Keeping track when you have a crazy sleep schedule

animemoon5
animemoon5 Posts: 55 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
For various reasons, it is virtually impossible for me to keep a consistent sleep schedule, for more than 3 days tops... Some days I'm up all night, other times I'm up all day.... sometimes I do more "Napping" than sleeping throughout the 24 hr period... I know I'm not totally alone in this.... Perhaps there are other night owls, or those who work swing shifts or graveyard shifts.... Or those that have to work on call, or maybe some with insomnia or medical issues...

But what I struggle with , is trying to keep myself straight on daily calorie counts at times.... it gets confusing when you're not sure if a 4pm meal counts as breakfast, lunch or dinner lol.... and it becomes quite hard to keep track of ...

I have had the most luck tossing out labels like breakfast and dinner, and giving everything a time frame... if yesterdays dinner was at 6am, and todays breakfast was at 5pm, I count it as part of the same day... keeping the "Day" within a 4am-4am time period for me really has been my best option so far

Anyways was wondering if there might be others here with similar difficulties that might like to share how they manage to keep track during this type of situation =)

Replies

  • dream_big
    dream_big Posts: 75 Member
    I'm a nurse and go back and forth between day and night shifts, I just log from the time I wake up until the time I go to sleep a one day. When I sleep all day usually just my dinner is filled in and I put everything else under snacks. I don't really care to much as to which meal it is cuz it will all add up to how ever many calories at the end of the day anyway
  • patrox247
    patrox247 Posts: 50
    I am an engineer at a recording studio and a crazy sleep schedule kind of comes with the gig. I do kind of the same thing as you do but I only eat 2 meals a day. I eat a meal around 3-4 hours after I wake up and then I eat a smaller meal around 4 hours later and that's about it for me. I have lost over 145 lbs over the last year doing this so it seems that vampires can manage their weight just fine.
  • LucyLu24
    LucyLu24 Posts: 16 Member
    I'm with dream_big. I switch between days and nights too, and I just start logging as soon as I wake up. Today it was 10:00 am so that was breakfast. Tomorrow it maybe be 2pm or 3pm so that will be put down as breakfast. What I find most important not the times is that i'm eating 5-6 times a day. I just had a snack of M&M's dark chocolate, I know bad (but it was only 20) size of a fun pack at 9:15pm, so the next time I will eat if i'm hungry is 12:15 to 01:15am and that will be my "dinner."

    I know it gets confusing but don't over think it eat if your hungry, the first meal of the day should be couldn't as breakfast from there no rules are set in stone do what will work for you.
  • starspeckled
    starspeckled Posts: 313 Member
    I work 11p-7a 5 nights per week. I found for me personally I like tracking from 10pm - 10pm. I also made my tracker say times instead of meals.

    10p
    1:30a
    5-7a
    9a
    12p
    Other

    The other category gets used on my "long days" like Friday, where I go back to normal sleeping so spend enough of my day awake to need an extra meal. Then Sundays are my short day where I only need 2 meals. I sort of make those 2 days balance themselves out as a pair :) Good luck!
  • LMick1986
    LMick1986 Posts: 431
    I'm military and switch shifts quite a bit. I just found that it's easiest to log my first meal from waking up as breakfast. I don't care if it says pizza, it's still MY first meal, so MY breakfast. Then the same is true for the other two meals and my random snacks. That makes it easiest. Plus, you can still hit the "complete this entry" button on the next day, for the previous. No big.
  • kairisika
    kairisika Posts: 131 Member
    I always consider a 'day' to be the time I wake up until the time I sleep, no matter how long that is, or where on the clock.

