Night Shift Tips

lenac87

Hey there, I am going to be going back to night shift starting next week (7pm-7:30am) Does anyone have any tips for dieting/eating right on night shift. I've worked this shift in the past and put on about 30lbs in that time period and don't want to make the same mistake again. When I'm logging my food should I count my day the same as i do now (by the calendar day) or is it better to count from when I wake up (like 5pm) until when I will be going to bed (like 9am)? Thanks in advance for your help!

Dalker

Take all your own food in don't buy and avoid the vending machines

I log everything I eat on nights as the day I started if that makes sense but others log midnight to midnight, work out what works best for you.

Little and often works best for me and I have my big meal before I start work and a light snack on my break.

Protein in your meals will help keep your energy levels steady.

I think it's really individual so play around with what you're doing until you work out what works best for you.

Good luck.

lenac87

Thanks! Before I would frequent the café which had all greasy fried foods, definitely want to stay away from there! I plan on taking my own foods though. I'll have to try smaller more frequent meals, sometimes I'm so busy its hard to get away to take breaks though. Before I would also eat a big meal when I got out in the morning before going right to sleep, I might have to try to change that habit too. Thanks for your help

mebepiglet123

Ima shift worker do, 4 on 4 off 2 days 5.30am to 5.40pm 2 days 24 hour break then 2 nights 5.30pm to 5.40am. I just log what I eat in that period, until I go to bed, take my food. Preplan, eat protein, and have a protein shake around 2am on my night shifts. I also eat porridge as find this fills me up. I eat around 2200 a day sometimes more. Planning is the key, also if feel like a chocolate hit will have a protein bar.
Stay away from the cafe...lol

bloodofareptile

I log from when I wake up to when I go to bed, no matter what times that is because that's my "day" and I find it easiest.

kar328

I work 7P-7A three times a week. I keep the midnight to midnight diary, but made 6 hour blocks to log food, rather than try to figure out what to call a meal. I eat a real meal at 5 PM - I work in a crazy busy hospital unit where you're not guaranteed a break and sometimes don't even have a chance to grab what you brought out of the lounge. I stopped eating at the cafeteria over a year ago, they did all fried foods at night. I used to eat meals, now I bring lots of things to snack on, mostly proteins like eggs, cheese sticks, cottage cheese etc. I prelog my food each day and there's usually some left by the time I go to work, so according to that number and what's going on there, it shows me which snack to grab before midnight, or allows for the unplanned food that inevitably shows up at work (I'm on a college university and there's a place nearby called Insomnia cookies that bakes and delivers incredible cookies up to 3 AM - we've done a group order and I keep it to one cookie and log it - they're all in the database here lol).

I say try a few routines and see which works best for you and which you're more likely to stick to.