Working night shift! Help when to eat?!

pinkribbon601
pinkribbon601 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm a nurse and I work 12 hour night shifts! Iv tried losing weight but my times get all screwed up! Need some tips and motivation!

Replies

  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    Eat whenever you can. The actual time doesn't make much difference. :)
  • lindaloo1213
    lindaloo1213 Posts: 283 Member
    I eat when Im hungry. I work 9pm-6am.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    Eat whenever it works best for you. Meal times aren't really important for weight loss, only how many calories you eat matters. As for logging, I tried a few different things (I work I overnights, too), but eventually found loggoing midnight-to-midnight to be the simplest..
  • hncary
    hncary Posts: 176 Member
    You can eat whenever you want. I work 4pm-4am and I find that I'm usually hungrier at night time so I try to save a larger portion of my calories for later in the day. Do what works for you and makes you more likely to stick to your goals.
  • Serena795
    Serena795 Posts: 21 Member
    Bring a whole bunch of snacks that you know are correct for your caloric intake. And just snack on them when you can throughout your shift.
  • stephanieluvspb
    stephanieluvspb Posts: 997 Member
    I'm a psych nurse and I work 7pm-7am. I track my food in one column, midnight to midnight. When I work a few days in a row I'm sleeping during the day so I just eat mostly at night. I also try to bring a lot of low cal foods to work, carrots, red bell peppers, cucumbers, 100 calorie popcorn ( already popped bc who has time!! :) ). Its possible, the biggest thing is planning ahead
  • hekla90
    hekla90 Posts: 595 Member
    edited July 2015
    I work in surgical icu at nights. I eat a protein bar at either 2100 or 2300, and then some nuts or something around 0200 or 0300. If I'm going to eat unhealthy food I will do it at work so I don't have a whole bag to work with so usually have some pretzels, oreis, about 150-200 calories or so. It's not rocket science. I actually find it easy to lose weight working nights because I usually eat something small when I get home and then sleep until dinner time. And for good god hydrate and drink some water during your shift. The biggest differences between the obese nurses and the fit ones on my unit are the fit ones almost always bring food from home and drink water and the others drink energy drinks, sugary coffee drinks, eats lots of snacks and bring take out/order food every shift. You'll save money too...

    Bonus: my job is very physical with lifting and walking. I usually track between 10000-20000 steps a shift.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    Are you getting enough sleep? Lack of sleep can mess up hunger signals.
  • kar328
    kar328 Posts: 4,159 Member
    This RN eats dinner before going to work 7P-7A, then packs various foods, apple slices/PB, cheese, nuts, chicken, yogurt etc. Meal times aren't a sure thing, so it's easy to grab these when I can. I keep my midnight to midnight logging, same with my Fitbit steps.
  • hybridangel
    hybridangel Posts: 25 Member
    I have a baked spud with tuna and cheese or beans and cheese, apple bannana or satsum and bannan and on my 2nd break cereal usually porridge and a yoghurt.
  • mokaiba
    mokaiba Posts: 141 Member
    edited July 2015
    pinkribbon601 wrote: »
    I'm a nurse and I work 12 hour night shifts! Iv tried losing weight but my times get all screwed up! Need some tips and motivation!


    I work an 8-hour 3rd shift five days a week from home. My meals are like this:


    I sleep 1230pm/1pm-10pm (physical conditions wake me up several times a night so its only 6-7 hours sleep).

    wake at 10pm.

    - Cook breakfast and eat it (have some green tea if you wish).
    - 1030pm - go to work.
    - 4am/5am - Make (in your case have it prepared) lunch and have coffee (why coffee at this time? youre a nurse, you should know some things about the brain and sleep, so I dont need to explain why).
    - for me, work ends at 630am.
    - 8am/9am - 1/2 cup cottage cheese snack (for a 12-hour shift, this snack time may work wonders for you in controlling hunger)
    - 11am/12pm - make dinner (or in your case, eat prepared dinner/eat after work)
    - go to sleep at 1230/1pm.





  • V_Keto_V
    V_Keto_V Posts: 342 Member
    Intermittent fasting is another option. I do the same 19:00-7am shift and just eat after work. Conveniently, eating makes sleeping in the daytime much easier (rest, digest...PNS)
  • Dariasen
    Dariasen Posts: 145 Member
    When I worked the overnight I ate the reverse of what a "normal" day was. My breakfast was normally dinner with the family, lunch in the middle of the night, and a typical breakfast for dinner. It helped me keep a routine that would flow to my days off when I would be up during the day with my family.
  • icedcupcake1981
    icedcupcake1981 Posts: 16 Member
    Dariasen wrote: »
    When I worked the overnight I ate the reverse of what a "normal" day was. My breakfast was normally dinner with the family, lunch in the middle of the night, and a typical breakfast for dinner. It helped me keep a routine that would flow to my days off when I would be up during the day with my family.

    I work shifts including nights & do the above too.
  • Patttience
    Patttience Posts: 975 Member
    Eat to keep yourself going through your shift. So Eat before you go to work, eat "lunch" and eat when you get home. If you get hungry between these meals, schedule some tea breaks with food too. As you are spending so much energy at work presumably, you need to keep yourself properly fueled up. If you go to bed just a little hungry, you will lose overnight. Just make sure you don't find yourself hungry while you are at work because that's when you won't have time to do anything but grab the first thing to hand and it will likely be junk.

    Do not cut your calories severely. Just a little less than you need to maintain and you will be able to lose weight steadily and without much discomfort and you won't get run down.
  • krenwren
    krenwren Posts: 136 Member
    I have this same problem. I've tried to have my day start at 4pm when I get up since I go to work at 6pm and am home by 7pm. The problem is on my days off, I don't sleep much and find that I've eaten all my calories at work and there's nothing left for the rest of my day off. You would think I would have it figured out since I've worked nights for 20 years! I've thought about fasting before my day off so I can eat at normal times. Maybe I'll try it!
  • teresa_garcia29
    teresa_garcia29 Posts: 65 Member
    You really have to find out what works for you and your schedule. Try different ways all the ideas above are great. Personally I have found that Intermittent fasting works the best. I stop eating at 9pm get off work then go tos sleep and do not eat until approx. 14-16 hours later. It has been working for me.

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