Bulge Battlers
Nurses motivate others to take the healthy high road through personal weight-loss success stories

By Linda Childers
July 7, 2004

The alarm clock blared and Nancy Moshier, RN, knew it was time to get ready for work. At 5-foot-4 and 274 pounds, it took the Minnesota nurse 20 minutes just to climb out of bed.

“I had reached a point in my life where I felt helpless and hopeless,” Moshier said. “Even with my nursing background, I couldn’t seem to conquer my weight problem.”

Moshier’s story is hardly unique. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently named obesity as the fastest-growing cause of illness and death in America today.

Although nurses are in a position to educate patients about the dangers of obesity, many feel hypocritical dispensing advice while struggling with their own weight issues. Moshier is among a cadre of nurses who have successfully battled the bulge and use their experiences to advise patients on the health risks associated with obesity.

Throughout the years, Moshier had tried numerous weight-loss strategies. Programs such as Weight Watchers and TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) helped, but she ultimately regained the pounds.

Her turning point came four years ago after reading the book Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution.

“I was at such a low point in my life that I had nowhere to go but up,” Moshier said. “The Atkins plan sounded like a sensible approach to losing weight, and it wasn’t another diet, but an entire lifestyle change.”

Moshier and her husband, Ron, started eating low-carbohydrate meals together, and Nancy lost 131 pounds, while Ron dropped 80. She has maintained her weight for the past four years and has written two low-carb cookbooks, Eat Yourself Thin Like I Did! and Eat Yourself Thin With Fabulous Desserts. She serves as associate editor for LowCarb Energy magazine and also writes an advice column for a bimonthly publication.

“I eat low-carb versions of all my favorite foods,” Moshier said. “I’ve lowered my cholesterol and blood pressure and I no longer have to take medicine for fibromyalgia. I now feel confident when I say weight loss can improve your health.”

Addressing obesity

When Lori Radcliffe, RN, BSN, worked in a convalescent facility, she was dismayed by how many patients in their 60s and 70s were battling weight-related health ailments.

“I wondered if early education or intervention by health care professionals could have inspired these patients to take better care of their health,” Radcliffe said.

Today, Radcliffe devotes her days to helping nurses achieve good health.

Her company, ‘Jest’ for Fitness and Food [www.buffbones.com], teaches nurses the basics of exercise and good nutrition — habits she hopes they can pass along to their patients.

“I think many nurses feel uncomfortable talking about weight issues with their patients,” Radcliffe said. “Yet you have to consider the consequences of not talking with patients, and how their weight may lead to major health problems.”

A former stand-up comedian, Radcliffe teamed with nutritionist Debra Dobies, RD, to offer health and nutrition services to nurses across the country. Their messages intersperse humor with serious advice about good diet and exercise. The two also sell the Bones of Steel video showcasing workouts for nurses that improve bone density and lower cholesterol.

“We see so many caregivers who struggle with self-care,” Radcliffe said. “Our goal is to help nurses and other health care professionals develop good lifelong habits.”

Radcliffe suggests implementing simple changes such as eating yogurt for breakfast or lunch rather than not eating, planning meals a week in advance, eating smaller meals more frequently, and consuming more food earlier in the day when metabolism is higher.

“Many nurses are busy and opt to skip meals. When they finally do eat they pig out on the wrong foods,” Radcliffe said.

“I have nurses tell me they ate a vending machine lunch of trail mix and a soda. They think that’s healthy, but it’s actually very high in fat.”

If nurses can’t meet with Radcliffe in person, she coaches them through regular phone calls and e-mail.

“One of the most frequent laments I hear from nurses is that they don’t have enough time,” Radcliffe said. “I suggest they wake up 15 to 20 minutes earlier each morning and exercise, pack a healthy lunch for work, and above all, make their health a priority.”

Little changes, big difference

It’s hard to believe Julia Havey ever weighed 290 pounds.

The svelte brunette from St Louis is the picture of good health. She gives fitness and nutrition advice through her website [www.juliahavey.com], and is the author of the best-selling book, Awaken the Diet Within.

Nurses are among the thousands of people who turn to Havey for weight-loss guidance. They share how challenging it is to avoid work stations laden with candy and baked goods, and how stress causes them to eat on the run, grab snacks from vending machines, and skip meals.

