Night Shift

howej1
howej1 Posts: 1
edited September 25 in Health and Weight Loss
Anyone have any tips on eating and tracking food for those of us who work at night. I have funky transitions with lots of sleep lost, extra eating on first nights and no eating the day after my shifts finish. What about the nausea? Any ideas for that?

Replies

  • resptech97
    resptech97 Posts: 147
    I work night shift. My first night back I eat breakfast, I nap till time to get up and ready for work. After I get to work...somewhere between 6 and 8 pm I have my meal. Then about midnight I have a snack. I usually get off work around 6 am. Then I have a breakfast and do the same thing over again. I dont remember having any nausea??
  • Jmsgrl143
    Jmsgrl143 Posts: 2
    Hey! I work night shift too, from 7p to 7a at a hospital. I sometimes don't eat my food until after midnite so i will include it in the next days diary.....I sleep til about 3 that day and so when I wake up, that's my breakfast I enter. I try to snack on fruits and vegetables to hold me over through out the night....if I am off the next day and I know I have plans or something that night. I will try to eat before midnite and just stay under my calorie intake. Hope this helps :)
  • dave4d
    dave4d Posts: 1,155 Member
    I rotate 5 to 5. I time my meals midnight to midnight to keep my meals, and calories straight. I also take a nap before my first night shift. Usually from noon to 3, then I get up, eat, and go to work.

    I usually sleep from 6am when I get home until about noon, so I don't sleep enough, but I won't have time to get a workout in if I sleep too much longer.
  • lkyeomans
    lkyeomans Posts: 52 Member
    I too struggled and worried about the same issue just a few weeks ago. I work 12 hour weekend night shifts. I log as I eat, so if you are eating something right now, log it in for Saturday (I use my app on my blackberry). I bring a bag of baby carrots and spend the extra money for the very small ones. I eat those when ever I am slightly hungry or wanting something crunchy. I also have a box of cereal that I will eat dry, also for the crunch and hunger factor but helps with the nausea as well. I bring a small snack sized ziplock bag as I know how my serving size fits in it. The other thing I do is have a Weight watchers Smartones at work to eat if I am hungry. I only have used it once. I drink plenty of water and one can of Pepsi as I need the caffeine and don't like coffee. Another trick I have is I eat Altoid mints, they are very strong and will wake me up as well as freshen my breath. I hope that helps you.
  • redsoxy
    redsoxy Posts: 73 Member
    I work 8p to 6a and have found my eating schedule one of the hardest things to regulate with this shift. I have found, with a lot of trial and error - that I eat only one meal while I'm working - but save most of my snacks for the overnight. That way I'm not feeling hungry and snacking on bad-stuff while working...and my dinner holds me over most of the night.

    The key I found is to make sure you prepare ahead of time, and bring your own food. If your workplace is anything like mine, people are always ordering out and/or snacks. If I make sure I have enough options of healthy snacks with me - I'm not *quite* as tempted!
  • syd1980
    syd1980 Posts: 283
    i work 7p-7a . I get up around 3pm then eat and get ready for work. i pack my meals for the night, and log it for that day. this way i know i have the right amount of food for the calories i need that night. i also dont eat anything after 4am. this way im not laying down on a full stomach , that causes me nausea .

    still having trouble when my 4 days off start. that first day off i usually dont get alot of calories in. still try to get my water intake in, just start drinking from the moment i wake up.
  • WinKitty
    WinKitty Posts: 119
    My husband is trying to find a way to do this, too. He rotates like 4 days, 4 off, 4 nights, 4 off, repeat (6 to 6 either way). He's found this super-sucky for his meal planning, so if you guys have ideas, we want to know them, too.
  • Crystal817
    Crystal817 Posts: 2,021 Member
    I work 7pm-7am. I keep my food diary from when I wake up until I go to sleep. So sometime near the end of my "day" I do have to switch back to the previous day on mpf to add new food.

    I keep about the same schedule everyday, and I do in fact actually sleep 6-7 hours per day. So I don't wake up early, or take naps before my shift. It makes things (for me) a lot easier. I know people with children aren't always able to make it so easy.

    So in regards to my food logging, it's the same as any other person, I just eat at different times than most people.
  • dave4d
    dave4d Posts: 1,155 Member
    My husband is trying to find a way to do this, too. He rotates like 4 days, 4 off, 4 nights, 4 off, repeat (6 to 6 either way). He's found this super-sucky for his meal planning, so if you guys have ideas, we want to know them, too.

