3rd shift

Options
meraki78
meraki78 Posts: 43 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
ok, where are my 3rd shifters? I need some guidance. 1st week in May I'm starting a new job and it will be on 3rd shift. How do you plan your meals and stay on track to maintaining healthy meals and losing some weight, I don't have much more to go (10 lbs more and then I will just be maintaining my weight). Currently I have 3 meals that are approx. 400 calories each and then a couple snack which gets me to around 12-1300 calories per day. I also like to stop eating approx 2-3 hours before I go to bed. Any suggestions/help is much appreciated.

Replies

  • ForeverSunshine09
    ForeverSunshine09 Posts: 966 Member
    Options
    It all depends on the breaks at your job and how long after work that you go to bed. I worked 3 rd shift for 3 yrs. I pretty much at the same I did during the day just at night.
  • meraki78
    meraki78 Posts: 43 Member
    Options
    I'm a nurse so I won't have set break times :(
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
    Options
    You just "shift" around your eating habits and not increase your calories. After all, calories can't tell time :smiley:
  • strikermiz
    strikermiz Posts: 34 Member
    Options
    I'm an RN on 3rd shift. Since I usually sleep through my normal lunch time, thats what I normally take with me to work. I also bring a greek yogurt and some fruit for breakfast that i eat at shift change so I can go home and sleep. Along with tons of healthy snacks. I tend to be more "hungry" on night shift. I think my body just craves the evergy to stay awake. Then I have dinner with my family before going into work.
  • meraki78
    meraki78 Posts: 43 Member
    Options
    strikermiz wrote: »
    I'm an RN on 3rd shift. Since I usually sleep through my normal lunch time, thats what I normally take with me to work. I also bring a greek yogurt and some fruit for breakfast that i eat at shift change so I can go home and sleep. Along with tons of healthy snacks. I tend to be more "hungry" on night shift. I think my body just craves the evergy to stay awake. Then I have dinner with my family before going into work.

    Makes sense thanks for the feedback-great ideas. I've done 3rd shift years ago and think I put on the most weight during that time because your right you tend to be more hungry, starving for energy. Thanks a bunch!!
  • strikermiz
    strikermiz Posts: 34 Member
    Options
    One last thing...I use my fitbit to make sure I'm moving enough at night. Even when im super busy at night I find myself at the desk a lot with my nose in the charts. I make sure I take walks frequently and do extra rounds on my patients. I am required to clock out for 30 minutes per shift so I actually use that time to take a 25 minute walk outside. Gets me moving and the fresh air wakes me up.
  • lindaloo1213
    lindaloo1213 Posts: 283 Member
    Options
    Im a 3rd shifter. I work from 9pm to 6am. I plan my days and count my calories from 6am to 6am as one day. I sleep as soon as I get home for an hour and ten about another 1-2 1/2 hours when my 2 yo naps. Some days I will get a nap before work but not often. My two days off I treat as time I wake to time to hed for calories. It has been working pretty well for me. I just try not to eat an hour before I sleep or I have horrible reflux issues.
  • lindaloo1213
    lindaloo1213 Posts: 283 Member
    Options
    I also bring lots of healthy snacks to work and eat something every 2 hours.
  • hncary
    hncary Posts: 176 Member
    Options
    I work from 4:30pm to 4am and for me I try to save a good amount of calories for nights just because I tend to "bored eat" while I'm at work. I have a desk job and don't move much here though- you may not have the same problem being a nurse. I just try to bring healthy lower cal snacks to keep in my office for when I feel the need to munch and drinking coffee also helps when I'm hungry, but out of calories for the day. I just make meals for my family before I leave for work and eat mine later in the night. I also keep stuff at work for the days I may forget my lunch or not have had time to make one since all that is open at night is fast food/pizza (I try to keep soups, peanut butter crackers, instant oatmeal, granola bars, etc.). There aren't as many healthy options at night as far as eating out goes (at least around here) so being prepared with a lot of healthier options for me is key.
  • SophiaSilfaery
    SophiaSilfaery Posts: 19 Member
    Options
    I work as an RN on 11pm-7am shifts. What works for me is to TRY and eat about halfway through the night, something like soup and bread (500cals ish) and then have breakfast (anything between 150-400 cals) about 8am before I go to sleep. Then I wake up and have dinner at the normal time about 6-7pm and go to work again. If I don't eat breakfast when I get in I find I wake up starving and overeat.
  • DonTorres77
    DonTorres77 Posts: 1 Member
    edited April 2015
    Options
    I was a 3rd shift nurse for 14 years. The best advise I can give you and others in 3rd shift is 'get out of 3rd shift asap!' No matter what you do for your health, third shift will negate it all. There's a reason they call it the graveyard shift. That's where you will end up eventually if you stay on third. I got off graveyard shift 6 years ago. Most of my ex coworkers are sick, dying or dead. Please take my advise.
  • stephanieluvspb
    stephanieluvspb Posts: 997 Member
    Options
    I'm an RN, I work 12 hour shifts, 7pm-7am. I just track midnight to midnight. I bring lots of cut up veggies and fruit to snack on, popcorn.
  • jaslyn684
    jaslyn684 Posts: 3 Member
    Options
    I work 3rd shift but sporadically, which can make things tricky. I typically bring a protein shake with me and have that anywhere from midnight - 2am and eat a light snack around 4-5am, or if that doesn't happen - cook up something when I get home but then I don't always wait 2-3hrs before sleeping, which isn't good. I tend to crave bad for me things on midnights so I've found it's very important to bring your own food. I typically have another light snack when I wake up and have dinner at a normal time. I can't say I've figured it out yet myself and I've been midnights sporadically for 5+ years. Hope this helps. :)
  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
    Options
    I'm a medic, and work all over night shifts (12 hours) starting at either 6pm (1day) and 9pm the other two days. We have NO breaks, they just do not exist. You can call for a bathroom break, but you can still get a job (although if you are still in the bathroom, you can tell them you are unavaliable). We get no meal breaks (you have to eat when avaliable) and there are days that we clear the hospital, just to be handed another job.

