NIGHT NURSES: What's your secret?

This_is_my_name

I am not a nurse, I am a police officer who works the mid shift. I also bring my own food, fruit, water, veggies. I stay away from the pizza, chinese take out, donuts and everything else that is bad. I get off around 6 a.m. and am up by 1PM and at the gym or out on a ride usually 16 miles.

I am also hypothyroid so I want to give myself a fighting chance. I also take Vitamin C, B12 - 2500 mg and a multi-vitamin daily.

I always appreciate new friends to share ideas and provide support and motiviation.

JT

virgolove34

No tips, but im at work right now BORED.. I work as a nursing care partner

****9 months until my RN

YIPPIE for all the nurses

Goodluck

bjstru

Night nurse checking in! Just started back on MFP . I am currently an ICU night RN who also work full time while completing my master's program. WOOP WOOP! ( I can see the finish line, I promise it is there). Ok back to the point. Being a full time night nurse and a full time student with daytime clinicals; i realized the most important thing was planning meals ahead of time. Previous three years, I have gained and lost the same 20- 25lbs. In order not to eat fast food EVERY single day for the past 3 years, I had to plan at breakfast what I was going to eat including snacks for that day. In doing this, when I got up that evening to go to work, there was no bustling around for food. I threw it in the lunch bag and was off. Currently, I plan at breakfast what I am going to eat for that day and prepare it. Lunch is around the time I wake up (4:30pm -5:30pm). Dinner(heavy meal) is now always before midnight the goal is 10:00pm-11:00pm( that depends on if my patient are detoxing or crashing). While at work if I become hungry between midnight- 7:00 am, I will eat cucumbers, chicken broth or sugar-free candy, etc. The goal is to avoid chips and sodas. This has been successful for me as of late. It prevents from eating heavy meals at 2 am on my days off. Hope this information helps a little. So excited to see "my" night walkers on a thread

kristafb

I'm a 911 operator/police & fire dispatcher and we work 12 hour shifts (2 days then 2 nights & off for 4days) I've found that I treat the nights no different than the days. I pack my food for work, taking breakfast, lunch & at least 2 snacks. I think the key to working shift work is to be prepared. Have a great thermal lunch bag, with some ice packs, good containers and lots of stuff thats easily portable, like fruit & nuts, etc. Also when I work nights I make sure to stop drinking caffeine around midnight (I get off at 6am) and stop drinking water by 430 or so, if not I'm up all day peeing , but that being said, stay hydrated, especially at night. Your body really needs it to stay energized. Oh and great set of black out drapes so you can sleep during the day!

KANGOOJUMPS

BOOZE, lots of it

ERBred

I like the Almased Energy shake. 27g of Protien and I mix it with unsweetened coconut milk or water. (I like to add pumpkin pie spice too) I like that I don't mix until ready to drink and it blends pretty well with just a hand shaker. I am down 24+ lbs since April and 12# since joining MFP.

karinmyhre

This is good timing as I'm on a night rotation at the moment too! I usually eat a small lunch around midnight (a sandwich and/or homemade soup) and then allow myself something sweet at my lowest point (4 am or so - I know it's not a good idea, but considering the crap everyone else eats ALL NIGHT it seems to be okay). Before I go to bed at 8am or so, I usually have a small bowl of cereal as I can't sleep when I'm hungry. I eat a normal dinner with my family around 6pm before I go in.

I also bring fruit and sometimes nuts to snack on as the night goes on.

I find exercising enough while on nights is the hardest part - I'm just too tired, although I've found I feel way better if I do drag myself out for a run etc.