[TwilightMom]

I am a registered nurse and I work full-time midnights. I either work 7p to 7a or 11p to 7a. I have a hard time with turn around (meaning going from my family's normal day shift schedule I follow when I am off vs my preferred night shift schedule I have when working). I work 4 nights a week and my days on and days off are not always consecutive. I often find myself on one or two days and then off one day to be back on one or two days.

I want input from swingers and midnighters on how you manage to stay on task with SB and how do you manipulate meals for turn around?

[FatPantsSkinnyJeans]

Hey there!
I do 7p-7a x3/wk as well. If you do a search for "night shift/graveyard shift" you'll find the thread I started a while ago on the same topic! Lots of helpful hints there.

Good luck

[Mmckellen]

Wow, that is hard! Lots of us here number our meals, rather than designate B, L, D. Also, you don't have to eat breakfast food for breakfast. I guess on your shifts you should maybe bring a meal and two snacks, just like you would if you were working during the day. Do you have a fridge at your job? If not, can you buy a cooler? What about a microwave? That would make things easier. Good luck!!

[shelflife]

I'm a medical resident, and call shifts screw me up so badly.

I always feel like I have to eat whenever there's a spare moment because I'm not sure if there will be any other free minutes later to scarf down my lunch, dinner, snack, etc. Of course, if it winds up being quiet, I wind up eating too much. When 3-4am rolls around and I'm at hour #22 of being "awake", I naturally reach for sugar to keep myself going. My post-call day is often spent in zombie-haze binge-fest mode.

I don't have much advice, but I find planning ahead and having lots of snacks on hand really helps me resist when someone puts out the box of cookies at 2am. I still really, really struggle with it though

[TwilightMom]

Thanks for your help. I find that I do ok until 3am rolls around. It seems like at 3, I go bingey beserk! I am going to take snacks, but how limited am I in P1?

[LGW]

shelflife: we are doing the same thing! I was thinkning about starting a resident thread...I've made it through 3 calls OP...I'm not doing SB

[shelflife]

Originally Posted by LGW

shelflife: we are doing the same thing! I was thinkning about starting a resident thread...I've made it through 3 calls OP...I'm not doing SB

Hey LGW! Let me know if and where you start it! It's good to know I'm not the only resident struggling with my weight. At my institution it often feels (and appears) that I am!

[TwilightMom]

Originally Posted by Brown

Why would you eat any differently based on what shift you're working?

Brown,

Because we have what I call "turn around time." Meaning, my morning starts at 4p, I eat "breakfast" at 5 or 6 pm with my family, I have "lunch" at 2am (or as close to that as I can), and then I usually drop "dinner" because I don't want to eat at 8am when I am heading to bed at 8:30am. When I am working straight, I have no problem, but when I have "turn around time" I have to figure out when to eat to be on schedule with my family so we can enjoy time together, on the regular day shift schedule (i.e. the normal family life schedule). Turning around usually causes me to miss a meal or two OR I over eat and have a meal or two extra. And when I get tired, I binge eat. The turn around time causes me the most problems, along with missing my last meal of the day (which should be at 8 am or so).

Also, for those of us working in the medical field, the times I have set to eat lunch likely don't happen. You know never know what is going to come rolling through the door just as you are about to sit down, or who is going to go bad as you put that first bite into your mouth. It's no wonder medical personnel are in bad physical shape!

[LGW]

shelf: I believe I am the only one LOL you are doing great with your loss thus far...do you have catered lunch also...every day? I've been off of our lunches for 84 days now I just eat the salad and bring my own lunch...for call I pack my B/L/D and some just in case items...but I'm used to not snacking and not eating after 7pm so it's actually been OK...and I've managed to push away the "cup of cake" the nurses have on stash for the evening shifts -- 4 more shifts to go in the next 2 weeks...if I can get through it...I am well on my way

[TwilightMom]

UPDATE: I have been doing really well at work. I am eating breakfast which is really dinner before I leave (between 5p and 8p depending on the shift I am working). I eat another "dinner" at 2a and I have been eating 2 snacks at work. Lately it has been a cheese stick and a cucumber.

I ate a 4" ear of corn and a small red potato (smaller than a golf ball) today. They came from our garden and I didn't want them to go to waste. They were delectable! I also had 2 small strawberries. So sweet and juicy! I think this is cheating, but I'm not going to call it that. I was testing the strawberries to see if they needed a sprinkle of sugar (my 6 yo is NOT on plan) and I couldn't waste the small potato and corn. I think the total amount of corn was less than 1/4 cup. I have lost 10 pounds as of this morning (day 5). I hope I continue to lose.

The snacks have been the key for me to stave off boredom hunger. I was tempted the last night I worked because the girls had chips and pretzels sitting around. The salt was tempting. I am so happy I resisted!!!!

[TwilightMom]

End of week one weigh in VERDICT: DOWN 9 POUNDS!!!!!

[ultimatebea]

WHOO HOOO!! Good for you -

Be well -