Night workers ?

Cemjames

Hi any night worker here? How u do with ur counting ., what time u start and when u finishing counting? I work 10pm to6am .thank you

lacroyx

5 days a week, 11pm-7am. On work nights I track 2x a day. @ work and @ home. Usually eat 2x a day but sometimes I eat only once a day. I find sleep to be very important. If I know my day is going to be busy that I won't have time to eat multiple times and will cut into my sleep, I will eat all of my calories in 1 sitting. I do the midnight to midnight for tracking.

Cemjames

Wow u doing really well . Well done . Seems to really hard for me to eat all my calorie in 1 go . I do agree with u sleep is really important . I w going to do start my calorie in take when I get up which is about 1 pmto 6.30 am when I back to ho me ?

ferrytrip

I just track it as I eat, maybe its wrong but it's how I do it. I work 6p-6a & 10p-6a. On my starting and ending days of my work week, I end up with alot of snack entries.

alovesopure

5 days a week, 11pm-7am. On work nights I track 2x a day. @ work and @ home. Usually eat 2x a day but sometimes I eat only once a day. I find sleep to be very important. If I know my day is going to be busy that I won't have time to eat multiple times and will cut into my sleep, I will eat all of my calories in 1 sitting. I do the midnight to midnight for tracking.

Same I work 11pm till 7am...
I do the same thing as far as eatting and tracking goes. I usually do my exercise before work or during work (on my break).

AntWrig

Timing of day makes no difference. I work from midnight to 8am M-F.

laxwyo

630 to 630 here. Meals are same. Breakfast when I get home, sleep, lunch before work and dinner at midnight. I try to keep full of water to keep from eating too much. Nights are tough.

belle94509

Sooooo funny!! i was jsut about to make a post about this exact thing!!! I am getting really confused as to HOW I should eat. I work 2 jobs... my main job I work 7p to 730a. and the other 1130 p to 8a. I commute 1 hr each way on the 2nd job. The way I have my diary set up is by hours so I start a new day at midnight. so whatever I eat whether a meal or snack it's not differenciated(sp?) as which it is, it's all in the one time category, I labeled it this way cuz it was hard for me to log when I revert to a day schedule. My problem now is that I am not sure HOW to eat....meaning do I eat fewer calories when at work? so I have more calories to spread when I am awake?, am I under eating, over eating? i am so confused. I feel like I am awake more than I am asleep and so I am really worried that I am not eating enough and hence have put my body into starvation mode. I need help! lol

belle94509

5 days a week, 11pm-7am. On work nights I track 2x a day. @ work and @ home. Usually eat 2x a day but sometimes I eat only once a day. I find sleep to be very important. If I know my day is going to be busy that I won't have time to eat multiple times and will cut into my sleep, I will eat all of my calories in 1 sitting. I do the midnight to midnight for tracking.

How do u only eat 1x a day? I try to eat small meals every 3 hours. I think I am just awake way more than asleep at any given day!

laxwyo

I eat the exact same as when I work my day shifts. Just keep track of it! If u are starving, eat. Just eat one serving of something good. I love the Quaker oatmeal cereal as a snack and for breakfast.

lacroyx

5 days a week, 11pm-7am. On work nights I track 2x a day. @ work and @ home. Usually eat 2x a day but sometimes I eat only once a day. I find sleep to be very important. If I know my day is going to be busy that I won't have time to eat multiple times and will cut into my sleep, I will eat all of my calories in 1 sitting. I do the midnight to midnight for tracking.

How do u only eat 1x a day? I try to eat small meals every 3 hours. I think I am just awake way more than asleep at any given day!

I tried it, the eating small meals every so often and just didn't work for me. It would mess up my sleep. I found when I slept like crap I be at work grazing on snacks and food to help me stay awake. It would add up and I'd be over my calories. Forget exercise altogether since I was too tired.

A typical busy day for me is:
Bedtime: 2/3pm-10:30pm
Work: 11pm-7am also eat all of my calorie allowance for the day.
Off @ 7am and hit the gym
Gym: 8am-10/11am 2-3 hours. I usually shower and change there after I am done
Errands, shopping, etc etc stuff I need to do: 11am-1/2 pm

When I am not busy I'll have my 2nd meal during the errand/shopping time and eat 1/2 my calorie allowance @ work instead of all of it.

acissej81

I work 11pm-7am, 5 Days a week in a call center. I eat meals like I’m working a ‘normal’ schedule: the 1st meal after I wake up is breakfast (not necessarily “breakfast” food), then lunch around 3:30ish, dinner after I get home. I update my tracker during down time at work and I usually have a good idea of what I’m eating since I eat a lot of the same foods just prepared different ways.