    I try to eat 6 meals a day. Every three hours. I try to get as close as possible to this schedule.
    nights- midnight, 3am, sleep, noon, 3pm, 6pm, 9pm.
    days-3:30am, 6am, 9am, noon, 3pm, 7pm.
    days off 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm.
  • CommittohealthCHANGED
    CommittohealthCHANGED Posts: 436 Member
    I to work nights 10p-6a. I eat around my schedule but not posts 2a, because it takes your stomach 4.hours to digest foods. I try to eat filling snacks only from 10p-2 a., and lot of water
  • britt_fit
    britt_fit Posts: 169
    I've had some later shifts at work and it sounds silly, but yellow squash is amazing. Low calorie and crunchy, so I can eat a bunch of it. Also, if you get just the popcorn kernels and pop them on the stove it's only 15 calories for a cup!!! This has saved me so many times when I've been studying super late for school.
  • xraychick77
    xraychick77 Posts: 1,775 Member
    my stomach doesnt get upset.

    i go midnight to midnight. i usually eat around 2am, and have a snack around 4 am. then i eat breakfast when i get home around 7am, go to the gym. i sleep then i get up around 5-6pm and eat dinner. i then eat a snack around 11pm.
  • north35
    north35 Posts: 70 Member
    bump :)
  • Izzy62
    Izzy62 Posts: 62 Member
    I work a rotating shift pattern - 2 earlies starting at 7am, 2 lates starting at 3pm and 2 nights starting at 11pm. This is followed by 3 days off and then rinse and repeat.

    I don't eat much on nights, usually just a yoghurt with blueberries at around 2am, I feel really ill if I try and eat anything more than this. I just run with one day having more than usual calories, and that being balanced by my first day off, where I sleep til noon-ish and therefore miss out on either lunch or dinner.

    I lose regularly each week and therefore I stick with it. I can't say I've ever felt hungry on a night shift, I usually have to "make" myself eat something.

    Take care xx
  • Valtishia
    Valtishia Posts: 811 Member
    not sure about the nausea thing.. but up until recently I was working all sorts of shifts including severla overnights. I eventually split my diary into 4 hour increments. mdnight - 4am, 4am to 8am, 8am to noon, noon to 4pm, 4pm to 8pm then 8pm to midnight. I don't work overnights anymore as of 2 weeks ago however I have lef tmy diary that way as some days I am up earlier than others, or up later than other days. Perhaps this would help.
  • stacimusmax
    stacimusmax Posts: 172 Member
    I work 7p-7a also. I have changed my meals from "breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks" to 4hr time frames (0000-0400, 0400-0800, etc). I log whatever I eat as I eat it, no matter the time. So, when I look at my food (calorie) diet occassionally I have days that have almost no calories (usually my first day back). However, I still try to always meet my calorie goal/net goal.
    My diary is open if you want to look.
    I also get up about 3pm and go straight to the gym, then eat, then work. That usually hold me till about midnight.
    Oh, and I always bring my own food (even though the cafeteria is open at my hospital). It is easier to control calories, portions, carbs, protein, etc. if I pack it and plan ahead. That way, I don't give in when I am starving and the best thing on the menu is a greesy cheesburger.
  • MegJo
    MegJo Posts: 398 Member
    I always get excited when I see a post titled "night shift" - nice to see there's a bunch of us!

    I do things I bit different then the majority. I "pretend" I'm a dayshifter. For example: when I got up up around 1500 I logged breakfast, I ate lunch right before I came into work at 1930, I'll have a snack around 2200 and another snack around 0000, dinner at 0200 and if needed a small snack around 0400. I will log it all under today (Saturday). When I go in to edit my diary after 0000 I just click back to the previous day.

    This helps me feel more "normal" and it allows me to see what I'm eating in a day while my body is up and functioning.

    Tips:

    --Plan your day out when you first wake up. After breakfast I log what I'm going to eat for the rest of the day. By doing this I hardly EVER go over my calories. I can say enough how much this one action has helped me.

    --Get into a eating routine and try to stick with it. If you have to flipflop night shift and day shift (thankfully I do not) have a dayshift eating schedule and a night shift eating schedule. Try to schedule when you're going to eat your major meals and then have some snacks around those times.

    --Pack snacks. String cheese, fruit, shrimp with cocktail sauce, snap peas, vitatops, pickles, nuts, turkey pepperoni, popsicles, popcorn, yogurt

    --Exercise. Just because we work nights doesn't mean we don't have to exercise - get it in when you can!

    Hope that helped! My dairy is open if you want to take a look - and I love being friends with other nightshifters if any of you want to request! :) I read all the posts so far and there is some GREAT advice in there! :smile:
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