Havey can empathize. Several years ago, over the course of 15 months, she shed 130 pounds. Her advice is simple — stop dieting and start making gradual lifestyle changes.

“I advise my nursing clients to bring a healthy lunch to work in a personal cooler,” Havey said. “Substitute protein bars or fresh fruit for candy, and keep sliced oranges or apples handy for a quick energy boost.”

Havey says simple steps, not fad diets, are the keys to developing a long-term healthy lifestyle, and she encourages nurses to begin making gradual changes in their own lives and to motivate patients to do likewise.

She also recommends clients identify their trigger foods and begin to slowly eliminate them from their lives. Two of Havey’s triggers were ice cream and pasta, both foods she previously ate several times a week and now indulges in only several times a year.

“So many people are looking for a quick fix, yet they didn’t gain the weight overnight,” Havey said. “It took me 15 months to lose 130 pounds, the same amount of time it took for singer Carnie Wilson to lose the weight after gastric bypass surgery. I don’t encourage clients to lose weight. I encourage them to change their entire lifestyle.”

Curbing emotional eating

Linda Spangle, RN, MA, knows the pitfalls of emotional eating all too well, and her new book, Life is Hard, Food is Easy, addresses the challenges of this coping habit.

“Many people try a variety of diets but end up failing because they slip into a cycle of eating, feeling bad, and then eating again,” Spangle said.

Her easy five-step plan addresses how to overcome emotional eating and be successful on any weight-loss plan.

As founder and director of Winners for Life, a weight management clinic in Denver [www.foodiseasy.com], Spangle teaches both nurses and patients how to manage stress, anger, and depression without food, how to identify the emotional void that people use food to fill, and how to change eating habits for the long haul.

“A lot of nurses tell me they are drained after a shift of walking through the hospital each day,” Spangle said. “I explain there is a difference between the walking you do on a shift and the walking you do for exercise. The first is draining, the second will energize you.”

Several years ago, Spangle and a nursing colleague encouraged each other to go walking after work. As soon as Spangle got home she put on tennis shoes and went for a gentle, consistent 20-minute walk. She says she was amazed by how quickly her energy levels increased.

“People tell me they are too busy to exercise,” Spangle said. “What they need to ask themselves is how can I find the time to exercise despite being busy? We all know people who have chaotic schedules but who make exercise a priority.”

Through her work in the field of weight loss, Spangle has counseled many patients who use food as a quick fix for fatigue, depression, even as a reward system.

“Once people realize the ways in which they are relying on food, they can begin to make positive changes,” Spangle said. “Food is fuel, nothing more. It shouldn’t be used as a way of coping with real-life issues.”

Counseling by example

Lisa Peters, RN, BSN, claims to have one of the most rewarding jobs in nursing. As a health educator at St. Joseph’s Mercy Center for Health Management in Clinton Township, Mich., Peters spends her days helping patients change their lives through exercise and good nutrition.

Peters says her job is easy because she practices what she preaches. She not only lost 70 pounds, but she’s also kept it off for five years.

“After having children, I put on weight and was never able to lose the extra pounds,” Peters said. “I really hated the way I looked and felt.”

Peters did Weight Watchers to shed the first 40 pounds, then switched to weight-loss supplements and meal replacements to lose the last 30. St. Joseph’s is one of 108 medical clinics across the country that administers services through Health Management Resources.

“As a supplement-based program, we provide patients with shakes, energy bars, and prepackaged entreés that can aid them in their weight-loss efforts,” Peters said.

“In addition to the food selections, patients attend weekly meetings and classes where we teach them how to adopt healthy behaviors.”

Peters says the St. Joseph’s approach is an effective model for all nurses to use with patients.

“When we counsel patients on obesity issues, we keep the conversations very positive,” she said.

“Rather than telling them everything they are doing wrong, we focus on ways they can make positive changes in their life such as taking a 10-minute walk each day, or using a meal replacement at breakfast or lunch.”

When she was heavier, Peters admits she lived a more sedentary lifestyle. When she decided to lose weight, she formulated a personal care plan. “As nurses, one of our greatest strengths is writing care plans,” Peters said.

“My personal plan included taking a healthy lunch to work every day, and waking up a half hour earlier to exercise. After several weeks, it was easy to do with less sleep because I had so much more energy.”

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