3rd shifter with questions.

OutDaWay · November 2011

Hi all,

So I have a simple question for other 3rd shifters and spouses out there. Our nights are filled with soda and sugar. If it's not us ingesting them it's our co-workers or it's at least readily available to us.

My question is,

How do you get and stay on a schedule with eating? I work Midnight (EST) till 9am. .but since I'm salary .. it's never a 40hours week. How do you keep yourself on track?

How do you stay awake at work. I work on computers all night so it's not like I'm walking around.... . if at all.

Anyone can jump in on this, but I'm really looking for people who actually know the hardships of working graveyard.

P.S : I'm starting back in the gym again in about a week. So I have to get back into my groove which normally looked like :

Home by 10am
Sleep by Noon
Up By 6pm
Gym at 7 till 9
Home (at this point I would have dinner)
then work
..rinse and repeat.

FireMama_24 · November 2011

Well I work graves and some swings.......my schedule is never the same so I track from midnight to midnight that way if I get called in or what not I don't need to worry about breakfast, lunch, dinner etc.

MegJo · November 2011

I have a bunch of friends that do shift work and I've found that everyone seems to find their own way to have it all make sense to them. There's a great forum on here called "Official Night Shift Thread" or something to that nature - you'll find a TON of great questions and answers from all different people on there.

I've posted the following a couple times in different places on MFP.. hope it helps!

Food:
I work 2000-0600 and on my days off I still keep a night(ish) schedule (I usually still stay up until 2 or 3am). Because of that I log my food all under the same day. So when I got up today at 1400 I logged into MFP and started plugging in my food for the day. I eat breakfast around 1600 then work out. I get to work at 2000 and usually eat a snack or something light. Lunch is around 2200. Then another snack or two around midnight. I eat dinner around 0230 and usually have some tea or coffee around 0430. I log ALL of this under the day that I woke up. So, I'm about to eat dinner and I'll still log it under Monday.

Tips:
-Plan and log ahead of time. When I get up I log into MFP and start planning my day. I decide what foods I want for the day and then plug them in to see what I have left over for calories. It has stopped me from eating and then regretting the decision. It also acts as a guide throughout my day. I can check my diary and see what I have left to eat and it helps me from feeling overwhelmed.
-Drink when you feel hungry. I drink LOTS of water because I love it but I also drink tea and coffe when I feel hungry inbetween meals which helps keep me full.
-Find time to exercise. I can't work out after a night shift. I'm exhausted and it also keeps me from falling asleep once I do go to bed. Personally I workout before work.
-Working nightshift it can be easy to not eat enough. On the nights that you're working make sure you're eating real meals and not just snacks. When I first started I felt like since it was at night I shouldn't be eating... I got over that quickly lol. I finally realized that I need to ACT like a person on a normal schedule so, I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, in that order. I don't have breakfast when I get home from work before I go to bed and dinner when I get up just because they happen to fall at the time a person on a day schedule would eat.

This plan works for me - you'll find something that works for you. I like to see my calories in and calories out all on the same page. I like feeling normal by having a breakfast lunch and dinner like a dayshifter. It helps keep me focused.

OMG - sorry for typing so much, I just feel for you!!! Doing shift work makes it REALLY hard to eat healthy!! My diary is open if you want to take a look!

Srumans · November 2011

I work nights also (6-630am). I'm having the same problem trying to adjust to my schedule. Fortunately for me, I work at a hospital that has healthy options for eating. I'm taking the stairs instead of the elevator when I can. As far as staying awake, I don't have much of a problem with that cause I'm the one waking the patients up various times a night! If you can take a 5 minute break each hour and walk around, go run the stairs if you've got them. Coffee helps me on slow nights. I like iced coffee best. Hot just seems like something that would put you to sleep! Stay away from carbs, like candy bars and chips. These will definitely make you tired. I think in your case, packing a cooler of healthy food is your best bet. And once you start working out regularly, your body will have more energy! I have even stopped drinking soda and went to coffee! About once a week I'll grab a coke. Hopefully I'll be ending that soon! Good Luck. Hope this helps!

