Does anyone else work night shifts?

invisiblelo
invisiblelo Posts: 98 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have no idea what to eat or when.....seems alot of hours to fill with little food :(

Replies

  • kelossal
    kelossal Posts: 1
    I work night shifts from 9pm to 8am and as i work in a care home it's generally very quiet. I tend to eat fruit and veg (Big fan of carrots and bananas) for healthy snacks, then after 12 have a proper meal (Salad bowl, chicken bites, yoghurt etc) followed by snacking on more fruit and veg to sustain my hunger, plus drinking plenty of water. And when i get home i'll eat a bowl of cereal with semi skimmed milk. I've lost a few lbs so far and it's working well for me as i've increased the amount of walking i'm doing too (I use a pedometer) and i'll have a new bike soon!. But It's really difficult especially on days off to keep up with the calorie intake when all i want to do is sleep.

    Hope this helps.
  • debrag12
    debrag12 Posts: 1,071 Member
    Yes I do, I work 4 nights on 4 nights off, 9:30pm (get there 9ish) to 8am. A support worker but it's mostly cleaning then sitting around all night ;(

    I've just started doing them and I'm unsure when to eat not just what to eat. I plan to try to sleep 8:30/9am to 3:30pm then off to the gym. Also eat dinner 7pm ish, lunch 8am (once I'm home, before sleep) and breakfast during my shift. We are lucky that we can eat what is in the house so don't need to bring our own food.
  • nomorebingesgirl2014
    nomorebingesgirl2014 Posts: 378 Member
    Bunp
  • saddare
    saddare Posts: 32 Member
    I work from 5PM until 1:30AM (or later ... I work for an airline, so if flights are delayed, I stay late). During my shift, there is a several-hour-long gap in which I used to sit in the breakroom and stuff my face with whatever was at hand. When I started tracking on MFP, it was REALLY hard to sit in that breakroom and keep my hand out of the chips, cookies, chicken nuggets, etc...

    Then it dawned on me that I could use that time a lot more wisely. One night on impulse, I went to a nearby stairwell and climbed up and down for half an hour. Eeesh, did my legs burn! But it kept me from eating AND gave me some exercise.

    The stairwell, however, is not air conditioned, and now that it is summer it's stiflingly hot. Rather than risk passing out, I looked for other alternatives. The airport terminals are nearly deserted at night in between flights, so I began walking them with my iPod on. I set a goal for 45 minutes of continuous walking (including any stairs I encountered, which wound up being three ups-and-downs per circuit and helps get my heart rate up), which is precisely how long it takes to walk the whole thing three times!

    So I guess what I'm trying to suggest is, what can you do besides eating to fill those hours? Can you be creative and work in some exercise? Or do some sort of craft (I fill the rest of my downtime by crocheting)?
  • JVClubs
    JVClubs Posts: 139 Member
    i work nights on the weekends and some weekdays (my life sucks) and i can tell u i eat breakfast, and its always my first meal is my biggest, i eat right after i get off work sometimes if im dying, or ill go to sleep, wake up around 2pm and eat.( i work 11pm-7a,)

    sometimes ill wake up THEN eat my first meal, which comes around 4pm after my workout.

