by Tara Trofholz, BS in Exercise Physiology, Team Manager at Medical Solutions
Summer is just around the corner and most people can find an area on their body they would like to see a little smaller, a little firmer, or a little gone. Unfortunately, it is not possible to spot reduce body fat in any one area or to “tone” fat. Therefore, in order to make those love handles or hippy hips disappear, we must create an energy deficit.
An energy deficit means that the amount of calories burned exceeds the amount of calories consumed. Some may respond to this by simply consuming less food (calories), but exercise not only burns up to 600 calories an hour, it makes us feel good and maintains our overall health. The key to successfully seeing those hard worked muscles and shedding the pounds is to combine cardiovascular training designed to burn calories, calories and more calories with weight training and a balanced diet.
Fortunately, nurses have a fast paced job that happens to burn a lot of calories. A 12-hour nursing shift can burn anywhere from 1,000-3,000 calories depending on the activities of that day and your weight. Burning this many calories usually results in you being famished by the end of your shift. It’s tempting to get off and fill yourself with poorly chosen and high caloric fast food, don’t. Many nurses do not realize come dinner time, they are eating back all the calories they burned that day. Take the time to plan out healthy meals and monitor your calories.
The bottom line is this: You must burn more calories than you consume in order to see changes in the way your body looks.