Working out before bed

boobear00

Looking for some feedback and opinions.

I work 12 hour shifts as a 911 dispatcher, aka 12 hours on the tush. My shifts also rotate from 7am to 7pm and then when I'm on nights 7pm to 7am. This week I'm on nights. I slept very well the morning of my 1st shift, 11+ hours. I got up at 3:30pm and got off work at 7am the next day. I was not tired so I went home and cleaned the house....still not tired so decided to go to zumba. An hour long masters class kicked my tush. I went home showered, had a chocolate milk (my body needed something in it) and was out like a light 20 mins after getting home. So here is my question. On what day should I log my workout and is it bad for me to workout so intensely and then go straight to sleep?

The way I normally log is from the start of my day to the end of my day, not paying attention to the date. But of course then I question myself and my eating. Since I hadn't planned on working out I had all those calories to eat back that hadn't been worked into my day and I wasn't about to eat a full meal and go to sleep. So just wondering, should I eat them all before going to bed, tack them on when I wake up or maybe split them between the two days. I realize my body doesn't reset every 24 hour period just wondering if anyone else has had experience with this and what worked for them.

Thanks to everyone for your input!

princessjaffacakes

Hi there, I haven't worked shifts in many moons but I know it can throw off eating and exercising massively! Well done for getting out there and doing something, I used to be like a zombie!

I haven't tried myself but I think you're right not to try and cram in and eat all the extra calories you've burnt off just before going to bed. A lot of people on here zig zag calories - I get the jist is to have lower and higher calorie days throughout the week to keep your body guessing.

It might be easier for you to look at the whole week to see if you average out, as it can be tricky if your 'day' keeps shifting!

I know people say to eat your calories back and you can't carry over... but like you said, you're body doesnt have a re-set button each day! I tend to have better and worse days throughout the week but they tend to even out across the week (so I average 1200 a day overall).

Maybe run off a weekly report and see where you currently are?

Sorry probably not much help - maybe another shift worker can pop along and give you their experience. Good luck!