Working 20 hour shifts. Advice please!

Kelley_10

I have recently accepted a second job to work through the holidays. It starts next week and ends on January 15. Job 1 is Monday through Friday, 8 hour shifts. Job 2 is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 12 hour shifts in November. Then in December I have to add a 12 hour shift on a weekday of my choice to Job 2. I set up an example schedule below. I need some advice on getting my nutrition during those crazy hours. I know that how I eat will play a huge roll in my survival of these shifts. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. And please, no need to remind me that I'm insane. I already know.

Monday: Job 1 - 7am - 3:30 pm
Tuesday: Job 1 - 7am - 3:30pm
Wednesday: Job 1 - 7am - 3:30 pm
Job 2 - 6pm - 6am
Thursday: Job 1 - 7am - 3:30pm
Friday: Job 1 - 7am - 3:30 pm
Job 2 - 6pm - 6am
Saturday: 6pm - 6am
Sunday: 6pm - 6am

Mathguy1

I think your difficulty will not be finding time to eat healthy it'll be the lack of sleep. Seeing as you wont be sleeping on Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday evenings, your body will produce extra cortisol which will cause you to gain, or at the very least, hinder your ability to lose weight. Also, the additional work hours will force you to have to sleep during the day time on saturday and sunday. Seeing as your body is used to sleeping in the evenings, trying to get your body to fall asleep during the daytime on the weekends will prove to be a challenge.

When I was in college, I worked part time as a UPS preloader (working from 3-8 am) and 3 days a week I tutored and had daytime classes which meant that 2 days a week, I didnt sleep. It was very challenging for me to do for an entire semester.

Seeing as you wont get any sleep for 3 days/week, you'll find it very challenging as well. The lack of sleep will be very hard on your body and the resulting lack of sleep may make you irritable at work (Not to mention your productivity may drop at your regular job). You didnt mention what type of work you do at Job 1, but the lack of sleep will take its toll.

Good luck.

littlemeowmaid

I've worked all sorts of crazy hours in fitness and hospitality and it's hard not pulling into maccas in between!
Diet shakes for the earlies use to keep me full.
Cans of tuna are good because you can keep them in your bag or car and have less than 100 calories. (I like the sundried tomato and onion flavour)
cruskits are also good and very low calories.
I also keep frozen dinners in the freezer at home for when it's too late or I'm too tierd to cook (just check calories when you buy it)
& sunrice meals from the pantry section.
Iron tablets and berocca are good too.

Also make a point to plan a few cook fresh home cooked meals every week, Help keep you well and on top of all that work.

diligentjosh

Yeah, it seems that Thursday and Friday will just about kill you. You need to make sure you are not biting off more than you can chew. There may come a time on one of those days where you will be too exhausted, and just crash, and the alarm will not wake you up. It has happened to me many times as a tow truck driver (they are on call 24/4). Do not make yourself sleep deprived. I mean, what are you doing that much for? Is it worth it?

Kelley_10

I have taken the possibility of a "crash" into consideration. Originally I applied for the second job because our hours were getting cut at my original job. We were being taken down to 4 day weeks. However, that has already been pulled and hours will remain the same. Since I've already been accepted at the other place, I though I would give it a shot. If I can't handle it, then I can very easily quit, although I'm not much for quitting anything. I also have 2 - 3 days of vacation I can use from Job 1 and 6 days off coming up for Thanksgiving and Christmas. So I may be able to use those during some of the possible 20 hour shifts, though it won't get me out of all of them. At Job 1 I'm a project planner and sit at my desk in front of the computer for the better part of my 8 hour shift. Job 2 will be a material handling job through a distribution center. Lots of lifting and walking. Thanks for the replies so far!

*Edit to say that I am one of those lucky people that can go to sleep anytime, anywhere, if I so choose.

CINDYRN33

Oh boy this sounds rough, I work 12 hour night shifts and it feels like I never catch up on sleep. The flipping back and forth between different shifts will age you fast. Good luck I hope you find a solution!

diligentjosh

During job 2, you may not have to quit. You may just be fired. Looking at a screen can mentally exhaust you, and you will not be readyily available for putting your body at 50-75% exertion. It is holiday season, and product needs to move. Many people are going to be seasonal, fighting for a full time job. I have been in and out at warehouses many times. Be careful as well because being tired will affect your awareness exponentially, and at a warehouse, that alone can kill you (not figuratively, but literally). So just be careful.

I assume you are working extra hours because of the horses. They need to eat, too, I guess. If I had to work over 70 hours/week to maintain pets, then the pets would be the first to go. That is just my logic, but I do not have that attachment to pets like you do, so I understand it. Good luck!

Mathguy1

It has been 2 weeks. How are you holding up?? Still working both jobs?

Kelley_10

Thanks for checking in with me. It's actually going pretty well! Still working both jobs. So far, Monday's are rough. It is more difficult to go from working at a job where I move all night to a job where I'm sitting at my desk than vice versa. But as long as I stay busy and keep moving I'm ok. And it helps that I can go straight home after work and go to bed. As I figured, I don't have much time to log my food or work out, but I have managed to maintain my weight so far. I think that will be my goal until I'm finished up and can get back to working out again.

Mathguy1

It's been another month. How are you holding up??

Kelley_10

Excellent! The assignment ended this past weekend, so no more crazy shifts. I now have the opportunity to work through that company on a call in basis only. Which will be great for supplemental income and a lot easier on me. The only requirement is to accept at least one shift a month. As for my weight, I have been able to maintain so far. I'm still pretty impressed with that since I haven't logged in for quite some time. So as of today I'm back at it! I'm getting back to logging my food and starting 30 day shred again this week. When I'm done with 30DS it's on to Insanity.

Mathguy1

Were you able to schedule enough sleep during that hectic schedule? Did sleeping during the day/afternoon prove challenging?

Kelley_10

It was hard to fit sleep in, but I did manage to get enough to keep me going. Friday's and Sunday's being the hardest. Friday mornings I was up at 4:30am and worked through until 6:00 am on Saturday. I am the kind of person that can sleep anytime so I was in bed by 7:00 am and then up again sometime in the early afternoon and back to work at 6pm. Sunday's were similar but the order switched with the night shift falling before my day shift.