Third Shift Help!

I work 6pm-6am - I don't have a family yet and fiancé doesn't mind if we dont eat together so I stick to IF - I eat all my calories with-in 6 hours and fast for 18 hours. Its been working for me

The thing that I have found that has helped me most is setting my day to begin at 7AM as opposed to midnight. That just makes more sense to me. The default diary ends at midnight which is a general time just after the time that those working day shift go to sleep. We go to sleep in the early morning. So beginning my new day at 7AM does the job for me.

I've been struggling with trying to figure out what will work best for me pretty much the entire 9 years I've been on third shift! The past 7 have been especially difficult since I now have a son tossed into the equation. Right now I'm working 4 nights a week 11pm-7am and then 3 nights off (my weekend starts in 40 minutes in fact!). Balancing it all isn't easy to begin with... but balancing it AND trying to get healthy? Eesh! Maybe we can figure it out together

I work 6pm-6am - I don't have a family yet and fiancé doesn't mind if we dont eat together so I stick to IF - I eat all my calories with-in 6 hours and fast for 18 hours. Its been working for me

This is what I do during my work week. I work from 11pm-7am and eat all my calories while at work. Sometimes when I super busy at work, I will wait until after I get of work and workout in the morning to eat.

I'm starting 3rd shift next week. This helped a lot!

I have been on 3rd shift going on six years now. It took me a while to figure this out as well. You can do it one of two ways. First you can say that your day is when you wake up til you go to sleep. This means your breakfast is everyone else's dinner, your lunch is in the middle of the night, and your dinner is everybody else's breakfast. Or you can say that a days worth of calories is from midnight to midnight. This is what I do because on the first and last days of work, I stay up with my three kids and husband for over 24hrs. I know this isn't the healthiest of practices, but it is to ensure that I actually see them. So my diary would be like a normal persons on my days off. On my Mondays and Fridays, I have breakfast lunch and dinner, and an overnight lunch all in one 24 hour time period. The middle of my work week I don't eat a lunch during the day as I am sleeping. So when I wake up, I eat dinner as breakfast to finish out that day. Head to work and after midnight is a new day. I have my overnight lunch and breakfast as my dinner on this new day and then go to bed. I know this may sound super confusing, but it is what I have to do since I stay up those two days. It gets kinda funky weigh-on wise on the days I stay up, so I make sure my weigh-in day is on my day off after my body has had a chance to fully rest.

Personally, I set my diary to run from noon to noon. I'm usually sleeping at this time, but it worked out much better for me. Working 7pm to 7am. I eat a large meal before work (when I wake up) with my husband. I "pick" when I'm at work, since I don't have time to eat a full meal. I bring a lunch bag with lots of fruits, veggies, and one 100 calorie snack pack.

When I started this, I had to remind myself that just because i BROUGHT all this food doesn't mean I have to EAT all this food. I eat when I can, and stop when I'm not hungry. When I get home, I eat the rest of my calories for breakfast. Some days I have lots left, some days not too many. Either way, I do my workout, then head to bed to start all over again.

Third shift is awful! Over two years I would swear that's what put weight on me because I was constantly eating at work and I craved high carb food all the time, I think to give me that extra burst of energy through the shift. What I found works for me is to come home, and eat a small "breakfast" around 8 am. Some things I eat are boiled eggs, fruit, yogurt, cereal, or nuts. I get up around 2, have a snack, then eat dinner around 5 or so. I usually catch a nap before going back into work then I eat lunch at work between 1 and 2 am and sometimes eat a smack around 5 am, usually high protein like nuts. The big thing for me was not eating throughout my shift which took lots of work. I am about to start 12 hour shifts next week so I'm hoping to figure out a good routine for that!
Right now my shift is 11 to 730. My diary runs from 3 am to 3 am, so my 5 am snack goes on the next day. Also pack your own lunch with healthy things and eat small amounts at a time. I still have that hunger/tiredness confusion thing at times but bringing healthy foods allows me to satisfy that without compromising my calories.

I know it won't work for everyone and is probably frowned upon, but what worked best for me and was an easy routine was as follows:
5pm wake up
6-8pm (kinda varied) eat 600calorie meal
10pm start work
12a snack, banana or apple
2-3am lunch, 600calorie meal
7am off work
9am bed

Now if you're eating more than 1200/day or are exercising, you could easily add another meal in there somewhere. But that was honestly what worked best for me. Now, I stayed SUPER busy at work. If I had a slower paced job with access to food, it might not have been so easy.

No reason for it to be frowned upon, it is what works for you! I have hypoglycemia and digestive issues so small frequent meals work best for me.

I agree. It is really hard to stay on track working third shift. I have worked third shift for years. What I do is take GNC Total Lean™ Live Lean & Fit Pak Dietary Supplement everyday. I split the pack up, taking half before I leave the house and the other half way through my work day. I make my meals ahead for the day. I eat a lot of protein for every meal. I am all about easy made meals. I get the eggbeaters egg whites only. I will cook the entire little container for two out of three of my meals for the day. They reheat well. I add dry seasoning to them because they do not have a lot of flavor. A low carb whole wheat wrap with fresh veggies and salsa. Super easy, quick, and yummy.