Help! Night shifts, is it today’s calories or tomorrow’s?

bannahhadley2016
bannahhadley2016 Posts: 1 Member
edited November 2024 in Getting Started
Help! So from today I’m doing three night shifts, and I’m just wondering, the calories I eat after midnight would you class as today’s or tomorrow’s? I’m just trying to work out what to do for the best really.

Replies

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  • gg2007
    gg2007 Posts: 71 Member
    it would depend on what time you eat them, as another poster said if I ate them before midnight would on on todays and after midnight would go on tomorrows. Working nights is already confusing when figuring out which day it is lol let alone adding the complexity of calories on which day. MFP would auto add it to correct day (either before or after midnight) also depending at the time you eat your cals.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    I tracked based on my sleep cycle. From waking up unto going to sleep was one "day."
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    It doesn't matter (as long as you're consistent). Weight loss comes from having a calorie deficit over time. Your body doesn't flip a switch at midnight. Track them whichever way is most convenient for you, but stick with it.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,150 Member
    If night shifts are a regular thing for you it might be helpful to change your Meal names to time periods so instead of Breakfast you'd have Midnight -6am; Lunch 6am - Midday, etc.

  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
    What matters is that you maintain a deficit over time, so really any 24 hour period is fine. Just pick one and be consistent. I've been known to stay up past midnight for recreational purposes, and I use when I go to sleep as the dividing line.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    I count wake to sleep but honestly however it works best for you is the way to do it.
  • riffraff2112
    riffraff2112 Posts: 1,756 Member
    whatever 24 hour period you prefer I suppose. I have the same dilemma every time I attend a function, or host a party and we stay up past midnight. I just log it as the previous day.
  • gearhead426hemi
    gearhead426hemi Posts: 919 Member
    I work rotating shifts from days to nights 06:30 to 06:30. Breakfast for me is around noon, when I come off nights so I count lunch as breakfast, lunch is my dinner and I eat dinner around midnight so I track all my food on that day. Sometimes when I have a quick change like day shift on Monday but I have to cover a nightshift on Tuesday one days calories will be higher and the next really low but it all works out.
  • arielstiffler
    arielstiffler Posts: 10 Member
    I work third shifts. I work 7p-7a.
    Sonif I eat anything before work, I call it lunch.
    Then my actual lunch break I call it dinner.
    Anything before or after that I count as snacks.
    When I get home after, if I eat before bed, I count that as breakfast.
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