Best way to get the energy to workout on 3rd shift

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Fieldsy
Fieldsy Posts: 1,105 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I just went on 3rd shift 11:30pm-6:30am full time. I hear the most popular way to get adjusted is to go to sleep right when you get off work. I do this, but I can only sleep for 4-5 hours. After I am up, I have some energy, but nothing like what I am used to. Will my body just adjust to this? Any tips?

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  • Fieldsy
    Fieldsy Posts: 1,105 Member
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    Bumping this for late night people
  • awisegirl84
    awisegirl84 Posts: 82 Member
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    I too am a night shifter (1800 - 0600, 3 or 4 nights a week without any additional overtime shifts) but I've been on this schedule for the last 4 years.

    Working this shift will leave you tired, regardless of how much sleep you get, in my opinion. My theory is that it's because we aren't supposed to be asleep during the day and so we don't get the quality of sleep that we would when sleeping at night.

    Here's my routine:

    0500 - eat at work. Lately it's been refrigerator oatmeal (raw oats that "cook" overnight in milk and yogurt and I add in Chia seeds and miscellaneous fruit or peanut butter).
    0600 - drive home, arrive around 0645 (I take 6mg of Melatonin 1 or 2 days a week when I get home, but obviously check with your doctor/do research before taking any kind of supplement)
    0800 - in bed and sleeping no later than 8
    1400 - general wake up time. I fill a glass with water before I go to bed and I drink that as soon as I wake up, before I even get out of bed. If I'm hungry I'll eat a small lunch, maybe half a turkey sandwich with hummus.
    1530 - workout (I LOVE Jillian Michael's DVDs - 30 Day Shred and my new favorite, Banish Fat Boost Metabolism)

    Sometimes I wake up really early, maybe 1130 or so. I workout as soon as I wake up (even if I know I'm not able to give it my 100%) and then take a short nap again maybe around 3 o'clock.

    You'll find that your body will get in to a rhythm...even if that rhythm is that you're always just a little bit tired, even on your days off.

    I hope this isn't discouraging. I LOVE being a "lady of the night" :happy:
  • awisegirl84
    awisegirl84 Posts: 82 Member
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    BTW: AMAZING job on your weightloss!!!!
  • _hi_hat3r_
    _hi_hat3r_ Posts: 423 Member
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    I just went on 3rd shift 11:30pm-6:30am full time. I hear the most popular way to get adjusted is to go to sleep right when you get off work. I do this, but I can only sleep for 4-5 hours. After I am up, I have some energy, but nothing like what I am used to. Will my body just adjust to this? Any tips?

    Same here. I rarely go to sleep as soon as i get off. I stay up until about noon or 1 and just pass out until 8 or 9 and thats usually when I have my first meal for my 24 hour eating period. I workout as soon as I get home then have my PWO meal.
  • chrissilini
    chrissilini Posts: 77 Member
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    Awesome job on the weight loss. I've been working 3rd shift for 6 years I think. I'm one of the unfortunate ones that never has gotten used to it. I usually get to bed within an hour of getting home and sleep as long as I can. On a good day that's 7 hours. I highly recommend room darkening shades, a mask, anything so it's dark.

    I workout when I get up, then eat dinner. Do I have energy? No. I'm tired all of the time. It's the shift. The only reason I'm on it is because I need a job. I'm just passing the time until someone retires, gets fired or quits to get off the shift. But, some people love the hours. Hoping you will be one of them!
  • GFab
    GFab Posts: 75
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    I have been working 8pm-8am 3 days a week for the last 3 years, I didn't mind it at first. Now as I am getting older I am finding it harder and harder to do it. I am cranky, tired and moody <----wait, maybe it's because I am a cranky old lady lol. I go to the gym on my days off, I try to go 4-5 times a week.
    I didn't mind working the 11pm-7am, I still had energy to do stuff after work. I have been working overnights 11 years and it wasn't too bad. I wish you all the luck =)
  • lacroyx
    lacroyx Posts: 5,754 Member
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    I work 11pm-7:30am. I go right after work. I have some advantages. Where I work it's pretty laid back dress code. On planned workout days I just arrive into work wearing my workout clothes and bring a change of clothes, showering stuff in my gym bag. I have spurts of down time so I'll go outside and walk for 20-30 mins. I don't have distractions with family. In other words no S.O, kids, foreveravailable.jpg :sad: wait sorry for going off track...:embarassed: I also make sleep priority. I tried the broken up sleep but it doesn't work for me. 6-8 hrs straight. I found when my sleep good, I don't over eat to stay awake while at work and have plenty of energy to "exercise".

