So, many people "complain" about losing 5-10lbs on an inpatient month (and sometimes it's pretty obvious), from not eating properly. However, I've gained a ton of weight in residency. In my case, it's pretty obvious why -- caloric hospital food, no working out, meal allowances, and STRESS EATING on top of that. When I look back, I can remember being hungry all the time, and just eating pretty constantly. Has anyone else gained weight? Any practical suggestions?
I too gained weight in residency--probably about 40 lbs. I am also a stress eater, and the chronic sleep deprivation and dependence on coffee to stay awake and alert didn't help matters. Coffee makes people crave carbs and greasy food. And the chronic cortisol release from the fighting to stay awake, the adrenaline rushes, that promotes weight gain.
And when i was so exhausted and sleep deprived and stressed from work, going to the gym to work out was a realistic impossibility for me. I mean, on a floor or ICU month, i would need to be at work at 6:00-6:45am. That means getting up at 5:15-6am. On most days i would be at work until 7-8pm. By the time I do some quick errands, get home and get ready for bed it would be 11pm. On long call, I would be at work until 11pm-midnight or so. So 4-6 hrs of sleep left. And I am already sleep deprived. When the heck am i supposed to work out?????
On an easier month, obviously I did go to the gym and work out (intensely) every day. It's hard to catch up for the floor/ICU months though, and gets progressively harder as the years of residency go by. And stopping-starting with these exercise regimens also got me some chronic muscular injuries which also interfered with things, but I had no time or thoughts to get help for those.
I've been out of residency for about a year now, on a flexible schedule-- being so burnt out, I didn't want anything intense. After my last call month, I swore I would become an athlete because of how important it was to me to be healthy and how ill (for all intents and purposes) I felt residency had made me. I took up running which has been a challenge but really awesome in that it truly brings out all the biomechanical issues one has and forces you to fix them. It also forces you to eat right and live healthfully, because if you dont, you just dont have the energy to run long-distances, at least I didn't.
As I was ramping up the running, I found myself having to come off of my coffee addiction simply because I was having issues staying hydrated enough. I also kept waking up at 3-4am every night RAVENOUSLY hungry like I mean SCARY hungry (despite eating all the time). I think this was multifactorial, but quitting coffee and making my diet consist of whole minimally processed food did alleviate that.
I also developed a hip flexor strain, which took me to the orthopod (because i got scared that it might be a hip stress fracture which can look like a hip flexor strain, considering the amount of running i was suddenly doing). Thank the lord it didn't end up being a stress fracture, but I needed to spend a good bit of time working with a physical therapist because of IT band problems, runner's knee, and everything that comes along with that. I probably needed to do that something like 2-3 years ago.
I've since run four 10k's, three half-marathons, and planning a fourth one in the spring, possibly a full marathon next fall.
😛 Through all of this I've only lost about 25 lbs (which also says something about how difficult it is for me personally to lose weight--some people shed pounds much easier). But I will take what i can get, and I am really happy that being done with residency has allowed me to become a much healthier person.
On the flip side, it also concerns me how superhumanly intense the residency system here is. I think I would much rather have a longer residency with more normal healthy hours. If I could live like a normal human being during residency, I could do 5-6 years of it, heck 10 years!! The system needs some major reforms imo. I mean, we're preaching to our patients to be healthy, but meanwhile we are practically forced into being sicker than they are!! (ok using some hyperbole there...
😛). Truthfully, I think I would probably have learned a lot more.
Sound mind in a sound body. 
) Also, if I know I'm unlikely to have time to eat, I've been known to bring a can of a meal replacement drink, which is nice because I can stick it in the charting area and take a sip here and there. Again, it has the added benefit of controlling calories.
