Logging Food

Options
brittanyadore
brittanyadore Posts: 10 Member
edited November 2023 in Getting Started
So does anyone else on here work overnights? Do you log food and exercise from when you wake up until when you go to bed? Do you log from 12am Friday to 12am Saturday? I've been bouncing from one to the other and I'm not sure which I like better.

Replies

  • kathystrauss1
    kathystrauss1 Posts: 142 Member
    Options
    I work 7p-7a and I log my dinner for that day even if I don't get a chance to eat it until after midnight. If I eat again later in my shift I count it for breakfast. Having said that I don't worry about it too much as long as my calories average out ok over several days to a week.
  • shielas
    shielas Posts: 6 Member
    Options
    Although I don't work nights, there are days that I start early and end very late! I think the best bet would be to log your food for the day it's eaten. ie: Today is Saturday the 19th, so I would log anything I ate from 12:01 a.m. - 11:59 p.m. That way even when you are off, you would still be doing it the same way. Good Luck on your journey!
  • MommaChocoLatte
    MommaChocoLatte Posts: 389 Member
    Options
    I used to work 3rd shift. I just renamed the 'meals' in my diary to time slots where I was actually awake and logged from when I woke up in the evening to when I went to bed the next morning.
  • lilbearzmom
    lilbearzmom Posts: 600 Member
    Options
    I am currently working 7p-7a as well. I have my diary set up in time increments. 12am-4am, 4am-8am, 8am-12pm, 12pm-4pm, 4pm-8p. I just kind of subscribe to the "it doesn't matter when you eat" mantra, as long as it fits your plan. It's working well for me. Feel free to take a peek at my diary. It's open.
  • Lizajayne23
    Lizajayne23 Posts: 123 Member
    Options
    I work all kinds of crazy hours, sometimes all night with sleep later in the day, sometimes a normal day with sleep at night, and far too often, day and night with long naps so I log the hours between the longest sleep as my day. I also subscribe to the belief that it doesn't matter when you eat as long as you stay within your calorie goals.

    I wish MFP was set up so that each new day started after you do the "End of Day" thing instead of automatically starting over at midnight.
  • danielleburwell97060
    danielleburwell97060 Posts: 264
    Options
    Personally I like to log from when I get up to when I go to bed. But since I am a hard core night owl I am usually up till anywhere from 2 to 6 am and I hate calling things meals that aren't so I set my "meal names" to be time slots of the day starting at 6 am to 10 am and working in 4 hours increments until I hit 6 am again. I set it that way because I'm rarely up past 6 am and even when needed to do day shift rarely eat before 6 am. It also means if I exercise past midnight, I still count it towards the previous day and since I track on runtastic I have to manually change the time otherwise it would sync to the technical day instead of the day I want the credit for.

    My husband on the other hand who works graveyard 10 pm to 6 am and so is always up past midnight every night, he prefers to log midnight to midnight.

    Whatever works the best for you but yes as long as it works out at the end of the week then it doesn't matter much. Just do what feels natural to you, but consistency is best whichever way you pick.
  • kimlynn919
    kimlynn919 Posts: 316 Member
    Options
    I work 1900-0700. I normally still try to do it on a 0001-2359 day basis, but sometimes its hard. If we get busy and my dinner winds up being a little after midnight, I'll still count it for the day before. Sometimes if we're busy and I don't get dinner or a snack in and I notice its like 2330, I may wait depending on my intake that day. It varies for me, but it nearly always works out ok
  • jennpaulson
    jennpaulson Posts: 850 Member
    Options
    I am currently working 7p-7a as well. I have my diary set up in time increments. 12am-4am, 4am-8am, 8am-12pm, 12pm-4pm, 4pm-8p. I just kind of subscribe to the "it doesn't matter when you eat" mantra, as long as it fits your plan. It's working well for me. Feel free to take a peek at my diary. It's open.

    I work 10pm-6am but this ^^ is how I have my diary set up and it works really well for me.
  • rayfu75
    rayfu75 Posts: 209 Member
    Options
    I work 6pm/6am sun/mon 10pm/6am tue/wed. I log midnight to midnight. It works for me. Thur/Fri/Sat I am a daywalker and Sundays I will normally sleep all day so may only eat 2 meals.
  • JB5349
    JB5349 Posts: 135 Member
    Options
    I work days 0630-1830 for 2
    then 1830-0630 for two
    I just break it into lots of 8 hours and log what I eat during those times.
    Other days as long as I log everything into a 24 hour period I am not really concerned where it fits in
  • sadgirl114
    sadgirl114 Posts: 18
    Options
    I work all kinds of crazy hours, sometimes all night with sleep later in the day, sometimes a normal day with sleep at night, and far too often, day and night with long naps so I log the hours between the longest sleep as my day. I also subscribe to the belief that it doesn't matter when you eat as long as you stay within your calorie goals.

    I wish MFP was set up so that each new day started after you do the "End of Day" thing instead of automatically starting over at midnight.

    You can go bakc and add things to the day before you know :)
  • MysteriousMerlin
    MysteriousMerlin Posts: 2,270 Member
    Options
    Although I don't work nights, there are days that I start early and end very late! I think the best bet would be to log your food for the day it's eaten. ie: Today is Saturday the 19th, so I would log anything I ate from 12:01 a.m. - 11:59 p.m. That way even when you are off, you would still be doing it the same way. Good Luck on your journey!

    This.
    I worked full-time midnights for 10 years (11p-7a), it was much harder to regulate meals on that shift.
  • gonnadoitforgood
    gonnadoitforgood Posts: 2
    Options
    Hi everyone, I am new to my fitness pal. I used to use another food tracker and you were able to search the database for foods and many times someone had already logged the information. Is there a way on this site to search for a particular food and pull it up to add to my diary? I apologize if this question has already been asked. I appreciate your help! Thank you, gonnadoitforgood
  • gonnadoitforgood
    gonnadoitforgood Posts: 2
    Options
    I apologize I got it figured out. If it doesn't come up in the data base I have to add. Thanks!
This discussion has been closed.

Categories