    I too wear my fitbit, so I can eat according to how busy the night is. I changed my meal names to reflect when I am eating: 12am-6am, 6am-12pm, 12pm6pm, and 6pm to 12 am. I stick with 24 hour blocks so that it matches with my fitbit burn. You will eventually get into a routine that works for you. For me- I bring small snacks that can be scarfed down in a minute.
  • exlucio
    exlucio Posts: 1 Member
    Options
    I'm also an RN doing 7p-7a. Worked this shift for years. I track midnight dinner. I do flip my days when off so it gets a little crazy when starting the shift or coming off. I usually eat before I leave. Pack leftovers for about 11:30. Try to keep fruit, veggies and nuts to snack on. I usually drink a protein shake about 5 am because I'm rarely hungry at that time but I plan on working out when I get off and I need the extra energy. Today I was getting ready for my night shift so I ate some eggs with pico about 9am then slept till 2:30 had a piece of fruit. Then I made dinner for he family and ate about 5:30. I snacked on nuts at work about 8:30 because let's face it you need portable snacks you can eat and run. The. Ate my leftovers about midnight. All that went on one day. So after that my shake will go on the next days.
  • meraki78
    meraki78 Posts: 43 Member
    Options
    Curious as to how my body, hunger and energy will respond to working 3 nights then off 2, working 3, off 2,working 2 then off 2. Crazy how we nurses work!! Typical 3rd shift say in a factory is straight 5 nights then off for 2. How do you feel when your schedule is so back and forth. I was an LPN for about 4 years and then went back to school for my RN and have been an RN now for 3 years. It was when I was going back to RN school that I worked 3rd so I could go to school during the day. Anyone who works in healthcare knows how crazy and stressful school is maybe that's why I put on extra weight during that time. I guess I will have to eat normal meals and at times for when I'm awake. Hard part is going to be fighting those cravings and at times starving for energy and no pop!! I haven't had any since I started MFP this time around so it's been 90 days.
  • mcan108
    mcan108 Posts: 6 Member
    Options
    aes1219 wrote: »
    I'm an RN also :smile: I am going to be moving to night shift next week (7p-7:30a). I was trying to plan my sleeping and meals out as well! I know that when I get off work in the morning I am way too tired to eat anything and I go straight to bed. I am planning on taking in healthy snacks to work and I'd I get a minute to grab a bite to eat.

    Random, my name is also Mandi :wink: not many people spell it with an I instead of a y :smiley:


    I am also a Mandy nurse
  • hekla90
    hekla90 Posts: 595 Member
    Options
    Well you put on weight because you ate more. My biggest suggestion would be to bring your food, after 11 pm we usually only have vending machines or food trucks available. I usually try to eat at 11 pm after my major med pass at nine, catch up on charting at 10 and eat because you never when things are gonna go *kitten* (for me usually 2 am it seems and while I can easily not eat until then if I get super busy I might not have time too- I have been spoon fed soup by a co-worker before sticking my head out of the patients room because I literally couldn't leave lol). I really am a fan too or energy packed snacks: lately I make my own trail mix of sorts with roasted chick peas, dry roasted edamame, those baby yogurt melts, and nuts if I have the extra calories. The edamame is awesome for energy and really shutting up your tummy for a long time. That said I look forward to my nightly Diet Coke or light vanilla coffee monster (it's only 100 calories for a huge can and its not soda/carbonated and so much fewer calories than if I get Starbucks or try to make the unit coffee drinkable).

Categories