night shift workers

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  • FireMama_24
    FireMama_24 Posts: 169 Member
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    I work nights majority of the time sometimes swings..............add me for any help. I just pack everything a few days at a time so I know what I am eating.
  • MelissaSel
    MelissaSel Posts: 86 Member
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    I work 12-13 hour shifts, usually 7pm to 8am, with a 2 hour round-trip commute. I usually get about 5 hours of sleep on my work days. Needless to say, I don't get any workouts done on those days. And I sleep as long as I can, so I don't have time for anything when I wake up except showering and getting ready for work. What I do is plan all my meals and snacks for work. On my days off I try to prepare things ahead of time, like turkey taco meat (I add to salad for a healthy "taco" salad), portioned into 4 oz bags and frozen (it thaws fast), or turkey patties... make sure I have fresh salad made. I usually bring a Greek yogurt and fruit for breakfast, have a salad (with the taco meat or turkey breast and hard boiled egg) for lunch, and a protein and veggie or a lean cuisine for dinner. For snacks I pack grapes, apple, fiber one bar, etc. I also try to drink a couple bottles of water. Out of my 12-13 hour shift I only have about 3-5 hours of patient contact and the rest is diagnostic/computer monitoring, so I have the time to eat my meals. If I bring it, I will eat it. The best thing to do is to just bring healthy foods. I don't have access to a vending machine, so that's helpful. However, sometimes I come to work and find the day shift had some sort of celebration. Yesterday they had a meat and cheese platter that was about 1/2 full in the fridge, as well as a HUGE box of specialty pastries that looked divine! I never eat "their" food, even though they leave it for anyone to enjoy.
  • avaloneternal
    avaloneternal Posts: 216
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    I work dispatch for the towing company from home 5pm to 8am (15 hours) 3 nights one week and 4 nights the next (alternating). I also work days at Starbucks. I can sleep between calls but it is very interrupted (have to wake up the computer program every 2 hours or it times out). I find the middle of the night wakeups are the worst because I want to eat sugar to stay awake but not have caffeine so I can go back to sleep. I love veggies dipped in mustard, puffed wheat cereal, popcorn, etc. because I can portion them out and then mindlessly eat them without making too much of a calorie dent.

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