Anyone work 3rd shift like me?

I feel your pain, I work that shift too. Mine is 8pm-8am. Makes it so hard to work out because if I do it before, I cant stay awake through the night. And afterwards, I am just so tired It makes it hard to eat well too. And I only work on the weekends then have to attempt to go back to a "normal" scheduel through the week! *sigh* it's hectic.
What I do it just grab a notebook and try to plan out a scheduel ahead of time. It helps a bit, plus I'll cook healthy meals the day before and take leftovers to work. And I try to arrange my rest days from working out on the days that I work late nights. If you're full time though thats probably not an option. Hang in there!

I usually work 7pm-7am, but sometimes I work the am-pm, so my schedule is all over the place. I usually just eat when I can, or when I feel I should... Which leads to over eating. :-/

Hello!

I work 3rd shift. My schedule is 10:30 p.m. - 7:00 a.m. Sunday night through Thursday night. It is definitely hard to adjust when trying to be healthy. It is easier for me throughout the week than on the weekends because my schedule changes a lot when I'm off. The schedule that works best for me is to come home from work in the morning and exercise then. I don't think I keep my schedule like regular 3rd shifters. A lot of the people I work with go home in the morning, sleep and then get back up around 3-5pm. Me on the other hand, I come home in the morning and stay up until anywhere from 1-3pm then sleep until 9pm and get up and ready for work. I try to eat my "breakfast" around the time I get up or within a couple hours. I then eat my "lunch" around 4am and my "dinner" is around 9am with of course snacks in between those meals. Anyway, I would love to be friends with you. Feel free to add me and best of luck to you!!!!!

Angie

I work a 6 week rotating shift which includes all types of shifts. (Graves, days, evenings...I'm all over the board really.) I have completely cleaned out my locker at work where the only snacks left in there are healthy snacks. I bypass the snack machine at all costs, because there is absolutely nothing healthy going on in there. I take the time to pack my lunch and snacks because I have found it is much easier to stick to my by planning. I try to stick to 3 meals and 2-3 snacks a day and lots of protein and it seems to be working for me so far.

I love going to the gym when I get off of graves and nights because there is usally no one in the gym at these times. Its my two weeks of day shift that I hate going to the gym for, that after work rush is ridiculous.

I have been working night shift (7p-7a, 3-4 nights/wk) pretty much my entire working life, except when I stayed home for 12 years to raise the babies. I have been back to work on nights for the past 14 years. I agree that this shift can ruin healthy habits. I see that most of you are young and/or moms, so your social lives and family time cuts into things. Until 8 years ago, I would go to bed right after the kids and hubby would leave for school/work, usually at 8am. Then I would be up by 2, no later than 3 and grab water and a protein bar and head to the gym for an hour, shower at the gym then go home eating my protein bar and drinking water. I would then get dinner started then get myself ready for work. Sit down with the family to eat and off to work I went. On my days off, I kept a "day" life, get home from work, go straight to bed, sleep until noon and then get on with my day (water, protein bar, gym and back home). Then I was in an accident, out of work for 9 months and I used that as an excuse just to do nothing. That had me gaining almost 100 lbs over 8 years.

So, now I have taken control of myself and my excuses. Since we are now empty nesters and we both work night shift (healthcare and law enforcement), we pretty much live night shift 24/7. We are in bed by 8am, up by 3, workout (right now for me it is in 10-15 minute time periods through out my night, even at work), shower, eat and live our lives. On our days off, we do the same thing and any business stuff or doctors appointments are usually the last appointments of the day, never in the morning. We plan all our meals about three weeks ahead, shop once a week, prepare what we can for our lunches for work so we don't have to rush at the last minute or order take-out at work. It works for us and it keeps our circadian rhythms "normal" for us, no bouncing back and forth.

We finally figured out that there is never the "right time" or "enough time" to workout unless we stop with the excuses and just do it.

I work night shift 11p-730 am. This s my first week bac on mfp so this week has worked out for me so far as with my eating. I just treat my nights like days and vice verse. I eat dinner around 8/9 pack a bag with snacks and som kind of meal rather a smart one a salad etc eat that around 2/3am and eat my breaksfast around 545/6am and snack inbetween those meals. I have 2 small babies and a husband at home so aint no going to sleep when my family get uparound 9/10 I cook them breakfast and I usually eat some oameal or something then I go to sleep. Get up round 5/6 start dinner and do it all over again. I personally dont look at the time differancr because my night is everybody day. Just prepare yourslf take snacks drink plenty of water and fruit and you will be ok add me

I feel your pain. I work 3 jobs and attend college full time. I am always running. I leave my house early in the morning and don't get home until late at night. And then I still have work to do at home. I know how hard it is to eat on the run but stick with it you'll be alright!

I'm a new night shifter after 14 years on day shift....it really messes with my eating habits and definitely cramps my workouts. I still want to lose 50 some odd lbs and would love to have more night owls buddies to trade tips and motivation with!!! I"m a single mom with 2 teens in Colorado. Please anyone feel free to add me, the more the merrier on this journey!