Night Shift Tips

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RNamd23
RNamd23 Posts: 92 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I was on track with MFP and losing a decent amount of weight.... Then, I started working night shift and completely fallen off the band wagon. I'm so tired, on my days off I lounge and eat fast food. I haven't grocery shopped in weeks. On my way to work I'll pick up fast food for my lunch and dinner. And I snack like no other throughout the night. The only thing I do "healthy" is I try really hard not to eat after 12 or 1 am.

So what are your tips? The more convenient, the better because it's more realistically sustainable. Let me hear 'em!
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Replies

  • dfnewcombe
    dfnewcombe Posts: 94 Member
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    I work 3-12 hour night shifts a week (6:30p-7a). Food can definitely be your comfort working those hours. I pack my food and eat about every three hours. I usually have a 200 cal protein bar when I get to work. Around 10 pm I have whatever my dinner is- and this is usually a pre-packaged leftover meal from earlier in the week or frozen from whenever or a lean cuisine. Around 1-2 am I have a 200 calorie snack with protein- Greek yogurt with fruit- or sometimes a tortilla wrap (low carb) with grilled chicken strips and pico de gallo. Around 5 I have a cinnamon raisin bagel with 10 gram peanut butter if I can afford the calories or a double fiber English muffin with sugar-free jam. I go home and go to sleep by 9. I will have a light breakfast when I get up and then get ready for work again. At work I drink from a never empty coffee cup- black coffee. I do try to take a 1 mile walk after work.

    We have a candy drawer at work, so if I don't go prepared I will sabotage myself. I have only been logging again for a week- so you would have to go back several months in my diary to see my nights shitfts. I relabeled my meals to time ranges for logging and I basically log from 0700 to 0700.
  • Solar07
    Solar07 Posts: 83 Member
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    I'm so happy to have found you. I'm in the same boat. I thought this was going to be easy, just don't eat through the night. Yea right?! There is food all over that place that people bring in. My weight is starting to creep back on. I hate it! I've been stopping at McDonald's on my way home then falling asleep.

    Starting tonight I'm taking fruit, portioned out - cherries, grapes - and drinking only water. My break is at 3am so I don't usually eat but do a sudoku puzzle book to keep my hands busy. Maybe it's your water intake? Mind if I friend you?
  • dfnewcombe
    dfnewcombe Posts: 94 Member
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    When you can- get to the grocery store and replenish your pantry, but until then rather than stopping for fast food, stop at the grocery store and buy your food for the night- one or two lean cuisines (or any individual frozen meal) pre-packaged salad, or yogurt, a fruit, and individual tub of instant oatmeal. Just as easy to pick up as fast food- not as good as you can make yourself- but it can keep you on track.
  • CharlieICURN
    CharlieICURN Posts: 89 Member
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    I'm in the same boat. When I started working nights the weight just piled on. I work 3 12 hour shifts and on my off days I maintain a regular schedule since I have a small child. I am constantly tired. At work people always bring cupcakes and crap and there's always pizza and other stuff. When that 3am lull hits I find myself standing at the vending machine looking for something to munch on to stay awake. It's terrible. I feel like I have no self control. I just started packing lunch and packing enough healthy snacks for the night so I hope I can be disciplined. It's so hard.
  • lacroyx
    lacroyx Posts: 5,754 Member
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    I found sleep is very important. If I lack sleep, I will be constantly wanting to graze on food to help me stay awake while at work and thus, going over my calorie allowance for the day. I work 5 nights a week, 8 hr shifts. I typically sleep from 2/3pm until 10:30pm. Everyone is different but I found getting consistent sleep habits really helps.
  • tech_kitten
    tech_kitten Posts: 221 Member
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    Best you can do is plan ahead so your emotions/nerves don't cause you to grab high calorie bombs. Bring frozen meals, pre-made wraps, salads, etc, so that you can reach for that. It may take some effort to make sure you plan it out, but if you're at the store, you can grab this stuff just as easy as a pizza.
  • dfnewcombe
    dfnewcombe Posts: 94 Member
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    lacroyx wrote: »
    I found sleep is very important. If I lack sleep, I will be constantly wanting to graze on food to help me stay awake while at work and thus, going over my calorie allowance for the day. I work 5 nights a week, 8 hr shifts. I typically sleep from 2/3pm until 10:30pm. Everyone is different but I found getting consistent sleep habits really helps.