    You could either assign times instead of meals, or toss everything into one category and just watch your average calories for the week, if some days might be over and others under (due to a change in how long you're up).
  • apittmanrn
    apittmanrn Posts: 200 Member
    I'm a nurse and go back and forth between day and night shifts, I just log from the time I wake up until the time I go to sleep a one day. When I sleep all day usually just my dinner is filled in and I put everything else under snacks. I don't really care to much as to which meal it is cuz it will all add up to how ever many calories at the end of the day anyway

    Ditto. Don't laugh if my food journal says I ate spaghetti for breakfast...it was at 6pm. That is my breakfast. :)
  • AggieFan2011
    AggieFan2011 Posts: 551 Member
    I usually just count the time I wake up until the time I go to sleep as one day and log that way. As for what to count as what meal I think that's more of a personal thing. The diary is meant as a tool for you so as long as you have a system and understand it then that's what is truly important. For instance if I wake up at 11am but I know that what I'm eating is going to be the only meal I have until dinner I'll log it as lunch and just not log anything for breakfast, but if I know i'll be eating a late lunch and then an even later dinner I'll log it as breakfast. That works for me, but you have to figure out what logging system works best for you.
  • lisa28115
    lisa28115 Posts: 17,271 Member
    I work 3rd shift and have a crazy sleep schedule

    I use the 24hr military time to label my log

    0000 - 0600
    0600 - 1200
    1200 - 1800
    1800 - 2400


    i just log whatever i eat at the time i eat it and that way if my schedule changes i don't have to upset the log
  • kdeaux1959
    kdeaux1959 Posts: 2,675 Member
    You may try a variation of what you are saying... 6A-12P, 12P-6P, 6P-12A, 12A-6A... If the meal or food falls within the time period, log it there.. >Then it don't matter what time you are sleeping, it gives you a sense of logging. As soon as you can get on a consistent sleeping schedule, studies show that that can help with your weight loss. Best wishes on your journey.
  • juvinurse
    juvinurse Posts: 11 Member
    I am a nurse and I work the 7p-7a schedule. I work either 3 or 4 days a week. When I get up in the morning, I will be starting this tracking program. I am not sure how I will work it out, but I am sure that I can find something that works for me. I need friends that can help me stay on track. If you would like, please request my friendship. I really need to lose this weight, not only for the look, but also to get my blood pressure under control.
  • SomeoneSomeplace
    SomeoneSomeplace Posts: 1,094 Member
    I judge my days by my sleep

    I work 2nd/3rd shifts at my job

    If I haven't slept yet for the day I till log it under the same day once I sleep I start a new day. This might mean it's 7 AM and I'm getting home from work and still logging in "yesterday" then when I wake up at like 2 PM or whatever I start logging the next day

    Honestly weekly totals are more important than daily. I pay more attention to how I'm doing per week then per day
  • CoCoBean14
    CoCoBean14 Posts: 107 Member
    I work 3rd shift and have a crazy sleep schedule

    I use the 24hr military time to label my log

    0000 - 0600
    0600 - 1200
    1200 - 1800
    1800 - 2400


    i just log whatever i eat at the time i eat it and that way if my schedule changes i don't have to upset the log

    Second this. Except I don't use military time, although I probably should lol!
  • jingermanko
    jingermanko Posts: 14
    I work night shift 6p -6a, I felt the same confusion as to how to track my calories. I have heard it both ways...track from when you wake up till you go to sleep, or from midnight to midnight. If you look at the average it all works out the same. I would switch my schedule on my days off so I can be up during the day light hours with my family and just continued to eat every 3-4 hours. I generally switched what day I logged at the time when I would generally be getting up. So my day's switched in the afternoons. I found that somewhat confusing so now I just change my day's on my log at midnight. So if I was up for 36 hours straight (I know it's not healthy to do that) I still have my food diary for the 2 days. I hope that makes sense. As far as when to count what you eat as breakfast or dinner...thats all up to you. You are able to change the name your meals so you can do it how ever you want
    Hope this makes sense...this place is great for getting help...everyone has such good info to give. Good luck with everything and your weight loss.
  • VanessaHeartsMasr
    VanessaHeartsMasr Posts: 727
    I work nights and every 4th weekend (sometimes days, sometimes evenings), so I'm completely screwed up with my sleeping schedule. Most of the time I sleep days, sometimes I get the luxury of sleeping at night. Some days I eat breakfast at 2:00 a.m. Some days I eat breakfast at noon. I don't really stress over what label I'm logging my food under, as long as I log it. Sometimes I will put my breakfast under my lunch tab or whatever if I wake up really late. I always start my calorie count over at midnight every day and stretch my calories over a 24-hour period and then just slap my food down wherever it makes sense that day. Lol. Makes things much easier.
  • dansls1
    dansls1 Posts: 309 Member
    Honestly weekly totals are more important than daily. I pay more attention to how I'm doing per week then per day

