Shift work

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las10
las10 Posts: 4 Member
in Getting Started
Good morning everyone. I work shifts and do only two nights in a row but by time I get home I have used lunch and breakfast. If I don't sleep right through will eat when I wake. Any other shift workers who can advise me on nights?

Thanks xx

Replies

  • arguablysamson
    arguablysamson Posts: 1,706 Member
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    Good morning everyone. I work shifts and do only two nights in a row but by time I get home I have used lunch and breakfast. If I don't sleep right through will eat when I wake. Any other shift workers who can advise me on nights?

    Thanks xx

    Heya,

    I have worked nights for years. I get up at around 6 pm CST, eat my one meal at between 7 and 8, and start work around 11ish. I go through the day, which ends for me at 0700 and then I mess around until bedtime (around 10:30 am). I can push and stay functional through noon, but after that I'm out.

    My mealtime was first at noon and I moved it to where it is because it's easier to eat with everyone regardless of when I work. It isn't hard, but I can imagine it being harder with fluctuating shiftwork. I think it's super-important to make sure you have a certain amount of diligence for maintaining your eating window at around the same time everyday.

    Feel free to add me.
  • theashtrees
    theashtrees Posts: 104 Member
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    Hi

    I'm a shift worker with pretty much no structure to my shifts ( lots of OT)

    I changed my meal names on here to shift times (e.g. 0000 - 0800, 0800 - 1600) to better understand and track eating habits.

    I prep everything. EVERYTHING. This helps me to eat at the right times (and the right foods). The extra bit of work is worth it.

    Eating when you first wake up is the most important thing, accompanied with a big glass of water will set you up for the day/shift.

    Feel free to add me.
  • lacroyx
    lacroyx Posts: 5,754 Member
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    I work 11pm-7am and typically eat 1-2x a day. Once at work between 3-6AM and then again later in the day around 11am-1pm. I do have to be careful about the timing with my 2nd meal especially on mornings that I workout. I have to avoid eating at least 2 hrs before hitting the gym otherwise I get sick easil and also before I go to bed otherwise it interrupts my sleep. I plan ahead and will sometimes just eat my entire calorie intake for the day in 1 sitting if I know my sleep will be affected. I make sleep my biggest priority otherwise I am tired, over eat while at work to help me stay awake and don't bother exercising in the morning.
  • milosmom1979
    milosmom1979 Posts: 33 Member
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    Hey- I work 11pm-7am...I usually have a snack at like midnightish and then i eat dinner at like 3am then i have a little snack before i go to bed, otherwise if i go to bed hungry, ill be up all day... I usually go to bed around 11ish and i sleep till like 830 or 9, wake up, have another snack then start the process all over again....
  • beautifulwarrior18
    beautifulwarrior18 Posts: 914 Member
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    I eat as soon as I get to work(11pm) something small (like a granola bar). Then I usually have a meal around 1-3 am. I try for a snack around 5 and then I eat my last meal when I get home around 8 am. Then I go to bed and start all over again. If I wake up before 10 pm, which I usually do I will have a snack if my calories allow for it. The only day that really differs if I'm working is the last day of a stretch before I have a few days off because I try to stay up all day so I can sleep at night. Then I eat a little more.
  • lgtalbott7
    lgtalbott7 Posts: 11
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    I work shift work from 7pm to 7am I try to eat before I get to work or when I get to work then snack around 9ish then eat another meal between 12-1 then snack again around 3ish then I may eat another small meal around 5pm on my days off I stick to a normal schedule of breakfast lunch and dinner
  • sarahyourprincess
    sarahyourprincess Posts: 36 Member
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    Shift worker here too,
    Also do the 12s flipping from days to nights

    for my nights I eat at about 5pm when I wake up
    then I have a meal at ~2-4am and some snacks throughout the night
    but it's all preplanned lots of fruits normally
    (and way to many calories in coffee ;) )
  • AllyCatXandi
    AllyCatXandi Posts: 329 Member
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    I've just started shift work on student placement (as part of my university course). I've only had one (12-hour, from 1900-0700) night shift so far but I found this worked okay for me.

    I had dinner around 6:30, and arranged my day so I had about 500 calories left over. Since I'm on 2000 per day, this wasn't too unmanageable. Then I had a sandwich at the halfway mark (1:00am), along with some fruit, tea, dark chocolate, and diet coke to keep me going. The last two orientated towards getting some caffeine into me, especially since I'd woken up at 5:30am that morning out of habit and hadn't been able to sleep that day. Sigh.

    But yeah, got home, showered, had breakfast (around 8:30am), and faceplanted into bed.

    I've only done one night shift so far (another tomorrow - argh!), so I'm far from an expert. But the point is I did manage to stay awake, didn't feel hungry, and managed to stay within my calories.
  • fran11mat
    fran11mat Posts: 5 Member
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    Hi. I know what you mean. I do two 12hr shifts from 6pm -6am every fortnight or so. My food diary looks bad on the couple of days of the nightshift but then I think to myself, on that first shift I am awake and going for 24hrs straight then generally only 5 or 6 hrs sleep in between shifts which means the following days are pretty long as well. I eat more but it is hard to reflect that in the diary. I find I eat more up until about 12am then lay off the food, I just share the calories into the next day so there is a more reasonable spread. Plenty of water. I don't know about everyone else but I have the worst cravings for bad bad food when I wake up during the day after these shifts.

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