Nightshift 11p-7a

ASGG7818

Hey guys, anybody else out there work night shift? If so how/when do you start your meals for the day? Any ideas on ways that work best for you. I'm struggling with fixing my times since I usually stay up and sleep on my two nights off. *attempting to be normal at least a couple days a week.

medic2038

I work 24s now, and I wouldn't ever go back to overnights if I could avoid it. I worked overnights for years, not when I was keeping track of my diet though.

Flipping your schedule around like that is going to make it really tough. Having some sort of consistency with your schedule is the best thing you can probably do.

As far as meals go, you don't really have to keep any sort of schedule. What I mean is that generally meal timing/frequency isn't really important at all. As long as you're getting all of your calories in, you can set it up however you want.

LaReinaDeCorazones

Hey, I work from 10 to 6 and I also sleep on the nights I have off, more for my kids than anything. My 'breakfast' is my first meal after I wake up in the afternoon, I just have it listed as meal 1 tho. And my dinner is usually before I come home from work. FR if you want

adamyovanovich

I worked night shift for 8 years, when i would use MFP, i would log everything from the day i woke up until i went to sleep the next day, as the first day. So if i worked the 10th into the 11th, i would log all my food for the 10th. It is challenging though when some days you stay up late and some days you go to bed on time. Good luck.

LaReinaDeCorazones

adamyovanovich wrote: »

I worked night shift for 8 years, when i would use MFP, i would log everything from the day i woke up until i went to sleep the next day, as the first day. So if i worked the 10th into the 11th, i would log all my food for the 10th. It is challenging though when some days you stay up late and some days you go to bed on time. Good luck.

That's exactly how I do it, and on the days when I stay up thru out the day, I just wait until the normal time I have my first meal

thetoughequus

Hey! I just came off of night shift, I had been on it for two years. I did two different shifts, one was 10pm-6am and the other was 7:45-7:30. Because I also did part time work and switched my schedule around throughout the week, I just counted midnight to midnight regardless of when I ate or when I was sleeping

jennb2096

I work 7p to 730a three nights a week. I log midnight to midnight. So an example of my day off is wake up around 730 and eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack. Go to bed. Then I wake up have breakfast, lunch, take a nap, have dinner and go to work at 7. I have a snack around 9-930. Then I eat around 1am at work and call that my lunch. I then eat my breakfast at work around 6. I get off and go home to bed. If I go back in that night I wake up eat dinner and go to work. Have a snack around 9 and eat lunch at 1am. I have breakfast before I leave work. If I am off I get home at 8am and take a nap. When I wake up I eat a snack. I then eat dinner at a normal time and go to bed at a normal time. It took me some thinking to find this schedule. This way I'm not hungry and snacking at work.

Dejahvu04

So I work the same hours as you and I kinda eat like everyone else does meaning breakfast is the morning ect.... If I go home I either skip breakfast and go to bed or I eat eggs my hubby left for me. I skip lunch since I'm sleeping. I wake up and have a snack then later sit with my family and have dinner. No matter what, I never eat meals at work only light snacks like a banana or nuts. I always stay under my calories doing this. Say I'm working a double then I will eat a breakfast like oatmeal and yogurt and of course lunch, then squeeze in dinner before going back to work, again with the same rule of never eating meals during my shift. I work at a hospital so I don't really do much during my night shift to require me to eat a big meal. I understand in a different field this might be hard to do, but it's worth a try.

kimmostime

I am 7p to 7a and have the same struggle. It is so odd to eat at 1 am for me, I was just bringing snacks but then i was starving and it obviously isnt working for me. I gained weight since working that shift. I am following this thread so I can get some great ideas. Thanks for posting it!