jenniferhe · November 2011

I work nights also (6-630am). I'm having the same problem trying to adjust to my schedule. Fortunately for me, I work at a hospital that has healthy options for eating. I'm taking the stairs instead of the elevator when I can. As far as staying awake, I don't have much of a problem with that cause I'm the one waking the patients up various times a night! If you can take a 5 minute break each hour and walk around, go run the stairs if you've got them. Coffee helps me on slow nights. I like iced coffee best. Hot just seems like something that would put you to sleep! Stay away from carbs, like candy bars and chips. These will definitely make you tired. I think in your case, packing a cooler of healthy food is your best bet. And once you start working out regularly, your body will have more energy! I have even stopped drinking soda and went to coffee! About once a week I'll grab a coke. Hopefully I'll be ending that soon! Good Luck. Hope this helps!

I'm in the same boat as a 3rd shift night nurse. One thing that has helped me is plan my snacks around fruit and veggies. This helps so I get enough of those servings and they are not carbs/sugars. I usually plan on one meal half way through my shift. I try to limit my coffee but it is an essential. For every cup of coffee I drink I try to drink 4 cups of water. Since you work on computers are you allowed to take 15 min breaks to walk around? That may help as well. Wish you all the best!

geckofli · November 2011

i work 12.5 hr shifts my roster is 7day, 24hr break 7 nights 7 days off. i am a shot firer( working with bulk explosives on a mine site) so my job can be physically demanding. the scary thing is im eating the same, maybe a bit less then what i did when i was driving a truck. the one consistant thing i have done since starting on this new site is walk into the kitchen where we get our food with a vague idea of what i want and what its worth, as i grab what i want i write it down and when im waiting for the bus to leave i enter it all into my food diary on my phone.
because my industry is a higher risk one ie we play with explosives around massive machines intermixing with regular sized cars, if im having trouble with fatigue i use a pretrainer like mesomorph (im in Australia) but there are heaps of these on the market across the globe. i only use it when i need it and i make sure i have days where i dont use it.
Before i use the pretrainers though i get out and have a stretch or if im offsiding one of our trucks i keep wet wipes to wipe my face, when i was driving the trucks id put a vest and some fingerless gloves on and crank the air con as cold as it would go.
there will always be the odd occasion for safety sake you just have to pull up set your alarm for 30mins and put your head down, im lucky this works for me, everyone is differnet.
Sorry about the ramble i know fatigue managment better then i can spell and i hope this helps at least a little bit

gdr1976 · November 2011

I work 7p-7a, so I basically flip my whole day around. I log midnight to midnight. When my wife isn't working in the summer I go to the gym after work and now that school is in session I go to the gym before work. As far as the soda and sugar, not sure what you mean. I pack my own food and have a 50oz water bottle I keep filled all night. I also broke down my food diary into 6 hour incraments. Midnight to 6am. 6am to noon. noon to 6pm and 6pm to midnight. That way when I am off I can still log easily. Hope that helps

godslilgerl · November 2011

how many breaks do you get? and do you have workout equipment at work? i work swings 1400hrs to 0230hrs and this is my schedule on work days

up at 1030
1100-1200 workout
12:30 eat breakfast
1400 work begins
1615 first break - eat lunch
1905 40 min lunch- i walk for 30min on a treadmill 3.2 mph at 10 incline to burn over 300 cal then eat small snack like a granola bar
( i find if i don't walk on my lunch i will find enough food to fill 40 minutes and that is why i'm on this site

2200 3rd break- eat dinner
home at 0230-0300 and go straight to bed

berrieblu · November 2011

i'm another night shift person - i've switched to caffeinated teas and coffee to help stay awake when i need it. my favs are green tea with about a teaspoon of lemon juice and a little splenda or coffee with fat free cream (unflavored - and i measure it to keep from going overboard) and a bit of sugar-free flavored syrup. as far as avoiding the pop and all that, it's really a will power thing. i find it easiest to stay away from other sugary drinks by just keeping my water bottle at hand and doing my best to plan snacks and such ahead of time.