    My normal daily routine is:
    2-3 pm: Go to bed.
    10:30 pm: wake up, get ready and head into work
    11pm-6am: work, troll err......browse MFP forums, graze on my lunch at some point. if it's not busy go outside for a walk 20-30 mins.
    7:30 am: get off work head to the YMCA
    8am-11am: walk/jog the track, swim in the lap pool, lift things up and then put them down, attempt to dance like a drunk, blind, stoned ape in Zumba class.
    11am-1pm: shower, change, go home or go somewhere to get something to eat.
    1pm-2pm: get ready for bed. wind down, prepare lunch for work tomorrow, and the gym bag for the next planned work out day.

    working this shift has advantages:
    early to YMCA. less crowded, parking isn't a issue.
    being able to just arrive wearing my workout clothes makes the transition from work to the gym really easy. no excuses.

    disadvantages:
    social life suffers. I am in bed when most people get off work and do things
    I work weekends. I am off Mon/Tues so going out with friends is tricky since they are starting their work week while I am going off of it.
  • alexmommy
    alexmommy Posts: 76 Member
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    I did 3rd shift for 5 years, and always loved it! I am a bit of a night owl though, always have been. We had a group of us that would hit the gym immediately after work during week. Was always still wound up from working all night (had a physical job, unloading trucks and stocking shelves). So we'd work out, have breakfast, and then crash. If I had went home and went straight to bed I would have never been able to exercise. :)
  • NyxDominique
    NyxDominique Posts: 271 Member
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    I am a supervisor at a call center for the GY shift midnight-8am. I also do the hiring and firing.
    I can tell you that some people do adjust, and unfortunately others they never adjust and the shift destories them.

    If you were a nightowl before you started to work the GY shift you will most likely just take a few weeks to get into the swing of things, but if you have a family..school..kids sometimes that balance well it never comes. You try to continue to live a "normal" lifestyle but honestly you can't. Working GY is sorta like learning weightloss its a entire lifestyle change.

    As for me I have been doing GY since I was in highschool for about 7 years now. I love it, but I also had a mother who worked graveyard so I already knew how to live the lifestyle.

    You have to throw out "norms" such as breakfast is during the am.
    Hell, when I get out at 8am I want a find a steak, last thing on my mind in pancakes.

    I have two different schedules I follow depending on the day either
    9am Light meal (yogurt or such) then Sleep
    4pm Wake Up and find food (main meal)
    6-10pm Excerise, hang out with family
    10-11pm Get ready for work (Pack another light snack)
    **I find waking up at 4pm is too early for me though. I normally run out of energy by 8am. Which is good if you want to keep the same cycle, but I would rather be awake during work then my social hours

    Seconds schedule:
    9am Find food (main meal)
    10am-noon Run errands, shopping and such
    noon-8pm Sleep
    8pm Wake up Find food (light snack)
    9-10pm relax
    10-11pm Get read for work (pack another light snack for work)
    ** with this schedule I find I have alot more energy to make it through work, but as other ppl have posted it really limits your social/family time.

    As a result you just need to sit down and think up a plan; like you did for weightloss
    That will benefit you and your new lifestyle ^.^
    Good luck!
  • Fieldsy
    Fieldsy Posts: 1,105 Member
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    Thanks for all the replies everyone. I have a wife, but we are not having kids. I want to sleep right after work, because thats when my wife goes to her job. I don't want to sleep while she is home....we wouldnt have time to spend together.

    I got off at 6:30 today, went to bed at 7, woke up at 2. Not bad. I still feel kinda groggy....maybe it is the PMs I took this morning on top of being very tired.
  • deannabskinny
    deannabskinny Posts: 8 Member
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    i have just recently started the 3rd shift...i am ok with it..i just have to find when the right time is to eat and excersise...for now...i work 11-7am...come home have a boiled egg or something light and go to bed...hopefully i sleep till 1:30 or 2... i get up wander around for a while..then eat something with alot of protein and go to the gym....come home shower and 2x a week i go to a second job from 4:30-8......sometimes i go to the gym at 8-9 and get ready for work at 9:30...i have found i do what my body tells me...
  • BenjaminMFP88
    BenjaminMFP88 Posts: 660 Member
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    I worked 3 shift (2300 - 0700) for 7 years, over which time I had to develop creative methods to accommodate a workout schedule while maintaining time to spend with my wife and daughter.

    I found the best way to get in a good workout was to go to the gym right before it closed, just giving myself about 1-1.5 hours for my workout. I'd go home, get ready for work and eat my PWO at work, or on the way.

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