Night shift! Im struggling to find a pattern

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jnicole11211
jnicole11211 Posts: 3 Member
edited January 2016 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello, I'm a 23 year old female struggling to lose weight. I am a mother as well as working a 2 2 3 schedule on night shift. I work 12-13 hour nights from 6pm-7-8am. I cut my calories and squeeze in excercise as much as i can. The days I do work, I sleep through the day then wake up cook my family dinner, pack my meals for the night and go bust out 12 hours. On my days off im struggling to eat on a "normal" schedule with my family. So far, i feel defeated. When i was at home with my children i was working at 6 days a weel 30 mins at a time and losing weight. I don't have issues with sweets and such...it's not something you would find in my household. Im stuck! Anyone out there working nights please help?

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  • ilex70
    ilex70 Posts: 727 Member
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    So by 2 2 3 do you mean that you switch from night shift to day shift? So a swing, 2 nights, 2 off, 3 days or 2 days, 2 off, 3 nights?

    If you only work overnight 2 nights a week then it might be helpful to stick with a daytime eating pattern every day and break up your sleep mid-day to eat a meal.

    Living outside the natural circadian rhythm is tough on us (slows metabolism, increases cancer risk), but some professions (nursing) require it.
  • emmycantbemeeko
    emmycantbemeeko Posts: 303 Member
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    Night shifts are tough. I worked 12 hour nights for a long time, and I noticed that no matter how I ate and worked out, weight loss seemed to stall during the work week- but I would still see expected amounts of loss on my days off. Having your schedule switched back and forth all the time messes with your circadian rhythm and hormone production, and 12 hour shifts definitely make eating right and working out a challenge.

    Some things I found helpful: Do portion your calories out appropriately for your nights at work so you don't hit an energy slump part way through the shift (I don't think "eating on a day schedule" is feasible on overnight twelves- you're not thinking clearly by 7AM if you haven't eaten anything all night!).

    Try to get up early enough to go outside and do some activity in sunlight to try to keep your energy levels and vitamin D production up- even if it isn't an intense workout, a brief walk or run in the sunlight might be more beneficial than an extra 20 or 30 minutes of sleep. I found this easier than trying to stay up after my shift and workout while I was tired- those weren't very good workouts, and I had trouble falling asleep afterward.

    Make sure your sleep is as deep as possible- disturbed sleep patterns are most of the reason for the health effects of night shift. Blackout curtains/eye mask, a white noise machine, and making it clear to your family that your sleep is more important than anything else- if they aren't calling 911 over it, they SHOULD NOT be waking you up on your days off. I assume you're in the medical profession? My mom was an ER doc who worked nights and one day when my brother and I woke her up in the middle of the day, she told us that if we did that again, she might be so tired at work that people could get hurt or die. It definitely stopped us waking her up for petty nonsense after that.

    Don't weigh on your work days. Stick to your eating and exercise plan, but know that having crazy sleep and waking patterns affects things like water retention and that when you weigh before or after a night shift, you're not getting a good comparison with days when you wake up in the morning and weigh after a night's sleep. It'll keep you from getting discouraged when you see natural fluctuations on work days, and you'll likely continue to see steady loss over time on your days off.
  • jnicole11211
    jnicole11211 Posts: 3 Member
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    ilex70 wrote: »
    So by 2 2 3 do you mean that you switch from night shift to day shift? So a swing, 2 nights, 2 off, 3 days or 2 days, 2 off, 3 nights?

    If you only work overnight 2 nights a week then it might be helpful to stick with a daytime eating pattern every day and break up your sleep mid-day to eat a meal.

    Living outside the natural circadian rhythm is tough on us (slows metabolism, increases cancer risk), but some professions (nursing) require it.

