just a bunch of shift work..

BreakinTheChains

I work shift work .. Every single week my shift changes.. I find midnights the hardest shift to stay on track.. Was just wondering if I could get some advice from other shift workers or midnight workers.. How do you stay on track .. What time do you get breakfast, lunch and dinner in ??
Thank You

bigcatlover28

I don't alter the way I eat even if I am on night shift. So the only difference is that I might miss a meal all together if I have a run of nights ( as in lunch). And of course I eat breakfast at work during the night. Planning is the only way to stay on track. Take easy things, like sandwiches or something you can heat up in the microwave. I take two pieces of fruit. I eat dinner before I go to work. I do 12 hrs shifts. So I work from 7pm till 730am or 7am to 730pm. If I am on day shift I eat breakfast before I go to work. I take something for morning tea. I take something for lunch. If I am hungry I have a piece of fruit for afternoon tea. Then I eat dinner when I get home. Just light dinner if I have to go to bed to get up for the next day. I have to make sure I make lots of dinner so that I have something to take to work the next day. You just have to plan your shopping list and plan your meals for work. That is the only thing that works for me. Hope that is helpful...

kouzzzz

I work night shift and I usually go to bed around 9am and wake up around 3pm. I eat breakfast at 3pm and lunch at around 8pm before I leave for work. I eat dinner at work. I track everything in my diary before coming to work. I hope this helps.

LesliePierceRN

I work straight midnights, but only every other weekend, which means some of my life happens in the daytime and some at night.. plus that daytime life is VERY hectic, considering I have two special needs children and manage four properties. I've pretty much mastered the art of staying on track in chaos. I pack things like high fiber/protein bars in my purse, car, etc.. where they are easy to grab to keep me from running through drive throughs..I also pack multigrain crackers, tuna, cream of wheat, nuts, fresh vegetables and fruit, etc at work, since I rarely get to sit down to a meal, I have to pick and eat on the run. I schedule my runs every day and never make excuses to wimp out. I run after work (13 hour midnight shifts as an RN) or before work, or right after I drop the kids off at school or right before I pick them up. I try to plan my runs so that I'm fasted at the time I begin the run. I watch weather reports religiously so I can run outdoors at the best times since I hate the treadmill.
when I log my diet, it doesn't matter to me if it's 1 am, if it's the first meal of the day I log it under breakfast and so on. If that bothers you, relabel your meals to something like "meal 1, meal 2, meal 3, meal 4 .. etc. It's really arbitrary what you call it. Even if I have logged half of my "day" by the time I'm up eating "breakfast", I will log that as the next meal in the list instead of calling it breakfast. I don't have set times that I get meals in.. I eat when I'm hungry, and stay at about 100cal/hr from the last time I ate.. Like 300 cals every 3 hours, or whatever.

BreakinTheChains

Thanks so much for all your inputs.. Helped a bunch !!

aa1440

I work 7pm til 7am. I eat breakfast when I get off in the mornings. I eat dinner with the wife when I get up in the afternoon. I eat again at 9pm and again at 2am. I try to eat another meal between then and 7am. I usually get 5 or 6 meals a night when I work. I work out in the mornings when I get off and in the afternoons before I go to work.