General

I wouldn’t worry to much, just keep the pounds coming!
There are so may fat ones, and I mean like obese bmi 40+
They are just fine just keep active and mobile

Having worked in a hospital for a decade, I would agree that there are a greater percentage of overweight RNs than in other jobs and organizations that I have experience with. I agree that the stress of the job is very high for many RNs - they tend to be frequently understaffed (at least in the USA) due to private equity firm choices to cut cost in order to drive up profit; as such, they can often be overworked in their 12 hour shifts.

There is a lot of stress, too, depending on their therapeutic area - pediatrics (children), oncology (cancer), and geriatrics (the elderly) are prone to higher-than-normal death rates for patients, and Emergency Room and Intensive Care Units have high levels of trauma that nurses work with every day.

Combine this with night shift or alternating shift hours, and you have a recipe for irregular eating cycles.

Now... most nurses would tell you that wearing "scrubs" (looser-fitting uniforms) is one of the reasons why weight gain is easy to miss - elastic waist pants and boxy tops tend to disguise a blossoming pot belly or other weight gain. And it only takes one work colleague who shows nurturing via cooking or baking to.bring a regular source of higher calories to the nurse station.

It was something I noticed constantly during work hours, but honestly? I was more honored and amazed by their dedication to helping patients and family members than their weight gain. I would ALWAYS try to bring food to the units, but it was usually just because I think nurses are mostly incredible human beings. (Yes there are some bad nurses who shouldn't be in the profession, but on the whole - they rock.)

Good luck with your nursing career! Yes, you will need to be careful of your back and your feet, and take better care of your physical self to.meet the demand of the job. But you should still be able to plump up a bit without any difficulty.

Thank you for working in such a great and important job!

No problem - nurses are incredible people!

Invest in some great shoes, too - some nurses swear by Cloves. They are really comfortable and are highly water and sharps resistant. They're pricey, but a good investment for all of the daily use that you'll get out of them.

I think it depends on where you want to work when you are finished with school. I work in the ER and most days never stop moving, but have friends who work in primary care who spend most of their days sitting. The nice thing about nursing is you can move to different areas if one doesn't fit your lifestyle. Best of luck in school, it's not easy!

My sister-in-law is a nurse and she weighs close to 300lbs. I have no doubt that if she didn't move as much as she does, she'd be much heavier. The girl likes to eat.

100% this. There are even nursing jobs where you're providing care over the phone, so it's a complete desk job.

Not a nurse but a dr here,

It is definetly true that we easily gain weight. But also depends. When i first started out the stress, night shift and acute situations actually made me loose weight.
But after a while when relaxing more into the job you start to enjoy more and also find time to eat with your work collegueas.

Well the eating + night shifts + no free time for excercise piled the weight on quite quick.

Anyways, yeah a lot of us gain weight and it is definitely possible to provide good care and be bigger.
However for me it is something that i sometimes wrestle with. I know the health consequences, however i also really like eating so its up to yourselve to find a good balance.

Anyways good luck with your training!!

not a nurse, but my ex was. she was a ssbbw, and while she was bigger than most of her colleagues, she didn't really stand out. most of them were of bigger stature.