Night Shift & Eating

[iheartnursing91, BSN]

Hey fellow nurses,

I started nights only 2 months ago. So far its been working great. I'm getting along with my colleages, getting used to the new sleep schedule. I haven't been eating AT ALL other than a big dinner right before coming into work. It holds me up pretty well until about 3:30-4ish. I've been pretty good about not eating junk at night or buying fast food with the others. When I come home though, I'm wayyy too tired to eat so I just shower and sleep. I go to the gym on my off nights. I've always been pretty fit and I'm getting married in the next year, and really dont want to pack on the pounds before that.

Those of you who work nights, do you pack food with you? If so, what do you pack?

Thanks!

[missmollie, ADN, BSN, RN]

Everything, I eat everything. Night shift makes me ravenous.

Pack a protein and a piece of fruit to get you through that 3:30-4:30 time slot. You don't want to put your body into starvation mode.

[CalicoKitty, BSN, MSN, RN]

I try to be "good" and pack a lunch (either microwave dinner or something). Other nights, I just food delivery from my phone (some places are open late, otherwise, I just try to order before 10 or midnight and eat later ~2-3am usually. There is also a 24h coffee place and a convenience store across the street.

[brownbook]

I don't understand your post. When are you eating unhealthy or too much? A big dinner before work, you don't eat junk food or fast food during your shift, to tired to eat when you get home.

Are you gaining weight? I don't know how that could happen. Seems like you're not eating much.

Anyway other posters ideas about healthy snacks at work are good.

[NightNerd, MSN, RN]

Yeah, probably good to eat at least a couple meals a day - that's how my eating schedule fell naturally when I started working nights. I am not always the best about eating healthfully, but some favorite ideas are salads with egg/grilled chicken/other protein, piece of fruit, or just whatever leftovers I have from cooking on nights off. Lots of chili and vegetable soups, slow cooked meals with lean meats and veggies, etc. I bring a looooooot of popcorn as a snack too.

[Night__Owl, BSN, RN]

I eat dinner in the evening, and then have what I call "night lunch" at about 11p-1a. My first day I may be up from 1p until 9a the next morning, so I allow myself a little wiggle room eating, since it's my "long" day. Because after my last day working I'll have a "short" day where I sleep a few hours, shake myself awake around noon, then fall asleep at a normal hour, and I might only eat one meal on my short day.

[Davey Do]

Everything, I eat everything. Night shift makes me ravenous.

Same here. When I'm not at work, it's two meals a day and a nutritional drink. At work, I graze constantly, mostly on good stuff like fruit & veggies, but constantly.

I think it's an Freudian oral thing.

I do work psych you know.

[neonn965]

I don't understand your post either. I thought you were going to say you were worried about losing weight. Regardless, I and all of my co-workers just bring for lunch what we normally would and eat anywhere from 12AM-4AM usually. I don't eat a ton on night shift either. Dinner before I leave and lunch at work. I don't eat in the morning or right after I wake up. I try to bring leftovers from dinner for my lunches (chicken and veggies, beef stew, etc), but if not I pick up soup/salad or something along those lines on my way in.

[Lisacar130]

I can tell that you need to eat a few cheeseburgers. Going to the gym on your off nights and only eating once a day? Even if it is a "big meal"...

You don't want to pass out at your wedding. That happened to someone I know who did this.

[anewsns]

Maybe meal prep for morning? There's a lot of really good breakfasts you can make and freeze online. I like these breakfast burrito wrap things with eggs, spinach, potatoes, bacon, cheese that you can freeze but of course there are healthier options out there. We have breakfast at my hospital so when i worked nights I would actually go down to the cafeteria and have a big breakfast before going home. As for work snacks, I usually do hard boiled eggs, yogurt, banana, carnation instant breakfast. (The carnation instant breakfast gives a big quick calorie boost and takes me through.) If you're a super health food kind of person it can be a little more difficult though. I used to try to be ultra healthy superfood person and decided that middle of the road healthiness was better for me as long as I eat something and can avoid fast food somewhat.

Edit: oh I'm sorry I missed the wedding part. I think if you're only eating one big meal a day, it will actually make you gain weight as your body tries to hang on to what it has, if you're excercising and working a physical job, that makes high calorie protein snacks even more important. You need mental energy and also your exercise performance will start to suffer if you're not eating enough. Empty belly will also screw up your sleep and make you even more tired in the end.

I relate to this dilemma a lot. I like to exercise and have a poor appetite at times so I try to have a lot of tricks to make sure I'm eating enough! Night shift was extremely hard on my body for that. Though I don't worry about packing on pounds at all.

You could also throw on handfuls of almonds, small blocks of cheese to the mix. Throw an avacado in the mix here and there. MORE calories Will be the key to more energy, really high quality exercise, and looking beautiful and healthy at your wedding.

[RNrhythm, BSN, RN]

I had a commute when I was on nights so it was important to pack healthy snacks for the drive home, usually fruit. Otherwise, I would hit a drive-thru and snag an extra 2,000 calories before bed.

[Leader25, ASN, BSN, RN]

Never packed food,at one place just picked up our pastrami orders at 2 am from the diner.lol