Overnight Shift

ftsolk
ftsolk Posts: 202 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So, I'm in a bit of a predicament at the moment.

I work as a personal shopper at a grocery store (a job that has me actively walking/moving 6-7 hours a day 5 days a week.) Due to commitments with church, I am not available to work on Sundays. However, I was told by my boss that working this upcoming Sunday is mandatory with Thanksgiving right around the corner. The only way I will be able to do that is if I offer to work overnight.

Currently, I am scheduled to work 11am to 5pm Saturday. Before work, I have a class (it's at 7:30am, so I'm up by 6:30). After work, I'm celebrating Thanksgiving with my closest friends (I'm not doing anything to celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday).

If I work overnight, I'll have to be back at work by 10pm (right after my dinner), and I'll be there until 6:30am (I will have 2 15 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch break, so I can sneak in a little sleep there). Afterwards, I have to drive to a friend's house because we're carpooling to church (I'll be able to get about 90 minutes of sleep in between). After the main church service, I may be able to catch a quick power nap in my car, but I have other commitments, so I'll be out of the house until around 7:30pm.

I'm going to try to negotiate a few things- like my hours Saturday (see if I can get off earlier in exchange for working overnight), and I'll probably see if my friend(s) can drive this time so I can sleep in the car as much as possible, but I'm worried that this will affect my weight loss efforts. I was already planning on taking Saturday night off for the "holiday", and not sleeping will definitely impact my meal schedules, etc. I'm already finding myself slipping with holiday celebrations starting early (I have something tomorrow), and my motivation at the moment is zip (I blame the cold I woke up with).

How do you stay on track with eating after staying up for over 37 hours with little to no sleep? Or should I just take a few days off from measuring and tracking and give myself time to recover without the stress of trying to stick to my goals?

Replies

  • Vcorz
    Vcorz Posts: 75 Member
    All I can tell you is keep logging and be careful! Night shifts can be a killer of fitness! One very thin woman I knew ballooned from a size 2 to a 16 after one year of being a night shift nurse! Be careful and you can do this.
  • ftsolk
    ftsolk Posts: 202 Member
    Vcorz wrote: »
    All I can tell you is keep logging and be careful! Night shifts can be a killer of fitness! One very thin woman I knew ballooned from a size 2 to a 16 after one year of being a night shift nurse! Be careful and you can do this.

    Fortunately, it's just a one-time thing, but I'm just worried I'll have a hard time getting back on track afterwards. I also find that if I have a planned day off (like for a holiday or special event), it's really hard for me to stay on track before and after the event.
  • ftsolk
    ftsolk Posts: 202 Member
    On the bright side, I'm looking at an extra 8 hours or so of walking during a time when I'm usually sedentary, so all my Fitbit friends are going down!

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