[TraceyElaine]

Anyone else work shift work and have trouble balancing their diet? I work 8 hour shifts 7-3, 3-11, 11-7. and if I am working late or at night I am starving. I mean if I am up at 7am with my kids then work an 11-7 night shift, like if its my first one in a set of them, I feel like I either eat too much or not enough. Anyone master this mystery?

[Vladadog]

I work three 12 hour overnights, the last of which runs in to the daytime to finish up my 40 hours. I've been working overnights for over a decade - sometimes four 10 hour nights, sometimes the three 12's. They all really mess me up.

SUnday's my one switch over, so I get up for church and while I may grab a quick nap in the afternoon pretty much I'm up till about 11am Monday morning. Then sleep all Monday and head back in to work. Tuesday night I get up around 7pm and don't get to go to sleep again till about 7pm on Wednesday.

I count calories midnight to midnight no matter what my hours are. I figure being over or under on some days due to my schedule are a form of calorie cycling. I just focus on eating whole foods and being aware that my hormones may make me feel hungry even when I'm actually not really hungry.

The hormones leptin and ghrelin get really messed up when you work overnight and/or don't get enough sleep. This quote from a webmd article on sleep disorders really sums up the problem:

"When you don't get enough sleep, it drives leptin levels down, which means you don't feel as satisfied after you eat. Lack of sleep also causes ghrelin levels to rise, which means your appetite is stimulated, so you want more food,"

I've learned to think "should I really be hungry right now?" at night because 9 times outta 10 it's the hormones talking.

[Moozie]

hi TraceyElaine,
as a nurse I also work shift patterns. mainly early and late day shifts.
however i do nights and find the same problem- if your up all day and then work A night, when do I eat.

what i try to do is think of the number of meals i should have over a set period of time-
so if i am working on monday night, ending tuesday morning. then i say i will have 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 2 dinners, from monday morning up untill tuesday night. then i spread them out-
it doesnt matter when i have them, as long as i dont have more. so i might have breakfast normal time monday, skip lunch at midday, but still have my main meal in the evening. then i might have my lunch during the night, maybe have 2....
as long as over the 2 days it evens out i dont stress. If i work a couple of nights, i use the same principle. like you, some nights im hungry, some nights im not. so i may eat more in daytime.
i always drink lots,
anyway, hope hat helps a little.

[TraceyElaine]

That helps a lot. Thanks guys. I tried talking with some of the people I work with about it but I find everyone either brings nothing to eat at all and is searching the cupboards at work for baked goods and toast or they don't eat at all on backshift, just coffee after coffee (usually the smokers).

[Sabletora]

Hi! I am a nurse as well, I work a rotating shift meaning 2 days then 2 nights each shift is 12 hours and have been trying to figure out a way to count my calories I'm finding it tough. I was on weight watchers about a year ago for about 6 weeks but it found it wasn't working for me mostly due to lack of motivation but also due to the fact I had a problem with figuring out how many points to eat when I working my messed up schedule. I have just started using fitness pal and counting calories so I've come up with a plan for myself & hope it will work - the day of my first night shift I am usually up for close to 24 hours so I have decided to eat 1.5x my calories for this period. On my first day off I get off in the morning and sleep until early afternoon then try to be in bed by 11pm so on this day I am going to have 0.5x my daily calories. Tonight is the first night shift of my set and the first week I'm trying this so hopefully it works. I'll come back and tell you how it's working for me.