Help I work third shift and cant figure out a schedule!

Tipp_8477

Hi everyone. I work third shift (10 p.m. to 6 a.m). I usually get off and home and in the bed by 8 a.m. and then I am up around 1:30 or 2. I cant figure out a schedule for me to eat on as well as logging my food? Are there any suggestions. I read that the digestion system needs to rest at least 8-12 hours? How do allow for that time, stay on track with my calories and keep track of my calories for the day? Any suggestions on how to determine a 24 hour period for myself?

lorenwade

Well, I think all you'd need to do is set yourself times for when breakfast, lunch, and dinner would be. Or you can rename them for those time frames even... depending on when you wake up. A general rule of thumb is to not eat 2-3 hours before bed, so food consumption would probably end around 5am-6am.

Something like:
7pm-10pm
11pm-2am
3am-6am

Tipp_8477

OMG....Thanks....this helped me so much.....

Crystal817

For me (I work 7pm-7am), I log from when I wake up until I go to bed. So my night looks like this:
Breakfast (3pm)
Lunch (11pm)
Dinner/After work (7am)
Snack (Anytime)

This works pretty well for me!

prousis

I work a variety of shifts and I have found that the best thing for me is to log a twenty four hour period regardless of when I sleep or work. I go from 1201 am to 1159 pm.

robinaddison

I worked nights for years. The first thing I did was rename my meals. Instead of breakfast etc, I named them meal 1, meal 2 etc. This gets me out of the "breakfast in the morning' mentality as I always switched back to sleeping at night on my days off. I then decided that my 'day' was the period of time from when I woke up til when I went back to sleep. This means that frequently my day crosses over the calendar date but that's not a big deal. I hit the gym after work.
In terms of what to eat,I've always found it hard to love salad at 3 am...but oatmeal is filling, comforting and low cal at that time! Drink lots of water - it's really easy to get dehydrated on 3rd shift. I find that drinking non caffeinated herbal tea (mint is my fave) throughout the night helped a lot - something warm without the coffee jitters.
Hope that helps

Kallisti

For me (I work 7pm-7am), I log from when I wake up until I go to bed. So my night looks like this:
Breakfast (3pm)
Lunch (11pm)
Dinner/After work (7am)
Snack (Anytime)

This works pretty well for me!

Also 7pm-7am, though occasionally 11pm-7am. I log from midnight to midnight. I usually eat a small meal at 2pm, a small meal between 5pm-6pm, a snack between 9-11pm, a full meal between 1-3am, and then if I'm going to go to the gym after work I'll have another snack at 6am-7am. I sleep from 9'ish until 2'ish.