    Yes, definitely this- and it is a vicious cycle. I eat more the more tired I am for comfort; and then I don't sleep as well and it goes on and on....

    The hardest part I have is my first night. Since I am awake for 24 hours, I try to spread out the calories and tend to go more hungry during the day before. That is how I got in the habit of starting the shift with a protein bar. It helps reset my "clock."
  • RNamd23
    RNamd23 Posts: 92 Member
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    Thanks for all the pointers! I'm just having a hard time. I've been on nights since mid-April and feel like I still haven't found my groove in life. I sleep at weird times and have a hard time getting things done cuz I'm wide awake in the middle of the night--not a good time to run errands. And my eating has gone downhill with everything else.

    When I was working days I was doing really well eating Lean Cuisines and just some small snacks throughout the day. On nights, that feels like no where near enough food. It's probably because I tend to have more down time, but a struggle nonetheless.
  • dfnewcombe
    dfnewcombe Posts: 94 Member
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    How much say do you have over your work schedule? How many nights a week do you work? I try to work my 3 12s in a row and usually the same 3 nights. I am awake all day before my first night and then I go home- take a short walk to clear my head and then hopefully sleep until the afternoon. I plan nothing on the days between my night shifts, but if I wake up in time I may go for a walk or a run when it is not too hot. I do sleep on the last day for as long as I want into the afternoon and usually sleep that night as well- it gives me one 24 hour awake day and one 20 hour-ish asleep day if I feel like it. Sometimes I plan an easy, no brainer event on that day to wake me up for a while before night time. The next morning I am awake and get going with appointments, catching up with housework, errands, meeting with friends, good workouts, etc. I can usually do the 3 okay- once in a while I will add a 4th because of scheduling needs at work- that is a little harder for me and I feel like I am out of touch with the rest of the world for too long. My kids are not little so I don't have a lot of things that I have to worry about while I am working.

    Get a good supply of containers and store your meals for work and grab them as you go out the door. If you do start storing individual portions of leftover meals that you have already figured the calories- tape a note with the nutritional info on the container. If you can vary them a little so that you have 200, 300, and 400 calorie meals- you can pick what you want based on the calorie balance you have...
  • kar328
    kar328 Posts: 4,152 Member
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    I do the 7P-7A shifts three times a week. I eat a real dinner before I go (busy hospital unit where breaks don't usually happen) and bring lots of foods/snacks I can just grab when there's a chance like hardboiled eggs, cheese, sunflower seed butter (new addiction) apple slices and peanut butter, baby carrots, etc. I package out things like the baby carrots when I buy them, it's so much easier to just grab a few bags out of the fridge and toss them in my lunch bag. It helps keep the temptation away when the coworkers order food at 2 AM because there's nothing beneficial to me to order at that hour.
  • tkdchick2016
    tkdchick2016 Posts: 38 Member
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    I work rotating shifts, so I work a lot of 12 hour night shifts. I try to treat them just like a day shift. If I stopped eating at midnight I would eat my own arm! Timing of your food doesn't matter, the amount you eat does. I will have my breakfast when I wake up, usually head to the gym, snack after then off to work for 7pm. I'll have another meal before midnight, then basically healthy snacks after that until I head home at 7:30am. Some convenient snacks are nuts, yogurt, individual cheeses like string cheese or Babybel, fruit is easy to grab and go or you can pre-cut veggies and put them in ziploc bags/containers so you can just grab them.
  • Bearbo27
    Bearbo27 Posts: 339 Member
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    I usually eat a small protein full breakfast in the morning right before I go to sleep. I don't sleep too much most days though because I have a toddler at home. I sleep better on the days she is in preschool. I eat a small dinner with the family in the evenings. If I can, I will take a small nap in the evening. I always save about 1/3 of my calories for a small meal I will bring with me to work and eat at around 10-11. I usually don't eat after midnight but that is my personal preference. I always make sure that I eat lots of protein so that I stay fuller longer in those long stretches of my awake time. I also bring 32 oz of water to work and I make it my goal to drink all of it before I leave in the morning.
  • RNamd23
    RNamd23 Posts: 92 Member
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    Thanks for all the tips. I work 3 or 4 12s a week (anyone that is a nurse or works healthcare knows that that easily translates in to 13+ hour shifts). My problem is on my days in between I sleep and nothing else. I'll sleep from like 8-4, then get up and get ready for work. I do nothing productive, including packing a healthy meal :/
  • spyro88
    spyro88 Posts: 472 Member
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    I work 12 hour night shifts as well (I rotate between nights and days), and I agree with tkdchick2016. You have to just try and reverse yourself and treat a night like a day... I'd be a mess if I didn't eat after midnight because my shifts are 7-7. That's 7 hours without eating, then I have to drive home! No chance.