    By 2 2 3 .....work 2 nights off 2 nights work 3 nights off 2 nights. So on and so forth. Not in the medical profession, law enforcement. Thank you guys for the comments. During the days I work, I sleep then pack my lunch for what i would eat during the day. Breakfast lunch and dinner. On my days off i eat with my family on a "normal" schedule. Very challenging for me. I do my best not to feel discouraged. I was doing great before the night shift, went from 225 pounds to 173. Then i started working again on nights and have gained it back
  • tomteboda
    tomteboda Posts: 2,171 Member
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    I wouldn't try to flip schedules on your off days. I've been there, its brutal on the body. I found it worked far better to wake up 4 hours or so before work, and go to bed 4 hours or so after work, giving me time on both ends with my family.
  • kdblpn
    kdblpn Posts: 147 Member
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    I work 7p-7a. I start counting my calories for the day at 3pm. I wake up at 3, have a cup of black coffee and then vook dinner for my family. I eat with them then go to work. Around 9pm i have an apple or yogurt...sometimes both if im hungry. Then at 1am i eat lunch. Tonight i had fajita stuffed chicken, rice, and green beans. If i am hungry around 4 or 5 am i will have a snack...usually not hungry though. When i get home in the morning i eat a light meal before bed. I stay on the same time of starting my calories over on my days off. I will eat dinner with my family and a snack before bed. When i get up the next morning i have a bigger meal and later that day a snack. Then at 3 pm my calories start over again. This works really well for me because i always tend to over eat at dinner time. Now if i do i have all day to compensate for it and stay under my calories. It works for me. I started at 442 pounds and currently weigh 320.
  • rstandrew
    rstandrew Posts: 17 Member
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    I work 7p-7a. Sometimes I eat dinner aka breakfast at home before work. And then I pack lunch and dinner for work. Dinner is usually something normal soup, sandwich, leftovers outta the fridge just whatever sounds good. And my lunch calories I usually fill up with veggies. Carrots, celery, cauliflower and low fat sour cream mixed with ranch powder for a dip. Intake the veggies because I know I like to mindlessly eat when we have down time. I know I like that hand to mouth motion so I fill it with low cal foods that are crunchy and full of fiber. Keeps me from hitting up the vending machine. As for my days off dinner is about the only meal that is really at a normal time. Breakfast is whenever I get up. So if it's noon and I'm cooking eggs well that's breakfast. If at 3 I'm hungry and eat some fruit and rice cakes well that's lunch. I'm sure it's tougher with kids but if you're not hungry don't eat just because it's a "designated" food time. Aim for dinner with the family and fill in throughout the day when you're hungry. If you want feel free to add me. My diary is always open.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    It is really hard on the body to go back and forth to a different schedule every few days. Make sure that you are getting enough sleep.
  • fireguy262
    fireguy262 Posts: 263 Member
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    try packing your food and sticking with that. used to work on the ambulance 7p-7a, and we did street corner posting (no home base). the only food that was open was fast food. pack your food, and take some extra healthy snacks. that's atleast a start....and if your feeling up to it, try and get in a workout either before or after your shift. I found working out before, gave me a bit more energy for the shift, while working out after kept me awake longer after the shift. once you get into a rhythm and workout, you'll find that you have a lot more energy
  • nurse_moni
    nurse_moni Posts: 3 Member
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    I am a registered nurse (and wife of a law enforcement officer) and have been working 7p -7a for almost 11 years now. Fortunately I am blessed to be able to do my nights all in a row. One thing I have always struggled with is finding a good balance between getting enough sleep and exercising on days that I work. I would love to give you advice on what would be best, but you know your body and ultimately you have to get enough rest to be able to stay awake and alert enough to do your job safely. For me, that usually means that I don't always exercise on days that I work. I just have too many responsibilities during the period after I wake up until time to leave for work to fit in exercise (cooking dinner, homework, getting ready for work, etc;). I am also not a big fan of exercise before I go to bed as it makes it harder for me to fall asleep. I wear a pedometer and try to get in as much walking as I can while at work. I'm not sure where you work, but is there any way you could use your lunch time (assuming you actually get one) to walk around a track at a school or somewhere safe and well-lit? Good luck to you and stay safe!
  • Turtlemummy
    Turtlemummy Posts: 71 Member
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    Paramedic here, also 12hr shifts. When on nights, breakfast is when I wake up, lunch is before I leave for work, dinner is whenever I get a break, so anytime between 11pm and 5am. It's 04.25 here now and just had my dinner. Snacks are as and when. At the start of nights I just have a late (10ish) breakfast and late 4ish) lunch. When I finish, I skip lunch and do straight to dinner. Fairly easy to keep on track. For me, a day is from when I wake up to when I go to sleep. DInner now is counting as Friday dinner (yesterday, technically). Exercise has to wait until rest days, and when I'm on shift, husband and daughter look after themselves.
  • ladyraiah
    ladyraiah Posts: 110 Member
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    I work 10 hour nights (9:30p-7:30a). I used to struggle with trying to decide where to include meals since I view a "day" as from when I get up to when I go to sleep. So what I did was change my meal titles from breakfast, lunch, dinner to Midnight-8am, 8am-5pm, and 5pm-midnight and just include whatever I eat in each time block. Helped me to dissociate the idea that when I get up, I eat breakfast--but wait, this is dinner food aggghh! I get up around 4-5pm, eat dinner between 6-7pm with the family, pack food for work as I have zero access to anything but a vending machine at night, usually eat my work meal between 1 and 2 am, then I will either have a breakfast before I leave work between 6:30-7 am or have a little something when I get home. I flip to a normal schedule on my days off and just eat normal meals at normal meal times. I'm a volume eater, so I generally eat 3-4 moderate size meals rather than 5-6 small ones, otherwise I end up obsessing about my next meal all day. My diary is open if you want an idea, though I've only been back to tracking for a few days.

    Because my work days are so jam packed, I try not to worry too much about working out on those days. I almost always meet my step goal at work and sometimes I might try to fit in a little yoga or body weight exercise if it's slow enough. I'm hoping to maybe start fitting in a workout on my way home from work a couple times a week when I'm not too tired. Usually though, I just schedule gym time on my days off.
  • BrideSept2017
    BrideSept2017 Posts: 28 Member
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    I work at a youth shelter 10p-7a (6p-7a on weekends), and I have found that sticking to my schedule even on my days off works the best for me. I get up around 6 and eat supper (logged as breakfast) with my family, bring a frozen or pre-prepared lunch and a light snack with me to work. I eat a light supper (or whatever fits into my goal) as my sisters are eating breakfast before school. I walk a couple miles, then go to bed around 10 am.

    On my days off I may adjust my bed/wake up times by a couple hours either direction to accommodate plans with loved ones, but I keep the same basic structure.

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