quick ? on behalf of my hubby..

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shortie_sarah
shortie_sarah Posts: 177 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So my husband decided that he was going to start counting his calories, only he works 2 jobs 6 days a week so his schedule is kinda complicated. We aren't sure how exactly he should track his calories. He works from 3pm - 7am the next day. My question is should he track from 12am-11:59pm like most of us do, or should he track from wake to sleep? If he tracked that traditional way, his calories would start over in the middle of his day and that seems sort of off... but on the other hand, he only sleeps for 5 hours a day, so if he tracked from wake to sleep I don't think it would balance out. Please help us:flowerforyou:

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  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
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    I track from the time I get up and start my day to the time I get into bed. There are some nights I'm still logging snacks after midnight and just tab back to put them in. First meal is breakfast even if it's not eaten until 11:30-1:00. It works for me. He could try both ways to see which work best for him though.
  • truckdriverjeremy
    truckdriverjeremy Posts: 28 Member
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    I track from the time I get up and start my day to the time I get into bed. There are some nights I'm still logging snacks after midnight and just tab back to put them in. First meal is breakfast even if it's not eaten until 11:30-1:00. It works for me. He could try both ways to see which work best for him though.

    this
  • shortie_sarah
    shortie_sarah Posts: 177 Member
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    He is awake for 19 hours a day.. most people are awake for only 16 hours. Do you think this will affect it if he does do wake to sleep?
  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
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    I don't see why it would. He's still eating the same amount in that time. There's no questioning the wake to wake split either. It'd drive me nuts to add my breakfast on Tuesday night then my lunch as breakfast on Wednesday, my dinner as lunch on Wednesday. Then what happens when you wake up again and start logging your breakfast as dinner on Wednesday? I'd think it would skew the calorie goal to have a full day and another meal come up on one day.
  • shortie_sarah
    shortie_sarah Posts: 177 Member
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    I don't see why it would. He's still eating the same amount in that time. There's no questioning the wake to wake split either. It'd drive me nuts to add my breakfast on Tuesday night then my lunch as breakfast on Wednesday, my dinner as lunch on Wednesday. Then what happens when you wake up again and start logging your breakfast as dinner on Wednesday? I'd think it would skew the calorie goal to have a full day and another meal come up on one day.

    makes sense...

    thanks!
  • dancerbyday
    dancerbyday Posts: 61
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    They don't have specific times set for calorie tracking, so whatever he considers to be his breakfast he should log as "breakfast", even if it is at a weird time of day. And if "dinner" happens to be at 4 in the morning the next day, just click back a day and log it in as dinner. Don't worry about it, it's really just to make you aware. Times shouldn't make a difference. Whatever he considers to be his mealtime is his mealtime.
  • shortie_sarah
    shortie_sarah Posts: 177 Member
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    so basically as long as his calories are within a given 24 hour period, it doesn't matter when it starts and stops?
  • knekno
    knekno Posts: 20 Member
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    I work from 7pm to 7:30 am 3-4 shifts/week. I changed the "meal times" to 6 hr time frames, and just put in what I'm eating at the appropriate time. I try not to, but can be awake anywhere from 18-30hrs at a stretch. When I'm not working, I flip back to "dayshift" hours. I'd rather track for 24hr periods, the math gets too weird otherwise.
  • DawnEH612
    DawnEH612 Posts: 574 Member
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    I track from the time I get up and start my day to the time I get into bed. There are some nights I'm still logging snacks after midnight and just tab back to put them in. First meal is breakfast even if it's not eaten until 11:30-1:00. It works for me. He could try both ways to see which work best for him though.
    I log from the time i wake up in the morning (around 10) until the time i go to bed that night (after 2 am typically). Time is irrelevant.. My logging follows my wake/sleep cycle. I change my diary times to reflect this and my late eating of midnight munchies is from 10:30 pm until the time i go to bed... Works for me.
  • pjol79
    pjol79 Posts: 50 Member
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    I just started working the night shift and I log my day from when I wake up to when I go to sleep. It'd be way too complicated to track it per MFP "day". :D

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