swing shift vs. healthy habits

dshepard81

I work a crazy job that has a schedule that has no rhyme or reason. I sometimes work days, evenings, and midnights all in the same week. My days off vary week by week too. I really struggle keeping my exercise routine up because of this. Does anyone have any tips to keep active? My husband and step daughter don't understand so if they're home when I should be trying to exercise, they make me feel guilty about not spending that time with them since I miss out on a lot anyway because of my profession. I've only set my goal at losing 1 lb per week and I'm doing alright so far. I'm just looking for some others who may be in similar situations and how you cope with them. Thanks everyone for giving my post a read! Best of luck to all of you and your goals!

jeepskate

Weight loss happens in the kitchen, so if your goal is to lose weight concentrate on eating right. Squeeze in a workout when you can. You really just need to prioritize and quality time with the family may just be more important than spending an hour in the gym. Hope that is helpful, best of luck!

vanillaorange2

I can relate to the crazy up and down work hours all through the week. I work most nights, but also have 10 hour day shifts some days. I try to fit in gym time in the afternoon's before work but find myself missing out on work outs to spend time with my boyfriend and family. It can also be hard to keep up with healthy eating habits when dinner is sometimes at 11pm and my first meal of the day is between noon - 2pm. When the weather is nice I take the dog and go jogging for 20- 30 mins first thing when I get up, on my non- gym days. Leaves me with more ( boyfriend/ family ) time in the afternoon. If I work a day shift, I try and hit the gym on my way home for an hour after work. Then come home and have dinner with my guy. I find it helpful to have a few different routines to pick from, And a 24 hour gym. When the weather gets nice I'm going to start finding activities we can do together. Like hiking, walking the greenway, disk golf or going to the indoor climbing gym. I may even start golfing with him, even tho I'm terrible at it!

RodaRose

Weight loss is mostly about food. Even so, exercise seems important to you so let your step daughter and husband know that it is as important to you as your job and that they have to work around your exercising.
With those crazy work hours, make sure that you get plenty of sleep. Good sleep helps with so many things, including losing weight.

dshepard81

Thanks for the tips! I do my best to eat healthy, but my family also doesn't help with that either. They're both so very picky!! I don't have time to make 2 different meals so I try to put good for you food on the table every meal and then I only have a little bit of the not so good things. It's a constant struggle. Kudos to all of you that make it look so easy!! Thanks again for hearing me out!