    So yeah, if I'm on a night I try to limit my eating during the day because that's when I'm less active or sleeping. I'll have a light meal before I start the shift and then eat most of my calories through the night to keep me going. Just plan carefully and spread your food out sensibly.

    Good luck!

    If anyone else who works nights want to add me please feel free! Good to have support :)
  • spyro88
    spyro88 Posts: 472 Member
    edited July 2016
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    The other thing I do when I'm on nights is I count a calorie day as running from 12am-12pm. I find it helps me because then when it gets to midnight my calories refresh. I try to have my main meal before midnight and then some snacks/ cereal in the early hours. It's just a way of thinking about it - you still eat the same amount in the end but for some reason it helps me :) It's all about routine.
  • fotofreak01
    fotofreak01 Posts: 397 Member
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    I work 3 2nds and 2 3rds every week while we are down a dispatcher. That time between my last 2nd and my first 3rd is the hardest because I'm awake so much longer so I don't eat my first meal until later in the day. Anyway, what I have found that works best for me is to just keep things that are easy to pack for work. Cleaned and sliced fruits and veggies, nuts, sandwich thins, oats, stuff like that. I will typically cook 1 actual meal every day except for the last 2nd, first 3rd day (because I wake around 9 and spend the whole damn day trying to take a nap..lol) but I make extra of that once a day meal. I currently eat between 4 and 6 times a day, every 3 or so hours. I was a huge fast foodie and boredom snacker. I have found, for me anyway, that eating smaller amounts of better foods, multiple times a day, keeps the hunger and snacking at bay.
  • merryward13
    merryward13 Posts: 1,662 Member
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    Glad I found this thread! I'm a nurse too. Night shift as well. What I found really works well for me is I meal prep during the weekend. Make all my meals for the week. That way whether I'm working or not I have healthy food readily available. Prevents cheating. I also throw protien bars and protien powder in there. The fast food is going to kill ya. I was doing that too. Every so often the unit would order out and I couldn't help myself. I've gotten a lot better. Had a wake up call and realized how unhappy I was at my current weight.
  • sattwellrn
    sattwellrn Posts: 12 Member
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    Rn too. I sleep in on my night shift then nap. I usually have a "breakfast meal" before my 7 pm shift. I will pack a salad then split it in my 12 hour shift. I will have my "supper" at about 9:30 pm. For snacks I pack fruit,cereal, yogurt. The thing that kills me is, I shop in the morning as I live rural, not always avoiding the crap food.
  • merryward13
    merryward13 Posts: 1,662 Member
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    Have you tried making a list for the grocery store and making yourself stick to it?
  • RNamd23
    RNamd23 Posts: 92 Member
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    maryward88 wrote: »
    Have you tried making a list for the grocery store and making yourself stick to it?

    That would be helpful... If I actually went to the grocery store. I'm trying to get back on track and have big plans to grocery shop after I sleep today.

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