a motto such as “A moment on the lips, forever on the hips.” That will remind you that the temporary pleasure of a glazed crumpet isn’t worth the damage to your physique. That’s an attitude adjustment.

Or, you might make a deal with yourself to only buy only one doughnut at a time — in order to limit the damage you inflict to your sensible eating plan. That’s a behavioral fix.

Or, maybe you’ll train yourself to take another route home so you aren’t tempted by the scent of fresh, hot doughnuts. That’s a situational solution. Try a variety of approaches and see which one sticks.

See also
Health Disparities Spotlighted in April

What approaches have you tried in your efforts to eat healthy? What solutions stuck? Let us know!


Jebra Turner is a freelance health writer in Portland, Oregon. Visit her online at www.jebra.com.

Jebra Turner
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