Night shift eating?

I think far more important right now is your lack of sleep. You won't last long on two hours of sleep, especially working 12-hour shifts.

I'm a night shift worker, but I don't have small children; therefore, my nights can be my days and my days are my nights. I eat before I go to work and I take enough food to last me an 8 or 12-hour shift (I work both). Sandwiches with lowfat lunch meat, lowfat cottage cheese, nuts, fruit, rice, beans, leftover chicken or beef, pasta, low sugar instant oatmeal, raisins, etc. There are so many things to take. Have a very big lunch box.

But seriously, you need way more sleep.

Alas, I agree with the others that that is way too little sleep to sustain for very long. Having kids and working at the same time is difficult, and since I'm not in that situation I don't have any tips on how to deal. But I do know that lack of sleep can also wreak havoc on weight loss as well.

Right now what I end up doing is having "breakfast" at night, a "lunch" in the middle of my worknight, and something "dinnerish" when I get home. Even if they're not typical that one associates with those meals, that's how I think of it. I know I personally would NOT be able to make it through the worknight with any sort of functioning if I didn't have a meal in the middle. You're relatively new to the shift so you're still getting used to things, but you might want to consider how to balance things out a bit better.

In your case, I would make either what you are now calling dinner or your mid-work meal your highest calorie meal, because they both need to sustain you through the longest parts of your day. I'm not sure when your mid-work meal is; if it's closer to when you go to bed, then maybe make that one slightly less nutrient-dense than the before-work meal. Then have lunch be your lightest meal of the day.

Gosh, I'm sure hoping you get more than just the two hours you mentioned. Again, with kids this is difficult, but the parents at my workplace find ways for the friends and family to help them; maybe this is something you can organize too? My other suggestion would be to do as much prep on the weekends as you possibly can - premake your dinners, do all or most of the chores then, etc. That is basically what I do.

Sorry I can't be more helpful. Good luck.

Edit: While you're doing prep work on the weekends, maybe the least you can do is make sure you have some healthy snacks on hand, so that when you're too exhausted to make good nutritional decisions, you'll still have something available to sustain you and boost your energy that you won't feel too guilty for eating.

Im so there! I work 12.5 hour shifts. It's not the shifts themselves that kill me but the next day when I'm tired and cranky and looking for a quick fix to get me through to the kids bedtime.

Ive found a small latte and banana and nuts get me through the night after a late dinner but being a nurse and having appreciative relos bring in treats - chocolate, Pizza, Biscuits, the temptations are hard to fight.

I don't know how to fight my compulsive sugar cravings when I wake up...I turn into an eating machine! I don't think that its a good thing but I've found drinking diet coke helps with the tiredness and gives me a sugar hit without the calories - but then then opens a whole new kettle of fish.

Good luck - the night shift/small children combo is a killer!

I lost all my weight (123 pounds) working 7-7 on the night shift. It never caused any problems for me. i usually have my breakfast around 5, lunch around midnight and dinner around 4 with a couple of snacks in between. On my days off, I just switch around to regular times.