12 hour shifts

ginalbyrd

Hi everyone. I usually work 12 hour night shifts on a busy (stressful) med-surg unit. I am getting ready to transfer into the ICU. I will be working 12 hour day shifts for the beginning of orientation and then switching to nights. I think 12 hours shifts in general are a big obstacle to weight loss. There aren't enough hours in the day to eat well, exercise, sleep, and have downtime. How does everyone else handle this dilemma? Is it easier to grab healthy snacks throughout the day versus trying to get a decent break and eating in a hurry? How about exercise? Should we cut ourselves some slack on workdays and exercise on days off? Just beginning (again!!!) and looking for some good motivation and practical tips to help our overworked, overstressed, and overweight profession!

melnikdanil1

I am ICU night shift nurse.When I graduated school 3 years ago I was 20 lb lighter.I cooped with nights by eating a lot,practicly constantly.Was tired and hated nights.Then I decided to change my attitude towards night shift,and made myself to love iI am standing as much as i can at work.It was hard in the beginning,now I love it.I am watching what i eat,log in daily to MFp and doind 30 day shred daily.When weather is nice I run,and doing kickboxing 2 times week.Do not worry about night shift,there are great advantages of being a night nurse.(especially if you have kids)I sleep from 9 am to 3or 4pm, I don't take naps before work.There are a lot of MFP members who work at night and they are doing great job losing or mantaining weight.You could do it!!!

eidc

I always take my own food to work instead of going to the cafe exercise I find a bit of a challenge especially when working...It's a little easier in the summer cuz i will go for a walk after work cuz it is light out. Right now I go to work in the dark and come home in the dark! I take the stairs all the time at work and park far away from the door!

jmkmomm

Do you have a dietician that you are working with? He/she would be able to help with that. I'm just glad I never had to work 12 hour shifts!

locoducky

I definately hear ya on the battle for not enough hours for sleep, eating, family time, and working out on days I work. I am not sure it is right or not, but I try and cut myself some slack on working days. But I don't become stagnant...I do quick workouts whenever I go to the bathroom (and if I was drinking enough water like I should be, this would be alot more) such as pushups with one leg raised or squats with my arms in the air. This helps wake me up too so I don't start searching for energy in all the wrong places (I have vending machines 10ft behind me). I try and walk as much as possible also. Last night I was standing anytime I was on the internet, but that has become a struggle tonight since it is my 4th this week (and my last this week!). I bring my own food and am working on planning healthier meals and snacks (I have a snack around 8 or 9 and then my meal around 1am or so). I also don't bring in money, r/t that whole vending machine thing. I am working on picking back up my yoga practice and would love to get in the routine of doing a short bout of yoga when I wake up. I like the idea of taking stairs and parking farther out, it doesn't really work much at my small work but other places I definately keep this in mind!

jmkmomm

I definately hear ya on the battle for not enough hours for sleep, eating, family time, and working out on days I work. I am not sure it is right or not, but I try and cut myself some slack on working days. But I don't become stagnant...I do quick workouts whenever I go to the bathroom (and if I was drinking enough water like I should be, this would be alot more) such as pushups with one leg raised or squats with my arms in the air. This helps wake me up too so I don't start searching for energy in all the wrong places (I have vending machines 10ft behind me). I try and walk as much as possible also. Last night I was standing anytime I was on the internet, but that has become a struggle tonight since it is my 4th this week (and my last this week!). I bring my own food and am working on planning healthier meals and snacks (I have a snack around 8 or 9 and then my meal around 1am or so). I also don't bring in money, r/t that whole vending machine thing. I am working on picking back up my yoga practice and would love to get in the routine of doing a short bout of yoga when I wake up. I like the idea of taking stairs and parking farther out, it doesn't really work much at my small work but other places I definately keep this in mind!

jmkmomm

Woops I did that wrong!!!!! Sounds like you have a good plan. I do't know about your work place but we always had people bring ing stuff in. That hurts

locoducky

Nurses love to feed others which is bad for night shift. In fact, in nursing school it was kind of the unwritten rule that you take the nurses some goodies on your last day of clinicals (sorry to all those nurses that I caused nutrition problems).

Gigimack

I've worked night shift most of my 33 yrs as a nurse; for the last 11 years I have done 12 hour shifts 7p-0730 in the ED as a crisis nurse so I am very sedentary since most of my work involves sitting to interview patients, make phone calls, computer work, etc. I recently started throwing in a few 11a-11p shifts every other week to help regulate my sleep a little better, being perimenopausal and working so many years on nights I sleep very little, though I stay in bed watching tv when I am not sleeping. Every year I lose the same 35 lbs and stick with my diet for at least 5 good months, then I fall off the wagon; I even went as far as having a gastric bypass 7 years ago, lost 75 lbs and gradually gained over half of it back. Just started back on the wagon last week after gaining 18 lbs over the last 4 months, so I have a total of 75+ to lose. I usually start logging my day at midnight on MFP because it becomes too hard to shift back and forth as to what constitutes a day when you are up that first night back for 26 plus hours then the first day off maybe only 10 hrs. I hate exercise, there never seems to be a good time for it, when I am not at work I am always on my PC writing newsletters for a few organizations I belong to, doing bills, editing photos, checking email or watching TV, anything to avoid exercise. If my husband is off we're out and about, often eating out; he works at the same place on opposite shifts and our only remaining child is 19 and gone most of the time at work, school or with friends so we never eat at home as a family so if I do cook it's something quick or pizza/McD's. I love my wine when I am off so there's a few hundred calories added to off nights. In general, when I am on the wagon I bring my own food, prepare salads here or healthy snacks and avoid the temptation of the cafeteria open midnight til 0300 because I cannot resist the cheese fries there! I frequently bring in leftovers from meals out since I usually can't finish a full meal in a single sitting because of the GB. I used to have a pretty serious sweet tooth but now I crave burgers and fries and other McD's garbage (Chicken Biscuits every am on the way home); I started a 3 day "Military Diet" last week to jumpstart myself and remotivate, lost 6.2 lbs and down a total of 7 so far in the last 6 days...was going to try to do the 3 on 4 off for the next few weeks using the 12-1500 cals for the 4 off days. I have never posted on any groups before so this will be a first for me and hopefully I can get inspiration from the rest of you to stay with it this time and find the motivation to begin some type of work out regime.

ElaineRN100

I've worked night shifts for the past 7 years in a small rural hospital/ER. I generally work six 12 hours shifts in a row. I identify with a lot of you with the pitfalls of working nights especially in a busy unit. I've battled with weight issues all my life, anywhere from 25 to 50 lbs. I've been doing MFP for a little over 3 weeks now. My last 6 nights I planned ahead taking small meals - something I could eat in 5 minutes or less - using protein and veggies as my main choices. Even though I am on my feet for most of those 12 hours, I did at least 30 minutes each afternoon upon arising. I've learned you have to plan, plan and then plan some more to ensure you buy and bring nutritious food with you each night. I'm learning new strategies and getting tons of support from MFP members. I realized that all the education I had been giving to my patients regarding health and nutrition, I needed to be taking to heart myself.