I'm still trying to figure it out..lol:bigsmile:

I have breakfast on my 4am break, lunch when I get home at 10am then sleep to 3-4ish pm, dinner with the family at 5-6, walk with the family after dinner (at least we try to), kids in bed at 8, do strength training for 15-30 mins, sleep til 10, go to work.

I can hear ya on when to eat and when to work out. I have been working nights for the past 12 years as well. Its tough for us night crawlers. Fortunately I work 3 - 12 hours shifts. 7p-7a. with the occasional 4th shift in there every couple weeks. My wife also works nights and works the opposite nights. So trying to juggle our own schedules, throw in there 4 kids ranging from 11 to 3 months. So this is how my wife and I have done it. She has changed her labels on MFP to meals instead of the normal breakfast, lunch, dinner. Mine are still the same. I still eat to a somewhat normal schedule. Dinner is still dinner, because it is our family time. Snacks are what I log throughout the night. I eat breakfast before I go to bed in the morning, and If its my day off lunch is obviously lunch. Its hard to have a normal eating pattern, but its also as hard to have a normal pattern working nights. So you have to try to figure out what is best for you. Especially if you are working as many hours as I think you are. As far as exercise goes. I used to workout after I got done work. Drop half the kids of at school and then hit the gym. However we quit the gym and I now have a road bike setup on a indoor trainer, for the cold months, and have been riding at night after the kids go to bed on my off nights. When I work out in the AM it seems to help me sleep better, and then when I workout at night it puts my day at ease and finishes the day, helps me fall asleep at night.

As I tell my other half, you have to make time for yourself to work out. You spend so many hours for others, 30-60 minutes a day out of 1440 each day is not that much.

Hope you get some ideas from the responses.

Good Luck.

I changed my food diary to have only one section called "my foods" simply b/c my life doesn't fit around breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I work 7p-7a in ER. I consider the start of my day when I wake up whether it be 2,4,5pm and the end of my day when I go to bed (8,9,10am). I bring light and quick meals (some prepared in advance) and plenty of healthy, fulfilling snacks to work with me. I try to eat something about every 4 hours whether it be a meal or light snack. It keeps me from binge eating and having hunger pains. Planning ahead of time is key for me.

Yeah, I get confused on my days off. The days I work, breakfast is around 4pm. Lunch at midnight. Bedtime snack around 5 or 6am. But sometimes I like to be awake during the daylight hours. Get some of that Vitamin D. Then there's the problem of calorie counting. My calories go from 2pm-2pm. But then I worry that I'm overeating, because I have a whole new set of calories at 2pm when I might have had breakfast and maybe even lunch before then. I've been trying to workout when I get and up and before I got to bed so that I have more calories to play with.

I like to think I live on the edge so my problem is pretty tough and I def haven't figured it out. I am a prn worker so I usually pick up 3p-7a shift 3-4 times a week. The other eight hours is left for travel and sleep. I usually only sleep 4-5 hrs due to traveling 45 min to work one way. Therefore I need major help on when to eat.

My eating schedule consists of breakfast when I get up and every 1 to every 1 1/2 I'll eat a small snack and by 8 or 9 a clock I'm eating my final meal which are all small meals and do it all over again the next day. I'll usually work 2 or 3 days in a row. In this case right now I'm working on my 3rd 16 hr shift.

I have set rules that I will not eat 4 hours before I go to bed and to not go more than 2-3 hours w/o eating something so it's pretty difficult to abide by the rules and continue to try and reach my goal w/o cheating.

Bottom line is I need help on when to eat and I also need to figure out how to prevent craving for food from 10p-5a that I haven't seemed to figure out how to get rid of...

Night shift meals are tough and so is exercise. I work 7pm-7am at two jobs with different situations in having meals. At one I'm always on the go, which usually means convenience store food. At the other I have to stay in one place with access to a kitchen. I try to work the timing about the same.
I get home around 8am and have a cup of joe, a light breakfast and do chores 'til around 1030.
I sleep from about 1030am til 3pm - give or take, depending on the day's workout.
I"m a runner, so I usually workout for 60-90 minutes after I get up. Water and at most a banana or granola bar before working out.
Back to work at 7pm. I usually try to eat dinner just before, but usually after I get in to work. Ideally I pack my food for work, but that's 50/50 at best. Dinner at this time also keeps me in line with my day shift family dinner when I'm off.
Snack and coffe around 10pm.
Night lunch at around 1am.
Sweet tooth around 3am. I'm a baked goods addict. This is a tough one. Pack fruit.
Packing food for work is the best plan. Buying food on nights usually results in significantly higher calories. I'm on the East coast and our convenience store chain is called WAWA. They have really recognized that folks want to eat healthy and have by far the most healthy options.
The toughest days are my days off when I get home from work at 8am and my dayshift family is home. I usually stay awake for the day, which means I eat almost 2 days of meals in one day. Two steps forward, one step back.

I'm still trying to figure it out..lol:bigsmile:

haha me too..... have been for 6 years... :laugh: There is no right way, it's weird any way you do it.