NIGHT shift nurse

emzabee420
emzabee420 Posts: 29 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hello MFP. I am a nurse, and I rotate (days/nights) Need help with eating during night shift/and wanting to eat during the day too! anyone have any good advice/tips/etc with OFF shift?

Replies

  • NurseSturgill
    NurseSturgill Posts: 32 Member
    I'm a night shift nurse as well, and it is hard. And I never know what day I should include my "lunch" on considering I usually eat at like 3-4am and eating at all hours of the day depending on what "schedule" I'm on that day makes everything a crazy mess. I'm not sure there is a good solution =(

    If you or anyone else has any advice, I'd surely appreciate it as well!
  • Cjoseph03
    Cjoseph03 Posts: 107 Member
    I, too, am a night shift nurse.You are welcome to friend me and check out my diary (which is open to friends only) to see what I eat. I work 3 nights a week. I just log from midnight to midnight and know that if I worked the night before and I"m off that night, I will probably be eating all 24 hours from MN to MN. That's my favorite part of the mobile app. You need accept that this "Daily Goals for a Weekly Result". If you eat over on Monday, make better choices on Tuesday. It's not the end of the world! ON the mobile app, you can see how you sit on a weekly basis as well as daily. Really helps to keep things in perspective.
  • meaghankehoe
    meaghankehoe Posts: 1
    I am a night shift nurse as well. I know exactly what you mean! I find it really hard to stay within my calorie goal when I work a night shift and stay up the following day to do errands, etc. Being up for over 24 hours straight makes me hungry/cranky! I try to eat little snacks that are full of protein to help me stay full. It isn't always easy. The longer I am up the less will power I have and when I am really tired I just want to eat junk. I try to prepackage healthy snacks (carrots & hummus, grapes, soy nuts) so that I have quick, healthy options ready to go. It's hard! I am eager to see what other people do and how it works for them.
  • Italiano7
    Italiano7 Posts: 382 Member
    I am also a nurse and I work all shifts. There really is no solution. As long as you track everything you eat.It will all add up the same at the end of the day (or night).Sometimes I will eat bf at 10 at night lunch at 3 am and dinner at 6 am lol! Its a mess but I make sure I track it all. reguardless of what shift you consume the same way you would working a day shift. Also I like to go to the gym after work when I work third. Its harder to find time to exercise b/c Im not use to working third by the time I get use to it,Im back on first or second.I know Im not much help but just know that you are not alone!!
  • CaffeinatedConfectionist
    CaffeinatedConfectionist Posts: 1,046 Member
    I flipflop between first and third shift myself, so struggle with the same issues. I've gotten a pretty good routine down, I think, which works for me, but I don't eat a lot on my overnight shifts, so that might not work well for others.

    I usually eat dinner right before coming to work (my shift is 11pm-7am) and only eat one meal while I'm at work, usually around 2-4am. Like before I came to work tonight, I ate dinner at around 9pm, which I logged as dinner on 2/13. I'm about to go eat a meal, and have logged that as "breakfast" on 2/14. I usually log all my food in whatever day I'm technically eating it. I also always pack a lunch (or "breakfast" or whatever you want to call it) at home, since that helps me make more sensible decisions. Today (and yesterday, I tend to be repetitive) it's two hard-boiled eggs with hot sauce and baked oatmeal.

    I also prelog my meals for the entire day, as I've found that doing so helps keep me from snacking, because then I know exactly what my calorie allotments are. Seeing the numbers down in black and white discourages me from having a candy car or whatnot, because I will already know exactly how much damage that will do. Then I will eat "lunch" when I get home from work at around 8am. Then I'll sleep for a few hours, wake up, have a snack, work out, and eat "dinner" at around 7 or 8pm. I find doing it this way just helps me keep my my numbers in line.

    ET remove some holy-run-on sentences, batman.
  • emzabee420
    emzabee420 Posts: 29 Member
    thank you! friending you all! ;)
  • toasmallerme
    toasmallerme Posts: 9
    Hi there people. I also work nights in a hospital/resthome. Would like to hear tips on not doing the overeating thing. I used to use high salt and high sugar foods to get me through a night shift but have chopped all of that out now. It's hard to manage nights with 3 active boys to look after and a house to run. Sometimes I feel like I'm running on no sleep at all.
  • yvnursechick
    yvnursechick Posts: 94 Member
    I go from 7pm to 7pm on my day for my food log. I use a peodmeter program to log my calories burned at work. I walk around the nursing station in laps on mydown time. I take plentuy of low cal and high pro snacks. Beef jerky. protein powders for making a n iced protein latte in my blender ball bottle. I always try to think ahead befopre entering the cafeteria for luch so i have a plan to pic someinthing healthy. (IE tonight i tried a garden burger with cheese grilled onions and no bun and a saled with lemon juice) it was great,.
  • BreakingOath
    BreakingOath Posts: 193 Member
    I'm a night shift nurse as well. It's the days that I'm off that cause me problems. I feel like I'm hungry all during the day and wake up at3 am starving even if I ate just prior to bed lol. I just drink tons of water and track from midnight to midnight as a previous poster said.

    I eat at least 300 grams of carbs a day and at least 170g of protein a day. But that's just because my body reacts well to that. At work I munch on roasted potatoes, apples, bananas, clementines. And I drink tons of water. When I'm off its harder to eat correctly though lol. Damned girlscout cookies....
  • LilRedRooster
    LilRedRooster Posts: 1,421 Member
    When I worked night shift as a CNA, whether it was 12 or 8 hours, I planned my meals before my shift, and just ate something every two hours so that I wasn't getting to a point where I was really hungry. I would bring a larger meal for "lunch" (like half of a sub sandwich, a portion of pot roast I'd made the day before, pasta with sauce, etc.), and then snacks for the shift like nuts, fruit, or trail mix, so I could take a break every two hours and grab a portion. I also brought pre-made shakes, like protein, because those really helped keep me going without overeating.

    And water. Not just for hydration, but the more I had to pee, the more awake and paying attention I was, haha. I'm in nursing school right now, but I'm planning on going back to night shift when I get my LPN license before I graduate with my RN, so I'm going to have to bring up that balance again pretty soon. Feel free to add me. :)

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