How many calories are appropriate when you are up for 24 hours?

shishisd

I work night shift and tend to snack to be able to stay awake and make it through the night. I end up being awake for 24 hours. How do I figure out how many calories are appropriate for me during those days? Night shift is making it very difficult for me to get back on track .

MaddMaestro

Night shift worker here!

My shift is 8pm to 4am, so my meal is planned according to what I eat between 7am and 7am. For example, my entries for meals and exercise for March 10th includes 7am March 10 to 7am March 11.

Maybe this will help figure out your entries for yourself. What would be an appropriate amount of calories is based on your own personal goals, but don't think you should eat more to keep yourself awake. You should eat more healthful foods low in sugar, but high enough in complex carbs (sweet potatos, veggies, brown rice, etc) to help keep you going.

SierraFatToSkinny

I used to work a night shift and track years ago. (I recently restarted MFP.)

I'd essentially do what the poster above did. Starting from when I woke up till when I went to bed. I'd work 4 consecutive 12 hour shifts starting at 8pm, get off Friday morning and then transition to an 8 hour Saturday day shift that started at 8am.

It's tough.

What I would do for the wonky days was just apply calories to the two straddling days. Wherever I felt like it... lol.

My advice would be to focus on a weekly caloric goal and then don't worry if you go over on the 24 hour day. Just plan ahead and allow yourself some leeway calorically so you don't end up feeling guilty and disappointed in yourself. Embrace that you're going to go a meals worth over.

Side note... I'm hoping you're making up that sleep elsewhere in the week.

Unknown

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TimothyFish

You aren't likely to burn more calories by staying up for 24 hours because you will naturally slow down from fatigue.

missmince

Night shifts are often 10-12 hours, so if they're active jobs, they would use more calories. My husband works night shift, but it's at an understaffed hospital, so he ends up not having time to eat much. He's lost weight since starting working night shift and spending so much time on his feet.

Just staying up 24hours won't burn all that many extra calories for people like students or plain insomniacs, but it does burn some.

Gallowmere1984

missmince wrote: »

Night shifts are often 10-12 hours, so if they're active jobs, they would use more calories. My husband works night shift, but it's at an understaffed hospital, so he ends up not having time to eat much. He's lost weight since starting working night shift and spending so much time on his feet.

Just staying up 24hours won't burn all that many extra calories for people like students or plain insomniacs, but it does burn some.

This depends. I'll see if I can find the study, but basically obese individuals will burn more while awake and inactive than when asleep, and lean individuals do the opposite.

Found it: http://search.proquest.com/openview/4ca18005543f04e99ef2cd0eed7ea90d/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=38864

shishisd

Thank you everyone for your help. I really appreciate it. I will figure out a plan based on your advice.