What kind of patterns does everyone else work?

androidgal

Thanks for joining the group, just wondering what kind of patterns you all work, and how you manage with meal planning and exercise??

Planning ahead is the hardest thing for me, I buy my groceries online and try to plan ahead but every week my rest days are different so it does make it hard.

I always try and start my day whatever time it starts with a smoothie with usually some kind of green salad/raw spinach and seasonal fruit and add a chia seed gel which usually gives me good energy suppply at the beginning, its later in the day I struggle especially when my work colleages are eating KFC, Macdonalds and such like....

androidgal

For some reason the replies dont seem to show in the group page unless that is just me?

Feel free to add any new topics or ideas please & thanks again for joining

jarrettd

HI! My rotation is a 3 week cycle, with 5 straight nightshifts, 4 days off, 6 dayshifts(with 1 off in the middle), 4 days off, then start over with nights. I work 12 hrs every shift, unless it's a Friday day, then I might get off after 8 hrs.

My main job is totally sedentary. I monitor the process in a mill on several computer screens and video monitors. I can take a quick restroom break, but other than that, I'm pretty chained-down. I even eat at my workstation. It's a banner day if I get away to take a 10 minute walk around the parking lot.

I occasionally have to work on the floor as well. When I do, it's rather intense. My work area consists of stairs, ladders, and catwalks, in a 120 degree, smoky room. The smoke isn't exactly healthy, either, so I'm in a full-face respirator quite often. When I plan and pack meals expecting to sit in the control room and end up on the floor, it makes for a hungry shift! This sometimes leads to poor choices. Vending machines.....<<<<shudder>>>

It's been tricky getting used to tracking while on a rotating schedule. Days are pretty straightforward, but nights are a little more challenging. I usually log my 8am meal as breakfast, then my 8pm meal as lunch, and my 2 am meal as dinner. That way, it's easier to transition back when I get off nights.

androidgal

OMG that would scare the hell out of me, are you up high? walking up and down ladders I doint think I could do Do you do nightshifts on your own ? Anywhere to get food in the night if you forget yours or run out? what kind of stuff is in the vending machine? Or a fridge or kitchen? But if you are eating at your desk, I would think it minimises what you can eat...I have just finished 2 x early shifts..my least favourite ..yesterday was 0600-1700 today 0600-1400 then I am on 2200-0600 night shifts x 2. nights....

So if you are working on the floor? how long is that for before you can take a break out of the atmosphere?

What kind of meals do you take then?

I try and eat little and often at work and I can't eat bread unless I am sitting down at least 1 hour after...so usually I take 2-3 apples every shift and some healthy measured snack items like nuts, I have to measure them out because if I took a huge bag and I am on my own or get bored I would eat them all.....

Most shifts I work with at least one other person but sometimes on nights I am alone in the station but there is usually at least one other person somewhere in the building apart from custody which usually has anything from 1-4 staff there.

I also monitor cameras but mostly at night rest of time is call taking and working at the front desk dealing with the many and varied wierd enquiries we get and equally strange people sometimes...and sometimes lost dogs....which on the rare occassion I might have to walk round the carpark.

jarrettd

Sometimes I have to go up high. The cyclones are 7 stories up, outdoors, but I would only help out there, if they needed extra bodies during a breakdown. My area is the Control Room and Press. The press is 415 degrees and 2 stories high. It heats the structure and the room, plus belching out steam and fumes from pressing the board. I have to use compressed air to blow the bits of dust and wood out of it a couple times per shift so it won't catch fire (mind you, sometimes it does anyway!) I don't have to be out there too long unless something goes awry. It runs fine most of the time, but there are days it doesn't.

I also have to check on huge hot oil pumps and the hydraulic pumps that run the press, as well as cleaning "the pit". It's not as nasty as it sounds...it's just that the conveyors run below the press, under the floor. The bits of wood and dust fall down there and have to be blown over and swept up. So I do get breaks from the fumes, if not from the heat. In the summer, we have to be careful of heat exhaustion, and drink TONS of water.

We do have vending machines in the breakroom (blech! Chips, cookies, candy and some frozen burgers and pizza), as well as a little kitchenette that I seldom have time to make use of. I have a little dorm-sized fridge in the control room, but it's mainly for water, and a small microwave. I NEVER forget my food, but I do occasionally run out. I learned early to keep some extra in my locker; a can of soup, peanut butter, a few protein bars. I can have problems with boredom and self-discipline too, so I don't keep it too close to me.

I've been stuck in the control room for the last couple months, and won't get out anytime soon. It takes 2 ppl to run the control room, and me and my coworker are all that's left on our team now, as the other two took jobs in the coal mines. It takes 2 years to train someone in here, so I guess I may as well get comfy. I am never alone at the mill, even when we are down. The furnaces and hot oil system have to be monitored every 2 hours and we accept log trucks 24/7, so there is always an energy operator and crane operator here, as well as one maintenance worker.

I would be intimidated by what you do...I can handle any sort of machinery or equipment, and even heights, but I'd rather not deal with people, particularly strange ones! Machines can do strange stuff sometimes, but they are rarely malevolent (except maybe the press; she can be evil some days.)

I try to keep my meals light. if I eat too much, I can't stay awake (days or nights). So I run about 250-300 cal meals, 150-200 snacks. I love salads; romaine and tomato, with some good protein thrown in. Wraps are good, on low-carb tortillas, with just a little cheese. I like mexican wraps, like chicken with fajita spice; or tuna salad wraps; or pizza wraps. I'm also big on beans...lots of fiber; good balance of complex carbs and protein, and high iron as a bonus. I'll throw a bag of frozen veggies in a dish, and a broiled chicken breast on top, then I don't even have to find room in the dinky fridge!

The hardest thing for me is exercise, and if I'm gonna sit in this chair for 12 hrs a day, I can't skip it. But to get it in, I tend to lose some sleep. Hubs works out with me now (I'm still thrilled that he decided to join me!) and he prefers evening workouts. When I work days, i get home at 8:15pm, so we work out after we get the kids in bed. On nights, I have to leave for work by 7pm. He gets home at 5:20. I usually get up early to pack my lunch, start supper and fix a snack for the girls. We squeeze in a workout...then he finishes supper while I rush through a shower and get ready for work. I go to work with damp hair most of the time now. Not like it matters tho, since I usually have it pulled up into a bun or stuffed under a hardhat!

EMarvie

I work 7am -7pm days and nights - everyonce in a while we have to work an 8 hour shift (3 8 hours in a 6 week period so they dont have to pay us overtime) - and work is trying to do a 1500-0300 - shift too -

and we work a 5-4 schedule -- so, work 5 shifts (2 days,3 nights or 3 days and 2 nights) then 5 days off (or 4 days off) then work 2 days and 2 nights - and then have 4 off(or 5 off) -