Counting calories as a night owl

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NightOwl1
NightOwl1 Posts: 881 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I've been at this site for a few weeks now, and I want to check in with the more experienced members of the community to see if I've been allocating my calories to the correct day.

I work freelance, and my work schedule has me working a lot of nights, so my average bedtime on any given "night" can range from 4am to 8am. The question I have is what is the proper day to assign any calories I consume after midnight. Right now, I count my days from midnight to 11:59pm, so any calories I consume after midnight get assigned to the next day. So lets say I wake up at 3pm on Friday, I assign all calories from 3pm-11:59pm to Friday, and any calories after 12:00am to Saturday.

Anyone else in a similar situation to me and have advice on what's the proper way to do this? Should I continue to count them the way I've been counting, or should I count from when I wake up to when I go to sleep as one day, even if it technically is part of two separate days?

Is there an accuracy reason to count them one way over another, or is it just a matter of preference?

Thanks!

Replies

  • lacroyx
    lacroyx Posts: 5,754 Member
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    I work graveyard. I don't over think it and simply assign them on the day I consume them.
  • hartterjw
    hartterjw Posts: 27
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    I too work grave shift, and have broken my diary into time blocks, starting from just when I get up, til the next night when I get up again. This way I have the daytime hours there for when I am on my days off and change my eating schedule. Breaking it down into time blocks instead of "Breakfast", "Lunch", "Dinner", and "Snack" makes it easier and not have to think it out. Take a look at my diary! :)
  • leslielove
    leslielove Posts: 251 Member
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    In that kind of a situation, I'd honestly count your calories over a longer period of time than 24 hours. Your sleep patterns will affect how you metabolize your food and at what times. You might try averaging your calories over an entire week and see how that works instead.
  • lordofultima
    lordofultima Posts: 293
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    I go to bed around 6am, so I count anything I eat past midnight as the day prior. Good rule of thumb, whatever day you wake up on is the day you log your food on. Of course if you run on longer than a 16 hour awake cycle, then you might need to eat more food in a typical "day" to sufficiently fuel yourself.
  • robynrae_1
    robynrae_1 Posts: 712 Member
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    Personal choice I think. I log from when I get up to when I go to bed, so up at 6 pm bed at 9am. I don't tend to log my food till after midnight so I usually log my food for the day I go to bed. For example my food for tonight is logged as Saterday. Also you can go in and change the name of your meals here on MFP.
  • VegGrrl
    VegGrrl Posts: 336 Member
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    I work 2nd shift so my waking hours are from about 10am to noon 'til 2-3 am. I go by my "day" rather than the clock or calendar. And I call my meals 1st, 2nd & third meals rather than b'fast lunch & dinner. Just do whatever feels most natural to you!
  • randyv99
    randyv99 Posts: 257 Member
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    I work nights. I prettty much do what you do. Don't feel like overthinking or overcomplicating it. It'll pretty much sort itself out over a weekly average anyway. I have separated my diary into "overnight" the breakfast, lunch and dinner so I know what I eat on my work days (or the nights when I'm up late) compared to what I eat as a standard meal. Owing to this setup, I hardly ever enter anything in Breakfast on my worknights since I'll usually eat something overnight. It's all up to your prefefences though. What matters is that for months and months, you change your habits and eat better nutrients and fewer calories overall not necesarily the breakdown of the daily in and out.
  • HealthyishWithMaggieG
    HealthyishWithMaggieG Posts: 397 Member
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    I think it's more important to just not overthink it. I mean, it's just food... not rocket science. Do what feels right for you. I just had my "dinner" at 2am, with calories left that I was supposed to eat "today" (Friday, even though the clock says it's now Saturday). So, I had a snack at 3am. Even with eating at weird times over the past 2+ weeks, I've dropped 1/2-1 pound a day. Losing weight on a night schedule can be done! Good luck to you!
  • MegJo
    MegJo Posts: 398 Member
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    Everyone does it differently. My diary is open if you want to see. I log like a dayshifter. So when I wake up (around 4 or 5pm) I log breakfast, then lunch around 9pm, dinner is around 2am. But I put it all under the day that I wake up. Like right now its 4:45am and I'm logging the food I'm eating under Friday.

    Maybe do it both ways and see what works best for you. Also, incase you didn't know, that you can rename your meals, as I did. Thats makes a huge difference.

    Good luck!

    Ps - browse around, there are a lot of forums for us midnighters! :)

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