Any Night Shifters out there have any eating and exercise ad

elaina_m
elaina_m Posts: 16 Member
edited September 28 in Health and Weight Loss
I am a Registered Nurse who works the night shift. I tend to work my 3 nights in a row and switch to the day shift on my days off. I don't always do this but I often do. I was wondering, how do you schedule your meals? I work 7pm--7am. Should I try and work out when I get off of work in the morning and eat a small meal before bed? I have over 100lbs to lose and it was recommended to me to work out twice a day. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Replies

  • yepratt
    yepratt Posts: 26
    i'm working now i sleep during day and eat a lot of protien at night. since it's hard for me to exercise when i work 3 nights in a row, i'll walk steps down and up 8 flights 3-4 times a night i'll do some chair situps and i also keep my resistant bands in my bookbag to do some arm work so i'll get it in!! keep me posted
  • hstallings13
    hstallings13 Posts: 306
    I work night shift and switch myself back to days on my days off, which means my first day off it usually a 24+ hour day, but I do my workouts when I get up wether or not I'm off. I find that if I workout before I sleep I don't sleep as well cause I still have all the adreline(sp) rushing through me. On my days I work, since I sleep when I get off and am awake in the evenings before I go to work, dinner is my breakfest and then on my days off I run it normally. Night shift makes it trickier, but you just have to find what works best for you.
  • sharleengc
    sharleengc Posts: 792 Member
    I work odd shifts as well. For exercise, I joined a 24 hr gym - Snap Fitness. While they may not have as many machines as a huge gym, it works well for me with my hours, I can go when I want and not worry about what time it is. Also, I try to go twice a day but at least once. My husband faithfully goes twice a day and he's lost 48lbs in 3 months mostly just with exercise.
  • TexasNurseMom78
    TexasNurseMom78 Posts: 897 Member
    I work nights as an RN too! usually on days I am working, I dont work out. It is just too hard for me with my schedule. But I try to work out every day that I am off. As far as eating, I try not to eat after 3 am when I am working bc I usually go straight to bed after I get off at 7am. Normally I eat a meal before work around 5 pm, another around 11pm and a snack at about 3 am. Hope that was helpful!
  • DakotaKeogh
    DakotaKeogh Posts: 693 Member
    I used to work overnights five nights a week. I'd flip on the weekends. But not too much or you end up with horrific sleep patterns. I treated after work in the morning just like I would have if it were evening. I ate a meal, worked out, hung out and then slept. When I got up in the evening I had breakfast food. Lunch in the middle of the night and then a dinner when most people were commuting to work. Once the apartment manager came to the door at something like 10am. I let him in to check something and he saw an open beer and commented. I tried to explain that for me it was 10pm. He didn't get it. I'm sure he thought I was a melting down lush. LOL
  • B3Streeter
    B3Streeter Posts: 292 Member
    I work overnights as an RN also. I schedule my meals and day from the time I wake up until I go to sleep. Regardless of if I am working or not. So on work days my day is 3pm until 8am. and on my days off I just switch back normally if I am trying to go back to the day schedule that the rest of the world lives in! It works well for me.
    I also exercise right when I get home in the morning, have a protein shake, then go to bed. If I dont force myself to do it then I will never do it! It sucks after 12 hour shifts but it is worth it to be able to go to sleep after and know you are done working out for the day.
  • Brandi110
    Brandi110 Posts: 1 Member
    Im a RN who works the night shift as well, on the night I work I take the stairs for exercise and work out at the gym when I get off in the morning. I eat oatmeal before I go to sleep in the morning. If I tried to go to sleep first I might not make it to the gym thats why I choose to just get it out of the way.
  • rosaura1991
    rosaura1991 Posts: 1
    I work from 11:30pm to 8:30 am and for a while I have found it challenging to fit in a healthy and stable workout/eating routine. I have recently been trying to get atleast two hours of exercise a day. So I have been running on my elliptical for an hour and then working out with a video ( hip hop abs or billy banks videos usually) for another hour. I also do squats and such while I am at work. The only problem is I don't have a steady schedule for working out sometimes I am too tired to do so after work but then working out before work leaves me too tired to function at work (unless I manage to squeeze in a nap before I go in ). I guess its just a trial and error thing to see what works best
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