Working Overnights and Losing Weight

jpease

So I work an overnight job (6p to 430a) and I'll be honest with you, it's kind of hard to find a good diet that works, because my schedule is so screwed up, does anyone else work an overnight job and what kind of diet do you use? Do you eat everything backwards (Breakfast when you first wake up), or do you try to keep it as normal as possible?

agibsonky

I work, 10 p to 8 a...I pack a "lunch" - a frozen dinner or sandwich and piece of fruit, then eat breakfast type foods when I get off in the morning, then dinner with my family (dinner foods). It seems to work for me. When the snack urge strikes me at work, I drink crystal light and chew sugar free gum.

dresdenkali

Yeah, there is a thread dedicated to us night folks. I have been working nights for the majority of the past 14 years. I can tell you what has worked for me.

I treat my nights like the average person treats day shift life. I work about 1a to 9a, so I treat my schedule as the following. I wake up at 6:30p and eat dinner with my better half. I work out for about 1 hour most nights at 9p and have a snack. I have another snack shortly after I get to work, usually between 1:30 and 2a. I then eat my lunch at about 4:30a and a final snack at about 7 to 7:30. Following that, I stay between 1200 and 1500 calories per day. and have managed to increase my over all daily activity with walking on my breaks at work and taking the stairs.

If it wasn't for wanting to spend time with my better half, I would skip breakfast and have dinner instead. I typically only have 2 calorie dense meals per day and supplement with snacks, I never typically end up hungry. Since I go to bed around 10:30/11a, I usually don't eat anything past 8a.

suzie1983

check out the overnight thread...theres a bunch of us!!!!

jpease

I just did a search, and I come back with a bunch of odd and ends do you have a specific thread URL so I can follow that?

allie7383

jpease, try typing in, "Official Nightshift Thread." it's grown quite large, so you may have come up with a bunch of posts from there. i'm on there as well. i've been working nights, 11pm-7am for 3 years now, and the biggest thing for me was going home and going right up to bed, instead of having breakfast then sleeping. i set my diary up so i begin my day at midnight. i usually have lunch, which can be anything from 100-calorie popcorn (like today) to leftovers of whatever i made for dinner, to just a yogurt and fruit. i really try to avoid going up to the cafeteria b/c just seeing and smelling the fried things will make me want them. usually lunch time is between 1am-4, depending on where in the lab i'm working (i work in a hospital.). when i get home it's bedtime. i get up in the early afternoon and work out then have a meal, and some snacks before getting back to work. most of the time i like to nap before getting ready for work, so that avoids me eating lol.

GFab

But what do you do on the first night you go back to work? I work three 8p-8a shifts and then two 8:30a-5:30p shifts. It's hard for me to function during the day and stay full on the overnights without going over my calories. I just started logging what I eat and it is really hard. I need some help please