    then ill eat again at 9pm

    i almost never eat during my work shift, but if i do its something small at like 2am, and then im good.
  • Sobus76
    Sobus76 Posts: 242 Member
    I work 530pm to 430am i eat breakfast when i get up around 130pm, eat lunch around 330pm before i leave for work so i dont have the urge to get fast food on the hour drive, i pre-plan my food for work, so i eat a snack around 6pm, another around 8pm, another around 9-930, my lunch break at work is 1125pm, i eat my dinner then, and dont eat anything else until breakfast when at 130pm the next day. I do this every work day without fail, and its worked so far.
  • OhhNiff
    OhhNiff Posts: 1,397 Member
    I work 11pm to 7am. What I normally do (with exception of this weekend) is eat breakfast when I get home, eat "lunch" when I wake up, and dinner a few hours later when I'm hungry with snacks somewhere in betweem. If I really haven't eaten much or I miss dinner, then I'll bring some V8 with me to work to drink and fill me up so I'm not snacking all night.
  • rachelhaueter
    rachelhaueter Posts: 41 Member
    I'm a cna and work 11pm to 7am. I have issues with consistency when it comes to eating in the evening. At work I drink a lot of water and I try to have a healthy snack (tonight I brought a snack size bag of pistachios and 1/4 cup of chocolate covered raisins). I try to avoid the fast food places that are 24 hours and the convenience store as well as the vending machine. When I get home I do my workout (otherwise I will talk myself out of it), and when I'm done I will chug a bottle of water then make breakfast. I usually have two scrambled eggs mixed with two cut up pieces of turkey bacon and 1/4 cup of low fat shredded cheese. Somestimes I will also include a thin sliced bagel with a little cream cheese. Some days I sleep and some I font but I always try to stink a smoothie somewhere in there to get my fruit intake and for dinner (when I'm able to eat) ive started making baked fish and brown rice.
  • lacroyx
    lacroyx Posts: 5,754 Member
    I work 5 nights a week 11pm-7AM. Unless you have some medical condition, food intolerance, heart burn, etc etc it doesn't matter what or when you eat. I focus on hitting my calories and macros first. Typically I'll eat once while at work and once at home a couple of hours before bed. I find if I eat then go to bed right away, it messes up my sleep.
  • Mystique225to504
    Mystique225to504 Posts: 11 Member
    I am an RN and I work 7pm- 7am and it is hard to lose weight working those hours. I don't know if I should eat or not in the morning because I am going to go straight to sleep and that contributes to weight gain. So far, I have a super light breakfast, workout at 5pm before I go to work and eat when I can at work. It is hard because sometimes I don't get to eat at all. Sometime I don't drink all the water I should but I have lost something because I am down to a size 12 in my clothes. I was a 16. I don't weight myself because scales are depressing to me. The slightest weight gain and I am ready to quit so I just go by my clothes.
  • princess7606
    princess7606 Posts: 4 Member
    I am a RMN and I find that working nights has really messed up my metabolism, which was much better before I started this profession two years ago. I find that I sleep straight away when I get home and can't get up until 6 at which point there is no time to work out. Going my clothes in not always accurate in the EU either because all our sizes are messed up- I am a different size in every shop. And the food industry putting msg and other rubbish chemicals in to our foods to make us addicted has not helped people like me who end up eating processed foods. I am 119 pounds but I want to be back to 112 and I don't know what on earth to eat. I am fed up. It is the stomach area that is the problem. My weight is not bad for my height 5 foot 7. It all goes to the tummy and it is so discouraging without any support.
    I am doing the 30 day shred right now on day 16 and have been doing level 3 the entire time but no inch/weight loss even though I am under my calorie amount most days.
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  • cincysweetheart
    cincysweetheart Posts: 892 Member
    I work from 11pm to 7am. I will eat a piece of fruit and some cheese when I wake up and before I go work out. After working out, I come back and shower and get ready for work… I'll eat a meal about 10 pm just before I leave for work. About 2:30-ish, I will eat my lunch, then I will eat my third meal right when I get home. Then I sleep during the day. Water helps keep me going between meals… I very seldom feel the need to snack. But when I do, some string cheese, fruit, protein bars, or whole wheat crackers (watch the portion sizes!) are my go-tos for snacks.
  • debrag12
    debrag12 Posts: 1,071 Member
    I work from 5PM until 1:30AM (or later ... I work for an airline, so if flights are delayed, I stay late). During my shift, there is a several-hour-long gap in which I used to sit in the breakroom and stuff my face with whatever was at hand. When I started tracking on MFP, it was REALLY hard to sit in that breakroom and keep my hand out of the chips, cookies, chicken nuggets, etc...

    Then it dawned on me that I could use that time a lot more wisely. One night on impulse, I went to a nearby stairwell and climbed up and down for half an hour. Eeesh, did my legs burn! But it kept me from eating AND gave me some exercise.

    The stairwell, however, is not air conditioned, and now that it is summer it's stiflingly hot. Rather than risk passing out, I looked for other alternatives. The airport terminals are nearly deserted at night in between flights, so I began walking them with my iPod on. I set a goal for 45 minutes of continuous walking (including any stairs I encountered, which wound up being three ups-and-downs per circuit and helps get my heart rate up), which is precisely how long it takes to walk the whole thing three times!

    So I guess what I'm trying to suggest is, what can you do besides eating to fill those hours? Can you be creative and work in some exercise? Or do some sort of craft (I fill the rest of my downtime by crocheting)?

    Well we sit in the lounge with one client with challenging behaviour who doesn't sleep in her room. She is 1-2-1 but sometimes can be 3-2-1. She is medicated but rarely sleeps for long periods and as soon as she is awake she is up and running around. We also have to check on one other client every 1/2 hr due to seizures - I use that as an excuse to climb the stairs a few times each night.

    I don't eat to fill in the hours just when I am hungry. I think I am going to start to have breakfast when I get home, lunch once I get up, dinner around 6pm or 7pm and snacks (fruit etc) at work.

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