Working the night shift and logging calories

_SpeshK_
_SpeshK_ Posts: 496 Member
edited September 21 in Health and Weight Loss
Heeyyyy everyone,

So I'm sure this question has been asked before, but I can't find an answer. Currently, I am in school from 11:00-3:15 Tuesday and Thursday, and from 12:20-1:35 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesday nights, I have marching band rehearsals from 5pm-7pm and I also teach a baton twirling class that night from 8:00-8:45. On top of all that, I work 40 hrs a week on the graveyard. So, four days a week I work 9pm-7am. Needless to say, I don't always get adequate sleep(if any). Since I'm on the twirling line and in the marching band, nearly every Saturday we have 8am rehearsals, and a 6pm game.

So, now that you're prepped... I'm having a hard time deciding HOW to track my calories. Should I track them in 24 hour periods, or should I track them from 'sleep to sleep?' 24 hour periods obviously makes it more even, but shouldn't sleep also play a part in each day? If you have suggestions, please include how you think my food diary should look... I.E. "breakfast,lunch,dinner" or "12am-5am, 5am-10am" etc. I just want to be consistent and help myself lose weight!!

Sometimes I exercise while I'm at work at night, and other times I sleep while I'm there, just depending on how much energy I have or how exhausted I am....and also how busy we are at work, haha.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks for reading!!!

Kelsey

Replies

  • jrich1
    jrich1 Posts: 2,408 Member
    I count till I go to bed as the day, regardless if its 9pm or 2am..
  • StatutoryGrape
    StatutoryGrape Posts: 365
    I generally count from 12AM to 12AM the next day, if that helps. I feel your pain on crazy schedules!
  • aionsnow
    aionsnow Posts: 36 Member
    Whatever works the best for your schedule... I personally go from when I sleep because of my current work schedule but in the past when I had swing shifts and ever changing hours I choose 6pm to be a new day for me. Just choose the simplest way for you so you keep on track and stay motived.

    Good Luck,

    Snow
  • Clew
    Clew Posts: 910 Member
    Well - what's going to make the most sense to you? I think MFP runs on just the calendar system, so if your day runs from 12 noon to 12 noon the next day, MFP might break it apart right in the middle - and that's no good. So maybe the chunks of time would work best.

    Since you can select time zones though, maybe you could fiddle your profile around so your offbeat schedule fits into the block of a "day".

    Just a few thoughts :tongue:
  • mlagena
    mlagena Posts: 154 Member
    I usually track from sleep to sleep. Right now I'm running a "sympathy shift" for my husband and staying up with him while he's on graves. I reset my timezone on MFP so that my day is about four hours later than my actual time zone... So, MFP's midnight is *actually* 4am, but that's around the time I end up konking out! Cause a day is a day until you fall asleep! Oh, I noticed you nap at work sometimes? I don't think that would count as "sleep" unless you're napping for, like, 4-5 hours! lol
    Hope that helps!
  • cuddlegrl
    cuddlegrl Posts: 101 Member
    Sounds like my schedule!! I work 40+ hours from 11p-7a (although sleep is NOT an option for me) and I go to school during the day with a full 12 credit hour courseload. I had the same trouble with figuring out how to log my food. Since my 'breakfast' can be at midnight or noon!

    You are able to customize your "meals" and label them whatever you want. I have them broken into 4 hour increments. So no matter what "meal" I am eating I just enter it into the time frame. It also helps me remember to eat every 4 hours (something small at least). I found that with all the running around I was forgetting to eat. This helped spell it out and remind me.

    Breaking it into 4 hour periods also took the guess work out of when my day started and ended. I run midnight to midnight. and I dont have official meals. I just enter what I eat into the time slot for the day. It also helps for when my sleep schedule changes daily.
    I run in military time but here is both :smile:
    0000-0400 (Midnight-4:00am)
    0400-0800 (4:00am-8:00 am)
    0800-1200 (8:00am-12 noon)
    1200-1600 (noon- 4:00pm)
    1600-2000 (4pm-8pm)
    2000-0000 (8pm-midnight)

    I hope it helps!!
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
    I second what crooker said:

    0000-0400 (Midnight-4:00am)
    0400-0800 (4:00am-8:00 am)
    0800-1200 (8:00am-12 noon)
    1200-1600 (noon- 4:00pm)
    1600-2000 (4pm-8pm)
    2000-0000 (8pm-midnight)

    That makes the most sense to me and it's what I'd do.
  • dgroulx
    dgroulx Posts: 159 Member
    I work from 9:45pm until 7:15am. I have my dinner as my first meal at 7:30pm. It's actually better to have my biggest meal first. I will log tonight's dinner as my dinner. At work, I eat a lean pocket around 2am. This is my "lunch". I will log it as tomorrow's lunch. I will have a breakfast bar or sometimes cereal mixed with yogurt in the morning. I log this as breakfast. Then I sleep for a while. When I getup, I'll have coffee and get some stuff done before dinner. That will be logged on the same day as my breakfast and lunch. This works for me.
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