Night shift Cal. count

**obelia** · 09-09-2010 01:37 AM

I am haveing a hard time decideing what I should count as my day and how I should play out my day. I have been working night shift in a RCF for long time and I work by myself. I have started the bad habit of boredem eating and really need to shake it. I also need to loose weight for health reasons. I'm 27 and vegetarian w/little to no dairy. Right now I eat a small "breakfast" at around 3pm when I wake up, exercise around 4pm. My household is ready for supper at 6-7pm so I usually eat with them. I then take some left overs or a meal to work and some vegetables to snack on. I want to start counting my calories and writeing down what I eat. I tried midnight to midnight and time I wake up to time I go to sleep and both always make me feel like I'm not doing it right lol. I guess I just need some input from others because there is really no way to do it normal for me lol. So inputs please.

**kygirl** · 09-09-2010 07:16 AM

What time do you go to work? Is there anyway you could have the dinner be your first meal and eat around 6:00 then eat again maybe around 10:00 and 2:00 or 3:00? I can imagine it'd be hard. For me though, This might help, I have about a 12 hour eating schedule. So I usually eat my first meal around 8:00, lunch around noon, dinner around 5:00 and I often have a small snack mid-afternoon or around 7:30 or so. I try not to eat anything after 8:00 pm. On weekends I dont' get up till about 9:00 so I try to eat before 9:00.

I think you have to figure out what works for you and just try to calculate within a 24 hour period. If you're going to bed at 8:00 am for example, I'd probably try to not eat a big meal or large snack after 6:00 am just like a lot of people won't eat after 8:00 or 9:00 pm because of going to bed.

Good luck figuring out a schedule

**sourpuss** · 09-09-2010 07:44 AM

What do your meals consist of?

**KMonte85** · 09-09-2010 07:46 AM

I base my schedule from the time I get up, to the time I go to bed - and it works well for me! I think if you look at your schedule as the time you get up to the time you go to sleep, you will find keeping track of your caloric intake a bit easier... so for example, you get up and have breakfast at 3pm, you have you lunch around 6 or 7pm with your family (their dinner, but to you its lunch), and then you have dinner later at work. In between those meals, you have your healthy snacks... and try to stop eating about 2 to 3 hours before you go to bed.

I like the idea you have of journaling your food, especially since you're falling into the boredom noshing. It will really make you aware of what you're eating, when, and how much and will help you find the areas of improvement in your diet and eating habits so you can lose the weight you're looking to lose!

**obelia** · 09-09-2010 04:05 PM

I work from 11pm-7am. I use to eat bag of chips, cookies, pb&j and anything else in the kitchen at work lol. That is a pretty hard part, the fact that I hang out in a dinning room/kitchen all night lol. But its been 2 weeks, no cookies, chips, soda, etc... Now I take cucumber, carrots or brocoili to satisfy my chip craveing. The have a crunch to them. As for what I eat as my meal, usually lots of veggies with some pasta or all put in for a soup. I don't like tofu and eating all the soy burgers and fake meat made me icky so mostly beans and veggies. I eat my last snack around 4am because my morning gets busy from 5am-7a then I go to bed around 8-9am. I guess I am on the right track just gotta stick with it. I have lost 4 lbs this week but its 4 lbs i lost before and gained back. Thanks for the reasurrance and advice everyone