How to track when working night shifts?

avassos

Hey, I'm struggling with knowing how to track when I work 11pm to 7:30am..... and I know your not supposed to eat late at night, but does it count if you are going to be up all night???? Just curious is anyone out there has gone through this and figured out a system that works. thanks
Andrea

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

Frankenbarbie01

I us a 24 hour period. Workiing long nights 7 pm-7 am I just turn it all around. 5:30 pm I get up and have ``breakfast` lunch at around 10:30 pm then dinner at 3-4 am. This gives me a few hours for getting of work at 7:00 am, going home working out and getting to bed by about 9:30 am (or 9:30 pm depending on the shift) You can do it and you will find what works for you!