For all you third shifters! Question inside!

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tyralicious
tyralicious Posts: 12
in Health and Weight Loss
How do you keep your diary? My sleep schedule is all messed up and I just feel weird adding breakfast in at like three in the afternoon.

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  • CupcakesAndRazorblades
    CupcakesAndRazorblades Posts: 227 Member
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    Do what works for you, plus you can change the names of your meals if you want to :)
  • Shelialouise66
    Shelialouise66 Posts: 56
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    My breakfast is the meal I eat during the night while at work. Then I will generally have a small snack when I get home before going to bed, then depending on what time I wake up, I will either have a small lunch or a heavy dinner and back to work. I work 12 hour shifts 3 nights a week, so there is a lot of adjusting that goes on, but this is my general pattern and routine.
  • CristinaL1983
    CristinaL1983 Posts: 1,119 Member
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    I changed the names of all my meals. Meal 1, Meal 2, Meal 3, Snack1, Snack 2, Snack 3. Some people have theirs set to times instead of meal names or numbers ex 3pm -6pm, 6-9, 9-12am, 12am-3am, etc... Also, I consider the time from when I wake up until I go to sleep to be one day but there is no reason you have to do that. You could "start the day" at midnight, there would be a break when you go to sleep then you would finish the day from when you wake up until midnight that night.
  • tyralicious
    tyralicious Posts: 12
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    I changed the names of all my meals. Meal 1, Meal 2, Meal 3, Snack1, Snack 2, Snack 3. Some people have theirs set to times instead of meal names or numbers ex 3pm -6pm, 6-9, 9-12am, 12am-3am, etc... Also, I consider the time from when I wake up until I go to sleep to be one day but there is no reason you have to do that. You could "start the day" at midnight, there would be a break when you go to sleep then you would finish the day from when you wake up until midnight that night.

    I think I might possibly do the whole 12am to 12am 24 hour thing. Like once it hits 12am it's a new day. And then just make sure I average at the end of the week.

    It's a lot getting used to, especially since I'm new to third shifts.
  • girllimberlost
    girllimberlost Posts: 28
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    I work 12s, and sometimes days and sometimes nights. I just log my food when I eat it, breakfast in the morning (either when I get up or before I go to bed), lunch in the afternoon, dinner at night (whether or not I am getting up to work or getting ready to sleep). I also have a category for meal replacements, because that is the best way I have found to fuel through the day/night, eating every 2-3 hours while awake, and then snacks for desserts, chips, chocolate (just to be honest with my intake). I don't worry too much about what the category is called, just shooting for my calories through the day. Some days, I am awake longer, so I just add more meal replacements on those days.
  • Ramberta
    Ramberta Posts: 1,312 Member
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    I used to work a third shift job, and my eating/sleeping schedule was horrible, and part of why I quit. It doesn't really matter what "meals" you log your food as, so long as it makes sense to you, but just make sure you're keeping your actual meal times consistent. Your body will thank you.
  • fiferjim
    fiferjim Posts: 56 Member
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    I work 3 nights a week and my first day often has very few calories due to sleeping during the day. My first break of shift is then my breakfast 2nd break lunch then my dinner at night when I get up. The day I finish shifts is the hardest as it's so long with only a couple of hours sleep so I always try to play golf that day to burn the extras :)
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    It doesn't really matter how you log it as long as you stay in budget for any 24 hr period or even by the week. I've been known to have pizza for breakfast and eggs for supper without working any night shifts!

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