Night shift

jiggly23
jiggly23 Posts: 6 Member
edited September 26 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi I was wondering if anyone has suggestions on diets or ways of eating for ngiht shift, or swing shift workers. I usually work 3-4 12 hour night shifts a week and I can not seem to get in the swink of a "diet". Also my shift are usually in a row and it is hard to excercise alot. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Replies

  • dave4d
    dave4d Posts: 1,155 Member
    I do rotating 12 hour shifts. I switch back, and forth every week. I try to eat 5 to 6 meals a day, keeping my calories around 300 per meal, unless I exercise. I usually only sleep 5 to 6 hours per day when I am working, I catch up on sleep on my days off. On a night shift I will get home at 6, go to sleep, get up around noon, eat, workout, drink a post workout meal, then go to work. I will eat 4 meals at work every 3 hours if I can. My diary is open If you would like to take a look at it.
  • StephanieBFree
    StephanieBFree Posts: 39 Member
    I have been doing shift work for 15 years working 12 hour shifts consisting of two day shifts and two night shifts. I always use midnight as my cut off period and find that it all balances out. I make sure to always eat three meals and two snacks. On night shift I eat dinner when I get to work, at midnight I have a light lunch and then around five in the morning I eat breakfast so I can go home and sleep. I also make sure I have two snacks at work. My favorite right now are the fibre 100 granola bars, fresh mangoes and activia yogurt.

    I am also fortunate that my Detachment has a gym and I am able to go for a run on my nights. If for whatever reason I am too tired I make sure that I bring some small hand weights and I do weights and planks while working.

    You can add me as a friend if you like and you will see my food diary. It may give you ideas. cheers Stephanie
  • believetoachieve
    believetoachieve Posts: 675 Member
    First is to toss out the notion of a "diet". What you're trying to do is eat healthy, for life! :wink: Secondly, you'd eat the same way someone on a "normal" schedule would do - food every few hours, stay within your calorie/fat limits, and get 8 glasses of water in. Find time to exercise.. often you need to MAKE time, even when it's not appealing! Good luck! :drinker:
  • PST0622
    PST0622 Posts: 115
    I also work nights, and it makes it very difficult to exercise and try to watch what you eat. I try to count calories from midnight to midnight. And, because I work Fri, Sat and Sun nights, I make absolute sure I hit the gym on Fri and Mon. If I go over my recommended calories one night, then I don't eat back all of my exercise calories on Monday. I hope this helps you!!!
  • idream2bgwen
    idream2bgwen Posts: 424 Member
    I have a job interview tomorrow for a nightshift position. I may be on here asking this very soon. I have been doing great during the days so this may really throw me for a loop!
  • CommittohealthCHANGED
    CommittohealthCHANGED Posts: 436 Member
    I also work nights 10p - 6a and like dave I make it home around 6: 30 am but get up around 1pm to exercise. I schedule my meals the way I work. I eat my meal every three hours. Two meals at home the other one at work. I save my snack for work, but I will not eat for hours before bed time. If I feel hungry I usually drink water and the hungry usually goes away. My.diary is also public
  • TexasNurseMom78
    TexasNurseMom78 Posts: 897 Member
    I have been working nights as a nurse for 6 years. I think that is ultimately a huge part of what made me gain a lot of weight to begin with! Crazy hours, eating crap and sleeping all the time. But since I had lap band in feb I have had to make huge changes and fiound that it really isnt that hard. First off, I always try to bring my own food. I make way better choices that way. Ieat before I go to work, around 5pm a real meal, not just a snack, another meal around 11pm and then a snack around 3 am. This way I am not starving when I get to work and not full when I go to bed. I try to stay in the 1200 cal range and have been finding that easier than i thought too. I like Fiber One 90 cal bars, greek yogurt, string cheese or special k crackers for a snack. I like tuna, salad with proteins, or hicken and veggie stir fry for a meal. And I try to stay hydrated too. Eight glasses of water a day. I like to use the single serve crystal light or any sugar free drinbk mixes b/c I get bored with plain water all the time. Hope this is helpful! Oh, and I only exercise on my days off, which ends up still being 3-4 times a week which is pretty good!
  • jiggly23
    jiggly23 Posts: 6 Member
    Thanks for your input!
  • gailygail99
    gailygail99 Posts: 582 Member
    there are some official night shift threads on here that you should check out. i have been working graveyard for 8yrs. i always eat at the same exact times so i stay on track on the nights that i work.

    i work 4 nights a week, 10hrs a night. i work from 8pm-6am. on the days that i work, my schedule is as follows

    get up at 530pm, meal#1 at 630pm, leave at 715pm, snack at 12am, meal#2 at 230am and meal#3 at 7am.

