nights shift and calorie intake

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jazijett
jazijett Posts: 8 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I work 630p-715a, on these days I make dinner and take it with me for my lunch at work. I dont have lunch till 2a or 330a. Do I count the meal as my dinner the night before or as breakfast for the day of? When I get off in the morning I'm starving, which makes it hard to sleep on empty stomach and it'd put me as two breakfasts or throw my lunch off... An thats bad for me either way I tend to wake up eat whatever is in hands reach and go back to sleep till its time to make dinner and go to work. Any suggestions?

Replies

  • Chvnsent
    Chvnsent Posts: 1
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    I work swing shift so I also have this problem, curious to see feedback
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    You can set up your account to show first meal, second meal, etc... As long as you stick with the routine, then it's the same as a person who works during the day. You just adjust your breakfast/lunch/dinner meal times.
  • lizard053
    lizard053 Posts: 2,344 Member
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    You can set up your account to show first meal, second meal, etc... As long as you stick with the routine, then it's the same as a person who works during the day. You just adjust your breakfast/lunch/dinner meal times.

    ^^^This works. If you eat breakfast at dinner time, you can call it either. It's your diary, set it up and use it how YOU want it. Simplify, your workday may cover two dates, but you could put it all in one day's diary, however you want to do it!
  • tinana_RN
    tinana_RN Posts: 541 Member
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    I would probably consider your time to sleep as the "end of the day".

    I did one overnight a few weeks ago and just switched over at midnight, but I'm also not doing them all the time so it's a little different.
  • sparklefly74
    sparklefly74 Posts: 40 Member
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    I work midnight until 730am. Sometimes I'm up for 24 hours at a time, so I created a meal called work food. So, I might eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and work meal. Days that I don't work, I don't eat my work meal and depending on the day, I might only two meals if I'm only up for 8 or 9 hours. Some days I'm a meal's worth of calories over my ideal, but the next day it usually balances out because I'm a meal under due to when I sleep.

    If I'm starving when I get home, I just have a light snack before bed and count it as a snack, not breakfast. I just eat enough so that I'm not starving and can't sleep, but usually I'm so tired I can fall asleep hungry.
  • amyreafleng
    amyreafleng Posts: 69 Member
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    I also work 7p-7a...I use the logic that the "day" ends at midnight...when I get up I eat dinner with family before going to work..then try to have my supper just before midnight...then I try to eat a light breakfast between 5-6 am...this is not always possible..but it keeps me on track and from binge eating
  • mccarol1956
    mccarol1956 Posts: 422 Member
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    I had a problem with this too. I solved it by changing my meal labels to 5 am - 9 am, 9 am - 1 am, 1 pm - 5 pm, 5 pm - 9 pm, 9 pm - 1 am and finally 1 am - 5 am. This solved my problem completely. When I get home in the morning, I enter my light breakfast in the 5 am to 9 am group and then continue this way throughout the day. It really has helped me keep things on track.
  • littlepinkhearts
    littlepinkhearts Posts: 1,055 Member
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    I have my meals numbered such as 1, 2, 3, 4 etc in my diary, which I find helps for nightshift and saves me the trouble of coming up with a name for the meal i'm eating lol. I eat what's called lunch I guess, at 4am and log it in the actual day that i'm eating it. When I get home around 7:30am, i'm not usually hungry, but go on the treadmill for 15 mins (then 15mins when I wake up) then head off to bed. I eat again when I wake up later on in the evening. Usually twice, before I head out to work. I do find it a challenge to say the least, to get my calories in every day. I find i'm eating in the car on the way to work a lot of the times just to get the calories in.
  • mommanurse33
    mommanurse33 Posts: 189 Member
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    Sounds like what I do. Thanks for the feedback!
  • jazijett
    jazijett Posts: 8 Member
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    Thank you soooo much! Good luck to everybody in their journey!!
  • hypersensitiveb
    hypersensitiveb Posts: 342 Member
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    Just keep a 24 hour schedule you can switch it at any time of the day that works for you just keep it the same time every day. As long as you hit your calorie goal in that 24 hrs your ok does not matter what meals you name them. You can even put all your 24hrs food in one slot.
  • yesthistime
    yesthistime Posts: 2,051 Member
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    You may like this group:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/508-night-crawlers

    And this thread:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/536410-official-nightshift-thread?error_user_id=1362324&error_username=yesthistime&page=15
  • jazijett
    jazijett Posts: 8 Member
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    Thank you so much love the group.

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