If I had to guess why (some) Nurses are overweight it would have something to do with having an extremely stressful job with an incredible amount of responsibility, poor coping mechanisms, and caring for people all day, so that when they get home they don't give a damn. But that's just my opinion.

On my floor (a medicine floor in a larger teaching hospital), most of the nurses are under thirty, thin, and attractive. Most have completed their BSN's and are working on their masters. The nurses that are overweight tend to be of the old guard, career floor nurses. Oh, and about a quarter of the nurses on my floor are men, FWIW. As far as politics and gossip, everyone tends to work together and be pleasant. Part of me thinks this is because most people only work three days a week, so you don't see the same people all day everyday. Anyway, what I'm getting at is some of the opinions expressed are broad generalizations and should not be taken as characterizing nurses.

And shorts are the easy answer.

-Rob.