How do I separate my days?

cordellannie

I'm a nurse and I do a lot of 12-16 hour shifts (sometimes 20)- my primary shifts are over night. (6p-6a at one job, 10p-6a at another unless I pull a double) I don't really know how I should separate my days.. I.e: yesterday I woke up at about 9am (yay insomnia), I had a breakfast bar... then unfortunately, I didn't have time to eat again until approximately 8pm (I did snack on trailmix throughout the day).. so I ate at 8pm, then again at 3am... I feel like my eating schedule is all mixed up and I'm not really sure what days to log the food. I thought about just giving my self a 24 hour period- 8a-8a? I don't know.. My eating pattern is so irregular.. and I really want to be as accurate as possible.

Does it even matter, or am I completely over thinking this?

VintageFeline

Doesn't really matter as long as it all averages out in the end. I just log when I eat, midnight is when the next day starts (I can get funny sleeping patterns due to insomnia). I work from a weekly average (can be viewed under the nutrition tab in the app) so if one day it looks like I only ate 800 calories the following day or day prior will likely be over to compensate.

seska422

Think of it as a weekly calorie goal that you are trying to hit rather than day-to-day.

I have my diary set with six meals that are named for four hour blocks of time, such as 12 AM to 4 AM, and just log whatever I eat/drink in the correct time slot.

darkrose20

I work nights, too. What I do (rather than the default "Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack") is 12:00 am to 6:00 am, 6:00 am to 12:00 pm, 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm, 6:00 pm to 12:00 am. It works for me. It's far less confusing than trying to figure out if the meal I ate at 2 am was a midnight snack, breakfast, lunch or dinner.

suruda

I started to reply and tell you that you are overthinking it. Ultimately total calories consumed over time is what matters. But then I read your whole post and some of the replies and my head started to spin a bit. More power to you all with the crazy work schedules! My hat is off to you!

dark_sparkles37019

I work second shift so my last meal is after 12:01am unless I get to leave early. I log it under the previous day and if I go over a little I can put it on the next day. As long as you are within your calories on average you'll be okay.

CafeRacer808

seska422 wrote: »

Think of it as a weekly calorie goal that you are trying to hit rather than day-to-day.

I have my diary set with six meals that are named for four hour blocks of time, such as 12 AM to 4 AM, and just log whatever I eat/drink in the correct time slot.

This is a great idea. Another suggestion (which I can't take credit for as I saw it in another thread), is to change your time zone setting on MFP so that your days on the app better correspond to your schedule.

kar328

darkrose20 wrote: »

I work nights, too. What I do (rather than the default "Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack") is 12:00 am to 6:00 am, 6:00 am to 12:00 pm, 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm, 6:00 pm to 12:00 am. It works for me. It's far less confusing than trying to figure out if the meal I ate at 2 am was a midnight snack, breakfast, lunch or dinner.

This nurse does the exact same thing.

jennifer_417

What I eventually did was eliminate all the meals in my diary and just record everything I eat for the day as a single list. My schedule tends to be variable, so I just log midnight- to-midnight each day for the sake of simplicity.

cordellannie

darkrose20 wrote: »

I work nights, too. What I do (rather than the default "Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack") is 12:00 am to 6:00 am, 6:00 am to 12:00 pm, 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm, 6:00 pm to 12:00 am. It works for me. It's far less confusing than trying to figure out if the meal I ate at 2 am was a midnight snack, breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Thank you

cordellannie

Thank you all for the replies, really insightful