I work on Black Friday. HELP!
 

Alright, I'm at a department store. We're closed on Thanksgiving, and I am scheduled to work from 11:30pm Thursday night to 11:30am Friday morning. Yep, a 12 hour shift and they've promised to feed us. However, I feel like between this and Thanksgiving, my whole ball game is going to be thrown out of whack. My plan for Thanksgiving was to just, well, eat Thanksgiving food and not eat anything else, haha. But then with this whole working in the middle of the night thing, which I never do, I don't know how I should handle it! Because the way the other employees have told me, they're planning on giving us two 30-minute breaks to feed us, so I'd be eating twice. In the middle of the night. I don't eat then, lol.

But what about Friday after I get home? It's very possible that I'll end up eating half of my day's worth of calories just that night (if not all of them; my limit is 1370); I have no idea what they plan on feeding us, and Lord knows if they're feeding a mass of people, it's not going to be healthy in the slightest. I don't know if I should just bring my own food; I feel like that would be weird if everybody else is eating what the store provides. But whether I ate my own food or their food, there's still the rest of my day I have to worry about. Ugh! Should I just eat light after I get home and go back to eating normally once everything's said and done? This is so confusing!

Bring your own food - if someone comments, just say you are picky/paranoid about buffet food/forgot they were feeding you. I imagine when you get home you will crash for a good portion of the rest of the day, so save some room for a snack later and you should be good. Running around for 12 hours will burn more than you're used to anyway, so I say pay attention to hunger, don't eat just because you are stressed/tired, and start fresh on Saturday.

Black Friday is ridiculous. I'm sorry you have to work!

This. I bring my own food when in situations like this because most times the food is junk. I usually say "I wasn't sure what would be here" or I say "it was going to go bad, I wanted to finish it off before it did!"

If the food is "safe" then all you now have is the next day's lunch all ready :p

I wholeheartedly agree. Definitly bring your own food, who knows what they'll be serving.

Personally I wouldn't worry about it.

It's one day. Relax.

I 100% agree.

The restaurant my husband works at is catering for Target's Black Friday. They ordered a ton of food for their employees for the night. It totally sucks because he has to go in on thursday to help set it up meh.

Anyways.... I am sure they will have some healthy options- fruit plates, veggies, salad probably?

You could nibble on some healthier options and just ignore the rest. Easier said then done lol But eating some won't kill you. If they have two breaks can you take yours away from where all the food will be? Like even if you have to go sit in your car and read or something lol

Goodluck!

:dust:

I agree with the "relax" thing. I worked Black Friday at my job at Old Navy last year and it was an absolute nightmare. Just because they say they'll feed you, doesn't mean it's going to happen.

Stick some apple slices and carrot sticks in your pocket and munch when you have a minute. When you get your break, which in all honesty MIGHT be ten minutes long, have a tuna and pita sandwich and drink lots of water.

The day will be so long and hard, food will be the last thing on your mind!

I do all-nighters occasionally. I don't usually eat when I do them. The weird sleep schedule makes me a little nauseous anyway. Maybe you could go for a walk during the break? I would totally prefer that anyway. Even if I'm on my feet all day, walking makes me feel way more energized than sitting and having to get back up and work again. Just a thought. (Do make sure you stay hydrated, though! That's what usually KILLS me, just in terms of being able to function and stay focused.)

Chill!

Seriously. One day will be fine. And if you have to work in an extra 300 calorie middle-of-the-night meal to keep going, so what? You're also on your feet working and burning more than a normal day, too. Life happens, you plan and do the best you can with it. Eat what the give you, pack your own stuff, whatever. Don't let this derail you beyond this one day and it will not even be a blip on the radar.

The problem comes in when you let it drive you off plan for longer than the one event. Don't do that and you'll be FINE :)

I would just take it one hour at a time. If you're truly hungry, eat. It's only a blip on your overall nutrition, so don't worry too much.

I agree with the others here... who have suggested to try and not make yourself too stressed out about how this may affect your plan overnight... You may actually find that you're not that hungry since you're not used to being up all night...

But the one little piece of advice that I can offer, as someone who has had to work many nights with 24 hour on-call coverage (my background is as a critical care RN)... Is I would be more concerned with getting as much sleep as possible before the start of the shift... Trust me it will make a difference... It's going to be a shock to your system no matter what, but if you are up all day on Thanksgiving and than work all night... It's not going to be pretty... If you can try to get at least 4 or 5 hours of sleep before the start of your shift... It might make the difference from it just being really hard to it being pretty miserable... I know that was always the case for me...

Good luck... and I hope this helps...

You all have helped me to see that I am obviously overreacting, haha. I guess I just felt like I've been doing so well and then the potential of two days in a row being wrecks is just like BLARGH. It probably wouldn't be so "blargh" if I was in the middle of a weight "decade" instead of on the verge of breaking into a new one -- I feel like I'm about to break through to the 160s and I don't wanna mess it up, lol. But ya know, it probably won't even be a set-back.

What would I do without you guys?? :D

Well, if you're on the verge of a break through, just let that power you through! It always worked for me. And I agree 100% about bringing your own food. Apples, veggies, a small amount of peanut butter or a few nuts. And set yourself up for success by staying away from large portions on Thanksgiving. Get a good nap before you go to work and then crash for part of the afternoon when you get off - you can't eat in your sleep! Go for a high protein / low carb-sugar supper on Friday after your afternoon nap.

And realize it's just one night. I never worked retail and can't imagine working Black Friday, but my bet is you'll work off whatever you manage to eat. IF you actually get a break to eat. Report back to us - know we'll give you a gentle kick in the butt if you fall too far off! That should help, too - make yourself accountable!

Lin

I used to work in retail when I was in high school/early part of college, and I'd always end up working Black Friday. One year they didn't even do anything, even though they said they would, so everyone was starving because nobody brought lunch with them. The next year, I brought my own lunch, and the management ended up bringing in catered BBQ from a local place. I might have tested out a rib or two, lol.

Since Black Friday is a crazy day, and just one day, I wouldn't worry about it. If you want to bring some healthy snacks to work (carrot sticks, nuts, etc) so you don't eat as much "bad" food, that would work, but personally I'd just eat whatever they bring in. You'll probably burn it off running around the store, anyway. Just don't go crazy, and get right back on plan on Saturday.