Night Shift Logging?

caseyshelton911

I just recently started working night shift and I am curious how others may log their food? Do you do it midnight to midnight? Do you log from the time you wake up til you go to bed as one day? Trying to figure out what works best. Being on nights I don't want to log wrong or get into bad habits. Thanks so much!!

thistimereally

I switch between day and night shift so I do midnight to midnight. If I worked night shift consistently​, and kept that schedule on my days off, I would probably do from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed.

I believe you can change the names/times of meals to fit your schedule however you'd like!

JaydedMiss

when i wake to when i sleep is my day. Most my eatin is late night and i work all day and again at night so it works best for me. No difference do what works for you

bobbimrn

I would start your day from when you get/wake up- say 5pm....would be your breakfast. I don't work night shift yet but a lot of the girls eat their "dinner" at 4-5am! Sounds weird but I guess you get use to it. Good luck, I may switch too so I'm interested in how you do. I'm also wondering is it better to exercise right when you get home or later when you wake up.....

caseyshelton911

Thanks Ladies!! I have been logging midnight to midnight but my husband logs from the time he wakes up until he goes to bed. As far as working out, I have been working out before work cause I tend to wake up earlier. But I would assume either!!

fitmom4lifemfp

caseyshelton911 wrote: »

I just recently started working night shift and I am curious how others may log their food? Do you do it midnight to midnight? Do you log from the time you wake up til you go to bed as one day? Trying to figure out what works best. Being on nights I don't want to log wrong or get into bad habits. Thanks so much!!

Not sure I understand the question. It doesn't matter when I log, really. I just log what I ate, in a day. I mean a day is 12:00 am to 11:59 pm, right?

MomReborn

I hear you about the challenge of night shifts! I have to work those on an inconsistent basis. I created a "Night Shift" mealtime in my diary to account for any food I eat during that time. It's placed above the breakfast slot to give me a visual cue in regards to timing. I tend to be a bit of a bobble-head, so if I don't log the food then, I won't remember when I wake up in time for breakfast/lunch. Good luck!

DreaRN15

bobbimrn wrote: »

I would start your day from when you get/wake up- say 5pm....would be your breakfast. I don't work night shift yet but a lot of the girls eat their "dinner" at 4-5am! Sounds weird but I guess you get use to it. Good luck, I may switch too so I'm interested in how you do. I'm also wondering is it better to exercise right when you get home or later when you wake up.....

That's exactly what I do. Log my dinner as what I eat on break at 3 or 4am. It seemed so weird to me to do that at first but it's working for me and it also helps me to not overeat. I workout when get up. When I get home I'm tired, my feet hurt and I just want to shower and sleep!

cbillings78

I use my 4 am break as breakfast,then family meal as dinner..but mostly log between 11pm to 11 pm..I have never been great for 3 meals a day,but feel just logging the food is more important then what time slots I use

norahaugen

I usually log from I wake up to when I go to bed. If I don't wake up until 5 pm, I still log the first meal as breakfast, and the following meals as lunch and dinner.
But I also work day and morning shifts, so occasionally I log midnight to midnight if it makes my meals fit my calories better. That's just a personal preference - I like it better when my days are logged roughly the same calorie-wise.
And I exercise after work, though I might try the other way around, because I've never done that.

MsChucktowski

You could change your meal names in MFP diary to time slots instead of meal names. For example, I have "6AM-9AM" instead of "Breakfast".

runlikeagirl1985

I do rotating shift work (days/nights) so I log from midnight to midnight and have my diary labelled 12:00am-4:00am, 4:00am-8:00am....etc. It's easier in case I take a nap etc. cause then I won't have one "day" that is almost 24 hours and one "day" that is way less. If that makes sense....

caseyshelton911

Thank you everyone for the advice!! It's very weird logging dinner at breakfast and then feeling like since I'm still eating while I'm awake after midnight it should be one day! I think I will change the diary labels and that should help a lot!! Thank you!!