Struggling night-shifter ... any tips?

TryingHere84

I've been trying really hard to lose weight. Since mid-winter, I'm down 15 pounds, but I've been stuck where I am for MONTHS! I work out two to three times per week for a solid hour, mix cardio with strength training and limit myself to my calories on MyFitnessPal, and nothing lost at least since July. Any tips? Ideas? Motivation? I've stepped up my workouts to daily for at least an hour. I work nights and weekends and average 10-hour shifts. Any tips from other work-mandated night owls?

EdTheGinge

When I used to work the night shift at tesco 10pm-7am, I would take my lunch (usually sandwich, some fruit and a drink) and as we only had a short break that's all I'd eat until I finished at 7. It was only stacking shelves but moving the cages back and forth was a good work out but I clock out and head straight down the gym for an hour then have a quick swim, head home have a dinner then bed, up cereal and then off to work. The lbs just fell off.

It's possible, not sure this was helpful though. Chin up

lacroyx

How's your sleep? I found sleep is important above all else. You can eat right, exercise, but if you lack sleep, your body won't recover. I plateau when my sleep wasn't as good as it could be.

kijoneko

Ohhh, hadn't thought about lack of sleep being such a significant factor; that's interesting.

No tips I'm afraid, it's something I'm struggling with too, especially when you have a quick turnaround from nightshift to backshift and it totally messes with your eating plans.

I joined a gym that opens early (6.30am) thinking I could go straight from a nightshift, but so far I've only been nightshift on a Saturday night and the gym doesn't open until 9am on a Sunday!

tenkesh

When I was working night-shifts I was sleeping during days even on my days off. I find that mixed sleeping pattern is very stressful for the body. Cause your body likes routine, it's important to know when it's time to sleep and when it's required to be active.

I had to work from 9pm til 7am on 4 nights a week. So I usually woke up at 4-5 pm, worked out, had my "breakfast" and went to work, after work it was straight to sleep, so I had my 8 hours. And on my days off, I still slept from 8am til 4 pm and was nightowling around. And I found it very easy to do so, cause my body knew what time it is bed time, what time I will stress it with workout, what time will I eat. Try to schedule your life. It's might not be easy to get into, but your body will thank you.

CaralynH

I do 12hr night shifts. Tonight will be the first of a couple, so, I will have breakfast today at about 10.30. I'll then have something like a jacket potato at about 3pm. I'll take some cereal bars, grapes, and soup to work. The snacky things I'll eat when I can, the soup I'll have when I get a break which can be anytime from 11pm to 4-5am, who knows. I will get home about 8am and go straight to sleep.

When I get up at about 3pm tomorrow I'll have "breakfast" again, maybe a lunch type sandwich when I get to work at 7, then fruit, cereal bar as and when again and hot food (I have some chilli in the freezer) when I get break.

Easy really, and I find I eat far less on nights. No shops open to tempt me, and when I'm sleeping in the day, I can't be eating!

chrisenos

When you hit that plateau you may have to up your calories for a while, especially when you're working out hard and often. No matter how much weight you have, if your body thinks it is beginning to starve it will go into conservation mode and start hoarding those fat reserves. If you up your caloric intake your metabolism should start kicking back in and the pounds should start dropping again.

kls1022

....try drinking lots of ice water. I work nights as well and this seems to help do the trick. Also, make losing a lifelong goal instead of a few weeks, months, etc

kelly_e_montana

I am a bartender and I work 10 hour shifts with no break. Sometimes i can't eat at all and just have to bring a protein drink. My biggest issue then was that I would come home and eat everything in sight and then have to go right to bed. I'd way over do it on my calories since I was so hungry from not eating for so long.
About a month ago, I started drinking Shakeology when I got home from work because it fills me up but does not make it so that I've had a really heavy meal right before work. I also tried to start eating 3 mini-meals at work, like almonds+20 grapes, a protein bar, and string cheese+veggies. I can grab a bite here and there but not a whole meal. It takes more preparation to have stuff ready to go to work with me, but it seems to be working. I also work out mid afternoon right before I take a shower and get ready for work. It makes me feel energized and ready to go.

I do have real sleep issues though because I have one day shift that just throws everything off so I can't get in a good routine.

tracyb1227

I feel your pain...been working straight nights for 5 years now and the weight has slowly crept up on me. I work Mon-Thur nights then flip back to day schedule on the weekends. I know that this kills my body, plus I only average about 5-6hrs of sleep durning the week. Unfortunatley, I have little ones at home and don't have much of a choice.

elebel82

No real advice, I'm struggling with this too. One thing my doctor advised me to be really careful with sleep (can be hard when you do 12 hr shifts and do rapid rotation between nights and days), she also advised that in order to do this not to do any exercise when I get home from night shift, to only do that before I go to work on nights. I've never tried working out after night shift but I do after day shift (because I start at 7am so I can't before) and I'm struggling to get to sleep for day shifts possibly because of this.

kelly_e_montana

The other thing I was going to say is that if you opened your diary up, there might be some clues based on the composition of your diet. Definitely try combining lean proteins and complex carbs in the same meal. Our bodies just seem to like that. I'm not going to pretend to be one of the pseudo-scientists on here.