Working night shift now

[josh120]

Hey all, just started working night shift, 2300 to 0700, and I was wondering what ideas were out there for eating/ workouts. I've been going to bed as soon as I get off and sleeping until about 1500. Then lifting about 1800-1830. My main concern is I'm not sure how to track my calories with this schedule, any ideas would be appreciated greatly. Thank you!

[deeks5443]

Hey all, just started working night shift, 2300 to 0700, and I was wondering what ideas were out there for eating/ workouts. I've been going to bed as soon as I get off and sleeping until about 1500. Then lifting about 1800-1830. My main concern is I'm not sure how to track my calories with this schedule, any ideas would be appreciated greatly. Thank you!

I can offer some advice on that as I have had the night shifts... Well, if u r fully committed to lifting you are going to have to basically revamp not just ur work schedule but everything else. Ur gameplan is tight as a drum but, and trust me ive been there, when u get on a day schedule for some wack reason, your lifting world is turned upside down, literally lol.

[dipatel13]

Set your block of 24 hours as you need to and get all your calories in during that time. Whether it's 2300 to 2300 or 1500 to 1500, keep it consistent.

[Heisman2]

Shouldn't be hard if you are constantly on nights; as dipatel13 said just shift your schedule. If you have to go back and forth (I do at times), it's much, much harder in my experience, and I still haven't figured out a good way to handle it.

[easymoney1146]

Yes, nights sucks for sure! I'm just like everyone else as far as info it's just 24hrs worth. Dinner with my family around 6pm is what I call my 1st meal ( or for day shifters this would be breakfast). I have snacks a couple of times after that and my "lunch" is at 0300 then I eat what is a traditional breakfast meal ( eggs, toast and such) after I get home before my wife goes to work. I'm still eating in the 24 hr window just that the "meal names" are back akwards from normal day folks. There are days when I have to flip shifts so I might end up with an extra meal, but when I flip back, I'm short one meal so it works out. Trust me the nutrition side is hard to line out so you feel good and energetic as I rarely do.

[Sweetums6000]

Shouldn't be hard if you are constantly on nights; as dipatel13 said just shift your schedule. If you have to go back and forth (I do at times), it's much, much harder in my experience, and I still haven't figured out a good way to handle it.

I go back and forth. Half the week I'm on days, half the week I'm on nights, so there are times when I'm making the switch from one to the other where I'll either be up for a day and a half or asleep for most of a day.

I track my food in 24 hour blocks (midnight to midnight), but when I'm bulking I allow myself some wiggle room on when to start the clock over.

So if I'm eating at 3am and I'm behind on my calories from the previous 24 hour period (maybe because I was asleep all day), I'll count those towards the previous one. Or if it's 10pm and I've used up my calories for the 24 hour period (maybe because I've been awake for while), I'll count it towards the next one.

So instead of always being perfect 24 hour blocks, some of them might be a little longer or shorter, but as long as I don't get too far ahead or behind it balances out and I stay fairly consistent throughout the week.

If I'm cutting though, I use midnight as a firm cut-off time, and do what I have to do to get my meals in during each 24 hour window, otherwise it might be too tempting to abuse it and get caught in a cycle of constantly "eating ahead."