Working Night Shift

Timkoetta

Anyone else on here work midnight shift? If so, how do you log in your food? Do you count a day from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed (which is usually the next day) OR do you log food in after midnight on the next day?

Any tips on keeping up with mfp with such a crazy schedule? I work 12 hour shifts 7pm-7am.... If I work out at the end of my shift (7am) does it go on the day I logged in my food for the night or does it go on the next day?

:huh:

Sidesteal

Anyone else on here work midnight shift? If so, how do you log in your food? Do you count a day from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed (which is usually the next day) OR do you log food in after midnight on the next day?

Any tips on keeping up with mfp with such a crazy schedule? I work 12 hour shifts 7pm-7am.... If I work out at the end of my shift (7am) does it go on the day I logged in my food for the night or does it go on the next day?

:huh:

The method you choose is not really important. For tracking purposes, I would recommend that you choose one method and stick to it for consistency.

_hi_hat3r_

I work nights and 8PM to 8PM is my 24 hour period.

dwtimeoutt

10:45 pm to 8:45 am. I eat dinner at 4am. Breakfast at 10am and lunch at 9pm. I eat small snacks at night as well. I walk as soon as I get home from work or just before I leave.

Timkoetta

10:45 pm to 8:45 am. I eat dinner at 4am. Breakfast at 10am and lunch at 9pm. I eat small snacks at night as well. I walk as soon as I get home from work or just before I leave.

And you count all of that on one day, the walking on the same day as your breakfast?

Timkoetta

Anyone else on here work midnight shift? If so, how do you log in your food? Do you count a day from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed (which is usually the next day) OR do you log food in after midnight on the next day?

Any tips on keeping up with mfp with such a crazy schedule? I work 12 hour shifts 7pm-7am.... If I work out at the end of my shift (7am) does it go on the day I logged in my food for the night or does it go on the next day?

:huh:

The method you choose is not really important. For tracking purposes, I would recommend that you choose one method and stick to it for consistency.

Yes, consistency is a must but on days that I am off I am up during the day sometimes. It makes long days, I am trying to figure out the best way to be consistant and accurate.

talamer

wow you remind me with a friend here who is working nights shifts as well!!
she is working hard to log everything and dunno how she control or count the foods!
Hopefully some body can help you Tiffany

chanson104

I log from midnight to midnight. The meals in my diary are titled #1, #2, #3 . . . . I agree that all that really matters is that you figure out what works for you and be consistent.

danie1226

Hi, I also work 7p-7a and I count from 12am-11:59 as a day. Sometimes it is had because when I am working the day starts at 12 am and I am already having calories to count before breakfast. So as I am consuming food from 12 am until I go to bed in the morning I try to snack on things with no so many calories, i.e fruits, vegetables, and pickles. When i wake up that afternoon I consider my first meal breakfast. Hope this helps you.

spunkfish

Anyone else on here work midnight shift? If so, how do you log in your food? Do you count a day from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed (which is usually the next day) OR do you log food in after midnight on the next day?

Any tips on keeping up with mfp with such a crazy schedule? I work 12 hour shifts 7pm-7am.... If I work out at the end of my shift (7am) does it go on the day I logged in my food for the night or does it go on the next day?

:huh:

I work steady nights..I log my food from the time I get up until the time I go to bed starting on the day that I woke up. For example..all of my workouts for today (which I did after I got up) went on Monday's section.

tami101

I log 12 am to 12 am. That works best for me, plus that's when mfp starts over so it's easier to keep the numbers straight. My meals are named by times. (12am to 7am) (8am to 2pm) (3pm to 9pm) I do this because on my off days my eating schedule shifts more to match my family's schedule. You can just try it several ways and see what works best for you.

giggles7706

I work 7p-7a 3 night s week. I log everything midnight to midnight. It's just easier for me to keep up with it that way instead of sitting down and trying to remember where to put everything.

Goal_Seeker_1988

I work 10pm to 6am. Currently my meals are labled as 8am to 12pm, 12pm to 4pm, 4pm to 8pm, 8pm to 12am, 12am to 4am and 4am to 8am

jojomia

There is a group on here called Night Crawlers you should check out. I added a category to my meal tracking of "Work Meals 7pm-7am". I do just track from midnight to midnight and figure it all averages out in the end.

anels449

I do and it's been rough adjusting to vampire hours and trying to lose weight!

In November I started working full time as a security officer from 11pm to 7am with Fridays and Saturdays off and at first it really screwed up my eating (and sleeping haha!).

Personally I log mine midnight to midnight in a food journal by hand. It's just easier visually for me to do it that way, and it seems easier to keep track of things if I do a midnight to midnight routine. The way I did it at first was see what times my body was hungry and ate then (I have a paid lunch so I can eat whenever I want) so it makes it easy to have a 4-5 small meal plan. From there I would write everything down that I would eat, but didn't count the calories. I just wrote everything down. Eventually when I got into the swing of things, a pattern started to form and I noticed that counting calories, etc. was naturally easier from midnight to midnight. You might be different, though, everyone is. It took me a long time to finally get used to working third shift, sleep wise and eating wise (I was always hungry at first!) and now I don't even need caffeine to get me through the work day.

Long story short, I for sure recommend you watch and see what your natural eating pattern is and base it off of that.

Timkoetta

There is a group on here called Night Crawlers you should check out. I added a category to my meal tracking of "Work Meals 7pm-7am". I do just track from midnight to midnight and figure it all averages out in the end.

Night Crawlers....I will have to check this out, it might be helpful.

Timkoetta

Thanks everyone for the help. I am going to try doing from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed. When I workout (whether before work or at the end) I will log it on the same day as the food. We'll see how this goes....