    Even on a normal schedule I think this is an important point!
  • elebel82
    elebel82 Posts: 69 Member
    I'm with most of the others, work silly shifts, day shifts and night shifts every week. Always count a day from when I get up till when I go to sleep. Working for me so far. It does mean, for me, that I have a long day every week when I'm adapting to night shifts (lots of very low calorie meals), and a short day when I'm adapting back to days (2 larger calorie meals - if I'm craving something less healthy, this is when I have it, also keeps me sane)
  • dachic4
    dachic4 Posts: 19 Member
    I dont use times at all. I have renamed my diary "1st eating" 2nd eating"3rd eating"Snacks"Drinks" just to make it easier for me. I am night shift worker and I swing back to days on my few days off.
  • vanguardfitness
    vanguardfitness Posts: 720 Member
    I work 8pm until 6 am. Today is Friday, but all of my food is logged under thursday even though I just finished up my meals now (5 am). I do this because my "day" started at 4 pm yesterday when I woke up. Since I started logging yesterday, everything i eat from midnight till I sleep stays under that day.
  • vanguardfitness
    vanguardfitness Posts: 720 Member
    and this is even if I start my first meal past midnight as well, since I usually eat in a 4 hour window when I can (or less - I like eating 1 meal)
  • wildcard29
    wildcard29 Posts: 322 Member
    I'm a bartender and I have an odd sleep schedule because of work, kids, and days off. I just log from the time I get up till I go to bed again. My first meal is breakfast, then usually a snack but sometimes I skip and just go to lunch. I never really worry about the times either, just the amount of calories I'm consuming for the time from one sleep to another.
  • giddings78
    giddings78 Posts: 12
    I work 11pm-7am and have managed to keep 2 meal times constant, breakie and dinner! Wether it will be when im working or on my days off when im back on night sleeping, i will always have breakie in the morning and dinner at night. So 5 days a week my first meal after sleeping is my big meal of the day and will track it as dinner of that day. All my food tracking is done on the day that it was eaten, so if its 4am on thursday it goes under thursday.
  • AstroSquirrel
    AstroSquirrel Posts: 5 Member
    I work 00:00 (midnight) to 08:00 and then go to class from 08:00 - 11:00 (for my industry certifications). I try to eat something every 4 hours whethter it be a piece of fruit or an actual meal. Because my activities are tightly scheduled, I do find myself getting hungry at 00:00, 04:00, 08:00 and 12:00 on the dot. I set up my food log times in military time and I quit thinking of it as breakfast, lunch and dinner. I just think of it as refueling time and choose whatever I feel I can eat at that time. At my job, I'm not allowed to leave the building and do not have access to a kitchen (we do have a small refridgerator and microwave). I usually eat a banana, apple or yogurt at 00:00 (I have just woken up about an hour before this). At 04:00 (my working "lunch" break) is steam bag vegetable mix or something prepared from home like salad, soup or "leftovers" or just raw fruits and vegetables. I don't have a lot of time to eat sometimes depending on what's happening at work. At 08:00 I'm at class so it's something portable again like fruit or vegetables or something from their snack bar (I get in trouble here) then by noon I'm at home and can eat something normal like a sandwich or cook up turkey cutlets. I've never eaten so many fresh fruits and vegetables in my life just because of how convenient they are when you have to just drop your food and handle a situation at work.
  • viajera99
    viajera99 Posts: 252 Member
    I consider a day to be from midnight to midnight, no matter whichshift I work, and I have the log divided by hours, not meal name. It's consistent and it works fine.

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