    I then work out, sometimes have a snack, and then go to bed around 10am. Then it all repeats.

    I also changed the names of my meals to meal#1, meal#2 and meal#3 so i dont confuse myself.

    on my three days off, i try to eat at normal times like a normal person. :tongue:
  • lacroyx
    lacroyx Posts: 5,754 Member
    I work graveyard 11:30pm -7:30am. I log my food from when I wake up till I go to bed. I then will start a new day in my food diary when I wake up to go into work again. Excercise can be tricky. I find going to the gym right after work around 8am works for me. Also with my work load I am able to take breaks through out the night and I go out on 15-30 mins walks an jogs during my shift. I'll bring a change of clothes too.
  • bbb84
    bbb84 Posts: 418 Member
    I work swingshift and just count from midnight to midnight.... I find that the only thing that really seems to hinder my losses is not sleeping enough. Other than that you just have to balance out what your body needs while you are on shift. For some its a meal or two and for others it may be a meal and a snack to get you through. Just listen to your body!
  • ejohndrow
    ejohndrow Posts: 1,399 Member
    I work late nights as well 6pm-6am. On the 1st and 3rd day of shift there is mandatory workout time from 1:30pm-2:30pm (oddly enough my workouts are terrible on these days-I guess because I just don't want to be there). For me, my caloric intake relies on a few things: where I'm posted, how long I had to pack my meal before work, and what I ate before work. The days when I make myself get up at a decent time, I make a decent 'dinner' and then healthy snacks to eat at intervals throughout the night I don't feel the need to eat a bunch of crap. But it also depends on what I'm doing at work-there are nights when I just literally sit there in front or back of an airplane for 12 hrs. We aren't 'supposed' to have anything on us aside from study material for work-at times it feels like eating is something to do in order to not fall asleep, so these days I try and bring veggies to snack on. Although I won't lie, usually my last day of the work cycle I say screw it.
  • ajmaasdam
    ajmaasdam Posts: 1
    My wife and I work the night shift as nurses, we work out at 4pm, eat dinner after then take a regular lunch with 3-4 snacks we eat every couple hours at work. Make the snack something you can eat quickly, and be sure to eat your whole regular lunch, we do usually around 2-3am, I also drink a ton of water overnight and it seems to help keep me more awake and full in between eating. We do lots of fruits and veggies for the snacks and usually cook dinner for 4 people and just use the leftovers for the lunch.
  • gailygail99
    gailygail99 Posts: 582 Member
    My wife and I work the night shift as nurses, we work out at 4pm, eat dinner after then take a regular lunch with 3-4 snacks we eat every couple hours at work. Make the snack something you can eat quickly, and be sure to eat your whole regular lunch, we do usually around 2-3am, I also drink a ton of water overnight and it seems to help keep me more awake and full in between eating. We do lots of fruits and veggies for the snacks and usually cook dinner for 4 people and just use the leftovers for the lunch.

    i also try to drink alot of water, usually about 3 bottles and bring fruit and raw veggies too. each week i try to change up my fruits and veggies though, because i get bored. this week it is cucumber, celery, cauliflower and a clementine. i guess i am going with the "C" group this week. :laugh: and i always cut them all in advance on my first day back. i will put them in sandwich baggies so i can grab one out of the fridge before work on each night along with my other goodies.
  • jesster64
    jesster64 Posts: 109
    I do rotating 12 hour shifts. I switch back, and forth every week. I try to eat 5 to 6 meals a day, keeping my calories around 300 per meal, unless I exercise. I usually only sleep 5 to 6 hours per day when I am working, I catch up on sleep on my days off. On a night shift I will get home at 6, go to sleep, get up around noon, eat, workout, drink a post workout meal, then go to work. I will eat 4 meals at work every 3 hours if I can. My diary is open If you would like to take a look at it.

    Thats pretty much how I do it. I actualy eat better at work, every 2-3 hrs than I do on my days off. It takes some time preparing meals, but it can be done. I usually do lighter workouts, 3 exercises per muscle group while working and increase to 4 or 5 exercises on my days off. One day weights, the next day cardio.
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