i also track midnight to midnight, but i reset the meal names on my trackers to time frames rather than normal names for meals. you can set up to six - for example, mine are midnight to 5 am, 5 am to 10 am, 10 am to 3 pm, 3 pm to 8 pm, and 8 pm to midnight.

stick with it!

xraychick77 · November 2011

i've been working thirds for almost 5 years now..i'm just used to them..i dont get tired at night.
i work in a hospital, which can be very busy one night and dead the next.

i am sure you can get up and walk around for a few minutes every half hour or hour or so..try that. i dont do caffiene..like i said i am used to nights and just dont get tired.

i usually go to the gym first thing after work. i work basically 7 to 7am. i go home, feed the animals, take the dog out and then go to the gym..i'm lucky because my work and house and gym are less than 5 minutes from each other.

i know how you feel about people brining in food..pretty much everyone knows i'll throw it away when i get into work, or either give it away to another deptartment. i well flat out tell the first shifters i come into relieve to either take it home or its getting thrown away. they all know i am a healthy eater and that i'll throw it away. so i give them an option and they know i'll do it. so i dont feel bad about it. other than that, i just have a lot of willpower. like right now, there are sodas and chips and pizza sitting back there..i havent touched, nor will i. i bring my own food, which is portioned out and calorie counted so i know exactly what i'm eating and that i dont have to eat their food.

OutDaWay · November 2011

I don't really get 'breaks' in the normal sense. I work with extremely time sensitive data. So the systems I monitor are monitored 24/7/365. I do have a counter part ... but I'll be honest because she isn't on this site... She's useless. I can get up and walk around and even leave if I need to.. I just can't time it to be 15 minutes every 3 hours of even in the same hour different days.

I've started drinking the Earl Grey tea my company has. It's not bad, but like most grave yard workers. I don't get tired very often while I'm at work.. unless I've been awake 24hrs straight which most of us do quite often.

@ xraychick77 Working our after work instead of before work? .. Don't you find it hard to get comfortable and sleep while your pumped up with energy?

ACowboyKid · November 2011

Hello! I usually work shifts completely alone locked in a building from either 7p to 6a or 9p to 6a doing heavy cleaning at a kennel but I have about 3 hours of down time. I also am a student during the day like today (to me it's still Wednesday) I have been up since 7:30a wednesday and am still awake now and will be up possibly until 7a which is when I get home. I don't work tomorrow but Wednesday I have the same schedule.

I don't drink caffeinated beverages (they have no effect on me so they are pretty useless to me and I dislike soda) and I try to avoid unnatural sugars unless it's something amazing but I usually enjoy things like that when I'm not at work. Honestly, I only bring a few prieces of fruit with me or some oatmel which I consume early in my shift (before 12p) then for the rest of the night it's only my water. Maybe a yogurt. If I go to the gym after work I'll make sure I get some protein in though. Also i'm on a 1500 cal doet with my days ending/beginning at midnight. This works great for me and I've been doing this for about 3 years now and applying the diet for the past 6 months. Sometimes it's tough but it's staying awake during the day which is becoming difficult.

My trick? Stay the most busy towards the end. If you can take your breaks early and make sure you're grinding at the end of your shift so your mind stays modivated and you're forced to think and perform at an acceptable level. Play music thats happy/bouncy/racey and exciting to keep you plotting along happily while you're working but enjoy it instead of letting it turn into background noise which can make you lull off. It will be difficult at first, maybe keep an energy drink on hand but don't use it unless you begin to nod out because it will make it harder on you. For me the sugar in them keeps me up but I'll crash something terrible later or have a more difficult time my next shift. Find what works for you and try different things. Maybe you're someone who really needs food for fuel, I thought I was, just wean yourself from it and keep happy n busy - it will pay off.

3rd shifter with questions.

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