Night Shift Nurse Please Help....

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Hello, I need some advice I work nights and when I get off I go to gym, my daily goal is to burn 1000 calories doing cardio(5 days a week).From there I eat breakfast and relax and I am usually asleep by 11am. I wake up at 4:30pm and eat dinner and off to work. During the night I may eat some fruit, but I mostly drink lots of water. The problem is my calorie intake is around 900-1000 or so. Therefore my net may be -100 or 500 calories.Please Help.. I dont want to force myself to eat all night long. Any advice

Replies

  • Misty1984
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    I also work some nights at a local hospital I like to pack some popcorn and maybe some 100 calorie granola bars!! Best of luck to you!! :happy:
  • staywithit
    staywithit Posts: 19 Member
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    As a nurse myself, who worked night shift, I think you need to treat your night as your days... so as you are sleeping throughout the day you should be eating at night like you would during the day if you were awake. Set your times aside as breakfast lunch dinner, i would normally finish with my breakfast as i was going off shift around 5 am and have supper as my main meal before going to work, with a lunch at around 0100 hrs and include snacks in between. Hope this helps
  • APhoenixRising
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    Holy cow, how long do you have to work out to burn 1k calories?!?! Go you!!

    Only advice I have is to try to eat some of the foods that are high in healthy calories...nuts, avocado, low-fat dairy, that kind of thing.
  • BigDaddyBRC
    BigDaddyBRC Posts: 2,395 Member
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    Get some pre-made protein shakes. EAS & Muscle Milk have them for relatively cheap. Additionally, take small snack bars like the Kellogg's Fiber plus, if nuts are allowed. Also, Get more sleep. You need it.
  • Teliooo
    Teliooo Posts: 725 Member
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    When I do a nightshift, I treat my evening meal as lunch and eat my dinner around midnight to 1am. Eating minus net calories is crazy. You may eventually plateau. You need to sleep more too. x
  • Teliooo
    Teliooo Posts: 725 Member
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    As a nurse myself, who worked night shift, I think you need to treat your night as your days... so as you are sleeping throughout the day you should be eating at night like you would during the day if you were awake. Set your times aside as breakfast lunch dinner, i would normally finish with my breakfast as i was going off shift around 5 am and have supper as my main meal before going to work, with a lunch at around 0100 hrs and include snacks in between. Hope this helps

    That is exactly what you need to do.