I find that it helps to make my lunch for work when I get home in the morning, that way it’s prepared and ready to grab out of the fridge, especially if I’m running behind, otherwise I wind up getting something from Wawa and wasting $ and calories. I also try to have a good variety of snacks with me like 100 calorie packs of roasted almonds, fruits/veggies or low fat cheese sticks. The more variety I to choose from the less likely that I’m going to hit up the snack machine.

Eating isn't the problem for me as much as being sedentary, as we aren't allowed to get up and walk around outside of the two 15 minute breaks we are allotted (which is also supposed to be used for bathroom time unless it’s an emergency).

belle94509

I work 11pm-7am, 5 Days a week in a call center. I eat meals like I’m working a ‘normal’ schedule: the 1st meal after I wake up is breakfast (not necessarily “breakfast” food), then lunch around 3:30ish, dinner after I get home. I update my tracker during down time at work and I usually have a good idea of what I’m eating since I eat a lot of the same foods just prepared different ways.

I find that it helps to make my lunch for work when I get home in the morning, that way it’s prepared and ready to grab out of the fridge, especially if I’m running behind, otherwise I wind up getting something from Wawa and wasting $ and calories. I also try to have a good variety of snacks with me like 100 calorie packs of roasted almonds, fruits/veggies or low fat cheese sticks. The more variety I to choose from the less likely that I’m going to hit up the snack machine.

Eating isn't the problem for me as much as being sedentary, as we aren't allowed to get up and walk around outside of the two 15 minute breaks we are allotted (which is also supposed to be used for bathroom time unless it’s an emergency).

I tracked this way too and Idk why i stopped. I will try to track this way and see if it helps me again.

Cemjames

Thank you do much for all replay . God we got hard life isn't it for night workers . Not easy at all .i think I ll stick with what I m doing .i ll have B . When. Got up , then snack .lunch about 7pm snack then my dinner about 1am .snck again 3.30. Am if I have calorie left somhing light before go to bed . Thank you again good luck all.

FitLink

Hi any night worker here? How u do with ur counting ., what time u start and when u finishing counting? I work 10pm to6am .thank you

MFP counts from midnight to midnight. I simply changed the meal names to times. I work 6:30am to 3pm, so mine are midnight -6am, 6am-9am, 9am-noon, noon-3pm, 3pm-6pm, and 6pm-midnight. You could pick whatever hours worked for you. It doesn't matter what time you eat, nor does it matter particularly that you keep the days even. As long as your deficit is 3500 calories in a week, you lose a pound. (7000 for two pounds, 1750 for half a pound, etc.)

jligon92

I just have one category called daily intake, and I put everything I eat/drink into it. Its a lot simpler for me because I rotate shifts, some are 6a-6p, some 1a-1p, and some 6p-6a.

belle94509

MFP counts from midnight to midnight. I simply changed the meal names to times. I work 6:30am to 3pm, so mine are midnight -6am, 6am-9am, 9am-noon, noon-3pm, 3pm-6pm, and 6pm-midnight. You could pick whatever hours worked for you. It doesn't matter what time you eat, nor does it matter particularly that you keep the days even. As long as your deficit is 3500 calories in a week, you lose a pound. (7000 for two pounds, 1750 for half a pound, etc.)
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I like the way you have urs set out. I just changed mine to mimic this somewhat. It makes more sense since either way i am either awake at work for either job and want to start my "day" over at midnight, or i am asleep during this time (not really, but....lol). Thanks FitLink!!

belle94509

Ughh, I STILL don't know how to post correctly....when it quotes and when it doesn;t as in the above post. Sorry. lol

TamAD48

Midnight to 8am sunday through thursday....when I first started here I had the same problem, but got some great advice from others on here. I do mine as midnight to midnight now. It doesn't matter what time frame you have it listed as on the log, just as long as you are getting all your required calories for the day you will be good.

justjenn1977

I set my times to:
0000-0400
0401-0800
0801912
1201-1600
1601-2000
2001-2359

and I log at actual time eaten...

I do carb cycling... I do 4 days "low carb" (about 60g carbs) and one day "high carb" (I don't count)... those days go from 0000-2359....