Shift Work

c159shell

I am looking get advice from anyone who has been able to successfully drop some weight while working shift work. I know all the textbook get more exercise, eat fewer calories, and make better food choices. I do fine for a few days then fall off and get discouraged when something in my schedule changes. A little background...

- I work 8 hour shifts (0700-1500, 1500-2300, or 2300-0700) with an 1.5 hour commute each way. There is no set pattern to my shifts. The schedule simply dictates that I have to have 2 days off sometime between Sunday and Saturday and they don't have to be together. I can be scheduled for any shift the remaining days, and have done all three shifts in a weeks time.

- My husband also works a crazy schedule with no set shifts and lots of call out. We also have a daughter who is active in school and other activities.

I try to plan ahead to stay on track, but I am easily derailed by last minute changes. Then I find myself getting discouraged and falling back into old habits.

Anyone else had this issue? What helped you achieve success?

k8325

Hi! I do the same kind of shift work but don't the commute and it is more patterned...5 days on 3 days off, also I am single so I'm not sure how much I can help but here it goes.
For eating: One thing I do to help myself is that I log all my eating from midnight to midnight- even when my dinner is at 2am! This is so that I can't accidently "cheat" and end up eating two dinners (which is always my biggest meal) The other thing I do is pre stock my work fridge (it's big enough to do it) with my food for the week including "treats" like skinny cow icecream sandwiches. I eat microwave meals at work for convenience (there are arguments for and against these because of the sodium, but I previously lost 70 lbs doing this and all my health check points remained even or got better and it wasn't until I stopped those habits that I gained weight again) Also, if you don't mind the taste: I eat the 0% fat greek yogurts that are 100 cals or less with pre-packaged granola/nut mixes and they fill me up pretty good for snacks (sometimes as a meal!). And also, I always have fruits and veggies to munch on.

For exercise:
1)walking is a perfectly exceptable exercise and I am a huge proponate of it (I lost my first 50 lbs doing this)! It is not too exhausting and you can always fit it in between stuff. You don't have to get all your exercise in at once. Walking for ten minutes 3-6 times a day is just as good as walking 30-60 minutes at once. Ditto for any other exercise. Also, is your shift work at a desk? I have coworkers who sit on a physio ball and that helps them with stability and balance...it may not be exercise you could log per se, but it will improve your core.
2) find exercises you LIKE to do. If you are a fan of weights, do weights, if you are a fan of body strength exercise, do those. If you like running, run, if you like swimming, swim, and of course you know how I feel about walking. People are gonna tell you what you "should" do. NO! Do what you like and it won't be a chore. Who ISN'T going to give up doing something they dread doing in the first place?

For successs:
1)This will probably be the hardest for you, but you absolutely MUST BE "SELFISH" This means, that if pizza is your weakness like mine was, asking your family not to order it every week in front of you, or insisting on making a healthy alternative homemade version (I would use wheat burritos, blend a can of diced tomatoes with garlis and oregeno in it for the sauce and I would buy turkey pepperoni and a bag of fat free mozerella cheese and one regular for my family and they said it tasted just as good) is perfectly FINE. It is OK to walk around the venue where your daughter is practicing her activity esp if you are usually just a spectator (major events like the actual game/tournament/play/whatever..sit and enjoy!) It is OK to take 1 HR of your family day to get exercise in and it's OK to insist that your family does a physical activiy together for the family day. Again I am a proponent for walking, and an hr long walk in the park with your family is only going to make it stronger... On the work front: it is OK to demand a "smoke break" to walk around a little, maybe do some light body weight exercises-- my coworkers take 10-15 minute smoke breaks throughout their day and it is accepted, your "walk break: should be accepted too ( if it is the same where you work). It is perfectly FINE to say no when a coworker brings in food you know is a trigger and then insists everyone eats it.
2) Take the time to make a motivational wall. i have a wall with motivational quotes and pictures that I like to look at and I made origami butterflies representing each inch I needed to lose for my goal and I moved them from one side of the wall to the other as they came off. i also made little jars out of votive candle holders and put beads representing the lbs I needed to lose and moved them over to the lbs lost jar as they came off
3) Make small goals that build towards your larger goal. Aim for something healthy like: this month i will aim to lose 4 lbs. Doable.
4) Get in the mindset that results don't always come quickly or in they way we expect. I didn't lose anything the 1st 2 months I was on WW (that's what i use for calories counting) but I could walk for 45 minutes straight without getting winded at 3.8 on the treadmill when I could only do 3.0 and was sweating and breathing heavy 2 months before... and my clothes fit better. (I didn't track inches back then but i bet I was losing them) Sometimes NSVs (none scale victories) are better to concentrate on.
5) Work on being positive with yourself and others. fake it 'til you make it if you have to.


