I started calorie counting 10 days ago and as of this morning I am down 7lbs. I know that a good part of that is likely water loss since I have started drinking about 100 oz of water a day, but I will take the drop in numbers without complaining.

I am an RN and I work 12 hour night shifts 3 days a week. I am having trouble figuring out how to count my calories when my week swings back and forth to being up days and being up nights. I have heard that eating on a regular schedule is best but I just can't see how to do that on my work/sleep schedule. Right now I am counting the calories from when I wake up until I go to bed rather than from midnight to midnight. Some days though I am up for 20 hours or more and it can be hard to stay in my calorie range and have enough energy to be up so long.

Any suggestions?

Wow that is a tough one... Maybe you could shoot for a weekly calorie goal instead? If you have a pretty solid idea of how much you should be eating each day- you could have more on your longer days and less on your shorter days? Eating mostly the same things every day really helps me too, it means I don't have to think about it so much.... I'm really bad at the "eat when hungry, stop when full" common sense- so I usually eat about 200-300 calories every few hours. Maybe if you just ate every __ hours, that would help keep your energy up while staying within your weekly calorie range? Just throwing some ideas out there-- I hope that helps somewhat!

I work 9pm to 9am three nights a week also and go back to sleeping nights on my nights off. I count my calories midnight to midnight but I don't stress out about days I'm over or under as long as I'm eating healthy. Sundays I'm often under between church in the morning and then trying to nap in the afternoon so I'm rested up for that night. Wednesday I'm sometimes over because I'm often awake for 24 hours (I get up at 7pm on Tuesday night and usually finally get to go to bed after dinner on Wednesday night). But I still count midnight to midnight mainly for the accountability.

I've been working some variation of this schedule for over a decade and lost 100 pounds in 2010. I've gained back about 30 because I went back to "sneaking" junk food in the wee hours when I was exhausted. Getting enough sleep is hard (as you well know, I'm sure) and without the sleep your hormones (especially leptin and ghrelin) really mess with your head. But counting mid-night to midnight as worked for me.

Good luck! We used to have a topic up in the support forums for shift workers but most folks caved to the cravings. Maybe we should start it up again.

Wow! This is a tough one.

I'd probably start counting at 8am and stop at 8am the next day... after a few days I'm sure I'd get used to it.

For me, a weekly calorie goal would be way too overwhelming. I wouldn't be an conscious on a day to day basis because of the huge number an entire week allows. I'd be too scared to run out of calories by the end of the week.

I recently just ended working 2 full time jobs..... and I had this issue at first. But, my general rule is.... no matter what time of day it is... when I get up from sleeping-- it is my breakfast.... and I eat 4 mini meals of 300-350 calories a day no matter what schedule I am on. Here is an example of when I was working both full time (right now, I am finishing up the 2nd one-- so I don't work as much). I am a 3rd shift dispatcher and I work in a doctor's office as a coder..... I am trying to transition into FT law enforcement.

I weight on Monday.... so it is a normal "day".
8am bfast
12 lunch
5ish supper
7ish small snack.

Tuesday starts my weird schedule... so I am a little over on that day... but
8am bfast
12 lunch
2pm I go home and try to sleep for the "night".
10pm (my shift starts) supper
2am snack.

Now, since I am only working one job on this day my eating is
12- breakfast
5 supper with the husband
10 my supper
2am last meal

I know it is confusing.... but maybe you can draw some ideas. It just makes it easier for Breakfast to be after sleep

I'm often up for 27 hrs at a time. I plan my foods from midnight to midnight. Avoid the junk food at the hospital.

Hi. I used to do weird shift work too. I wrote what I ate and then averaged for a week. So at least I knew what I was eating in total over 7 days and compared this to my weekly goal. You could do this over shorter periods if it's easier. So 8am Monday to 8am Wed. I guess you could do it over whatever period makes it easiest for you. It's tough though. I always ate more when I was awake longer. I had to, I just got hungry.

RN as well..nights (1-3/week, mostly wknds).
I just keep MN-MN eating schedule, even on non-work days.
I use MFP & I set the meals up in times rather than B, L, D, snax.
I use MN-7a, 7a-noon, noon-3p, 3p-7p, & 7p-MN. When I'm hungry, i eat. I dont breakdown 400 cals/meal & 200 for snacks like some people do. That plan never worked for me. I do conserve cals toward the end of the day. I never know how ravenous I'll be later & once my cals are up, i can't eat again until MN!

Also, that whole "don't eat after 6pm thing" was a bad choice for me as well, especially when i've got 14-16 more hours to be up!

Hi all!

I work in healthcare also (not a nurse though). And I have a lot of irregular shifts. Mostly evenings (3pm-11pm)/half nights (10pm-2am). I find it especially hard to space out my calories properly. Mostly because I keep sort of the same sleeping schedule. But the intensity of my day gets moved around. I also feel worried about exercising too much during the day when I know I still have to work. How do you gals deal with that?

Interesting to read your stories. Must be just horrible working full nights. I already dislike the 'half' ones. Hihi.