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Any nightshift workers here? How do you calculate your allow

tipsymoth
tipsymoth Posts: 28 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I have a busy job which means I work split nights twice a week. I don't generally sleep the day after my shift for long, 2 or 3 hours or so.

I feel like the calorie allowance I am given takes into account the fact that most people will spend at least some of their day in bed!

I have my general lifestyle set as "sedentary" as apart from pottering about the house, doing the school run, shopping etc I don't do much activity in the day, but my two shifts are FAR from sedentary, lol.

A general overview would be...
7.30 - Wake with kids
8.30 - School run
9.00 - Breakfast (porridge)
Potter
13.00 - Lunch (soup or sandwiches usually)
Potter again
15.00 - School run
16.00 - Nap
17.30 - Dinner (sausage casserole, curry and rice type stuff)
19.00 - Work
Run around like a loon
3.00 - Snack, porridge and toast
Run about again
9.00 - Home and breakfast (weetabix)
10.00 - Bed
13.00 - Up
Sometimes I will run if I haven't been out for a while
15.00 - School run
18.00 - Dinner (often heavily carb loaded)
22.00 - Bed.

I usually go over by 3-500 cals. I was wondering if I should add a few hours walking or something. The numbers don't mean anything I guess in that if I'm in deficit then I shall lose, but I don't like seeing that red!! And tbh, if I can have more, sometimes I really would like more...

I hope that makes sense!!!

Thank you all for your help in advance. I am off to bed now, at 11am, wired after a mental night of running about!

Replies

  • Accordgirl94
    Accordgirl94 Posts: 2 Member
    You Should really try to squeeze in a little more sleep. I used to work 3rd and I would sleep 6- 6 1/2 hours. I felt great and I could get in an exercise. I also play softball so that helped too. But don't get me wrong, I am still struggling with losing this 8 yr old baby weight. A friend of mine has given me a calorie goal of 1200 a day. Which is not too hard. There is a lot of proteins and little carbs. I can have carbs in the morning (your evening) but none after 15:00. She also told me to get my carbs from whole grain and try to stay away from "white" foods- pasta, white bread, potatoes, etc. It has worked. But I also got sick last week and I did not work out at all last week, so I'm in a holding pattern. Working night shift should be no different than working during the day. Sleep the same amount of hours you would on the weekend, eat foods high in protein/ low fat and try to squeeze in at least 30 mins a day of even just walking at a higher pace to get your heart rate up. GOOD LUCK!!!!
  • hannata86
    hannata86 Posts: 57
    Well actually its a myth that you don't use calories while you sleep, you probably use as many, maybe even more. Your body goes through a rest and repair cycle...

    Asides that its really bad for you not getting enough sleep and is known to be detrimental to weight loss
  • tipsymoth
    tipsymoth Posts: 28 Member
    Thanks both for your responses :happy:

    Ah, more sleep. A luxury I don't have just now, I just have to manage on what I have.

    A bit gutted it doesn't seem to "earn" me any more food though, any other thoughts on this??
  • Scampidoodle
    Scampidoodle Posts: 3
    I have a similar problem, I normally work 5 hours during the day, but two nights a week I work a night shift in addition to that for some extra cash. During these days I get about 2-3 hours sleep split into two hours when I get in and one hour before work.

    I'd have dinner but then by 2.30am when it was "Lunch time" for the regular night workers I'd feel starving and eat a proper meal and I was putting on weight.

    Things I do now:

    - Wear a pedometer - Mines got a quite accurate calorie burn, I worked out how many calories I burnt on an average night. I then log this as exercise to increase my calorie allowance. While you don't necessarily burn more calories being awake, I can be sure that I wont be doing 7000 steps in my sleep. I then use this to calculate what size night meal/ snack I can have

    - Change meal times - I have a snack when I get in (banana), one when I get up after the two hour nap (small breakfast), a later lunch and then have my evening meal as late as I can manage before work so that I don't get so hungry. Don't go to bed straight after a meal, after a busy two days I'd eat a carb heavy evening meal and flop so I tried to make this a lighter option.

    - Change what I eat - Switched to lighter options during the night, I have a banana now with half a can of soup. I try and think of it as an extra meal not as a meal in itself. Or sometimes I half my evening meal and then have it during the night.

    - Try not to go to bed after just eating something - I used to have breakfast when I got in from work, then sleep, or at the end of the two days I'd be so tired that after a massive carb heavy evening meal I'd just flop. So I try to eat something lighter on that evening.

    Not sure if any of them are useful/ applicable to you, as I guess changing meal times/ what you eat is probably quite difficult with a family. Good luck!
  • tipsymoth
    tipsymoth Posts: 28 Member
    The pedometer idea is fantastic, I'm sure I can manage to clip one on somewhere, thanks.

    I tend to have porridge in the night (a sachet made with half water and half milk) and then I usually have toast and butter too. I have got better, I used to NEED a Snickers bar to get home on, but when they ran out I haven't got any more, so dropped 300 cals or so in that one hit.
  • tipsymoth
    tipsymoth Posts: 28 Member
    A little bump for the evening crowd... (Hmm, in the US would that make it the lunchtime crowd???)

    :flowerforyou:
  • robot_potato
    robot_potato Posts: 1,535 Member
    I have breakfast at work (4am), lunch at 10 am when i get home, sleep 4ish hours, dinner with the fambly at 5 or 6 and a walk afterwards, snacks when appropriate, exercise once kids are in bed and back to work at 11pm. I've yet to go over my calorie limit and i don't feel hungry often. I eat plenty of proteins and do my best with everything else. I work 11pm-9:30am 4 days a week and live like a normal person on weekends. Ooh and i sleep a lot on fridays.
  • tipsymoth
    tipsymoth Posts: 28 Member
    Thanks.

    My hours are slightly different, I have to leave before the kids go to bed (I do 12.5 hour shifts and so leave at 7pm and get home if I am lucky at about 9am.) So I have to do a run just after my sleep and before I pick up the kids.

    I think my short sleep means that I am squeaking in an extra meal, I suppose I need to try and drop that somewhere. I didn't have it today but still ended up 108 over. That was because dinner was DELISH and I went overboard on roast veg and cous cous with my salmon (wellington, eek, which is where the cals were, in the pastry) Which is a big improvement on previous piles of tuna pasta bake that could have sunk a battle ship.
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