About last minute changes: baby steps and tomorrow is another day! If you mess up and go over your calorie count because someone did bring in doughnuts and you really wanted one or two or five...then take a deep breath, and get back on schedule. If it's dinner time and you are still hungry, eat your dinner. log everything you put in your mouth and move on. Use that set back and learn from it...ask yourself what made you go for that second doughnut? or that fifth? Ask if you felt satiated by it. And hell, if you had one doughnut and it helped you get through a couple of hrs...than f* it, it got you through! Side note: I've found as I have changed my eating habits, big calorie food like that WILL fill me up and satiate me when before it would just intitate more eating/desire for food.
The most important advice I can give you is to just soldier on. mess ups will happen, set backs will happen. I can almost guarentee you will not lose as much as you want in the time that you want. But that is ok, work hard, stay positive and find what works for you and it will happen.

futurejedi

read the title thought of Kenny Chesney song

LucasEVille

I don't have a set pattern... Work often has me doing a late shift when I have to be back at work the next day for 6am sharp.
It sucks and constantly changing sleeping patterns does mess up my schedule but I find having a pocket diary so you can set yourself exercise "appointments" with yourself really helps.

misscem94

I can only really comment on the actual eating part and exercise (my commute is only 12 minutes each way, and although I am the second carer in the household, my siblings are fifteen and my Mum can feed herself).

I do a 6.30-10.30pm, 5-11pm and alternate weekends of 3-11pm Sat and 9-5pm Sunday. On the first three shifts, I will eat all my meals within 1-2 hours of each other, meaning I am full throughout my shifts. I drink around 5 cups of water before work, and then have another two during any breaks that I have, followed by a final one at home before bed. That way, it prevents me snacking and such when I get home. As for Sunday, I eat breakfast, but for me, I don't need to eat until I get home (I just don't get hungry that often).

Exercise wise, I try to do between 45 and 90 minutes on the elliptical (weekly goal is 270 minutes, not purely the elliptical) maybe 3-4 times a week? Normally, I get up about 10.30-11am when I am off from university to take my Mum to work, have a light snack, and then go on the crosstrainer for about 1.30pm. That way, I can still fit it in prior to my 6.30 and 5pm shifts. On the weekends that I am working, I don't do anything on Saturday (work is pretty active!), but I will go on the crosstrainer before dinner when I come home on Sunday.

I recognise that this probably doesn't work for everyone, and I am a little 'freer' than you are in regards to time, but this is what I found works best for me. Lately I have been working out after half seven, but that is because I have been revising for exams.

sparklefrogz

How far ahead of time do you get your schedule? What does your current meal planning look like? Do you have a fridge, microwave, or any food prep abilities at work?

What worked best for me in this sort of situation was to plan meals for the entire week and "mega-cook" them on my day off. Preportion into containers, log the recipes, and then tracking the food becomes easy.

The other helpful thing was to plan for derailment ahead of time. Scope out the nearest grocery store or food joint and pretend, "okay, I just got called in to work and I need to eat something on the way in. What's the best thing I can find at this store?" By doing this when I wasn't actually in that situation, it meant I *didn't have to think about it when it actually happened* -- it prevented stress and preserved my mental energy for other things. Since you work multiple shifts I'd recommend seeing what's open around the clock if you do this mental exercise.

For exercise, I worked in a safe area of town where I could walk at any time of the day or night without concern. We had a large parking lot that took most of my break to circumnavigate. I was also known to do bodyweight exercises in the stairwell (no one ever took the stairs) on the later shifts.

Finally, depending on your daughter's age, she may be able to help with cooking at home. By the time we were 13, my mother had each of her children planning and preparing one dinner per week, which relieved some pressure from her.

Edited to add one last thought: I don't know what kind of work environment you have, but for myself, dealing with "food pressure" from my colleagues also doing shift work was important to master. Everyone brought in food and offered it up, or went out to get take out and asked if you wanted anything, or brought in hot chocolate and vending machine goodies, candy, donuts, etc. I had to learn to say "no thanks" for awhile.

saddare

For eating: One thing I do to help myself is that I log all my eating from midnight to midnight- even when my dinner is at 2am! This is so that I can't accidently "cheat" and end up eating two dinners (which is always my biggest meal)

I work shiftwork and do kinda the opposite of this, actually. My "day" is from the moment I wake up (anywhere from 10AM to 3PM) until the moment I go to bed (which is usually well after midnight). I have my diary divided as follows:

Wake Up (usually just my vitamin and a cup of fresh fruit as soon as I get out of bed)
Lunch (first meal of the day)
Dinner (second meal of the day)
At Work (meal at work)
Snacks (no set time)

Tonight, "Dinner" happened "At Work," but for the most part, this still works for me--if my shift happens that I have two meals at work, the first is "dinner" and the second is "at work." The flexibility of having the meals according to my "day" instead of at set times (ie, "Luch is at noon EVERY DAY no matter what") lets me adjust easily to an inconsistent schedule.

I love the tip about "smoke" breaks for walking! I'm gonna have to start using that one at work. I always thought it was unfair that smokers got extra breaks ... like I was being punished for being healthy. O.O