WLS and night shift

I moved to night shift 5 weeks ago, and change back to day shift on October 1st.  How do you juggle the complete change of schedule and be successful at losing weight?

I work 10 hour shifts, by myself, 4 days a week.  On my days off, I try to keep my night shift hours so I don't totally screw up my circadian rhythm. I can either work out after I get off work at 8am, where it takes me an hour and a half to work out and cool down, where my goal is to be asleep by 10am.  Or, I can go home, go right to bed, and then get up at 4pm to work out, an hour before the husband gets home.  (The latter has been impossible with our recent temperatures, but that seems to be over for the most part and we are back to 80-90s instead of 100s).  I just can't find the right time to exercise.  I'd like to do it at work, or take breaks where I can do some walking, but I am alone at nights and can't leave the office.

Meals are difficult too, my breakfast is everyone else's dinners.  So I am starting off with a "heavy" meal.  Usually when I wake up I have a protein shake and then a couple hours later we make dinner.  I am still at the stage where there isn't much room for extra stuff, and I focus on proteins, like venison, salmon or chicken.  Then during the night, I end up taking whatever leftovers and protein shakes.

Night shift sucks and isn't helping me out AT ALL!  I haven't lost but a few pounds in the last 6 weeks and I am only a week over 2 months post op. It's been SO frustrating.

Any suggestions??  Night shift is killing me....slowly.

The best advice I can give you is to track everything you're eating.  Are you getting enough liquids?  Exercise is great, but get the eating on track and you will lose weight.  What does a typical day look like?

When I worked a 12-1/2 hour night shift I ate breakfast when my family had dinner.  I packed my dinner and ate it at 4:00 AM.  My shift was 7:30 PM - 8:00 AM.  I ate lunch about 11:00 PM.

Planning is essential.  The Fitmark lunch box system is ideal.  A protein shake is a good pick me up and the lunchbox includes a shaker bottle that has a separate compartment for the protein powder and also a compartment for vitamins.  With the containers and compartments you can stay organized. 

Accept that a one hour workout is not feasible now.  Get a Fitbit or other tracker and count your steps.  If possible get up and walk around the office to keep the step count up.  My tracker is Vivofit and I find the sleep tracking very helpful.  Night shift can be a challenge but it does not have to stop your weight loss.

I feel your pain! I work a rotating 12 hour shift, 7p-7a, then its 7a-7p etc, etc, that's without the ot that can bring me to a 16hr day or night, so it can be rough. Usually my night routine follows the same kind of schedule as my days when it comes to eating.

Usually the beginning of the day or night I will have my protein drink, get to work, have some more protein, work on water in between eating my protein etc, etc. When I get home I'll eat something light, then go to sleep.

However during the night shift when I get home in the morning, I go to sleep ASAP, only because I'm usually the most tired at this point & can get to sleep pretty quickly. I used to try & work out in the gym instead in the morning but my workouts usually sucked. My body was tired & I was fighting it to get in a workout, not to mention when I came home it was hard to go to sleep & stay asleep, then I'd wake up tired for work.

I work out early to late afternoon after I was able to get some sleep & I felt much better. Since I ride my bike to work, I'd leave a little early & ride around b4 riding in to work, or I'd exercise at home on my bike if the weather outside was really crappy. 

I also most times work by myself at the station & can't leave, but since the station is big, I walk laps around the station & throw in a little jog if I was energetic. There's also running in place at my desk, no one is around, so what the hell. I also purchased a jump rope & I'll see if I'll be able to do that, just anything to get my heart rate up. I draw the line at jumping jacks though, I aint that young! 

Hi Keeks,

I did a night shift for many years and it took me a long time to figure out how to function. I'd recommend (as others have) waking up and having a protein shake - box up dinner and have that for your lunch break! I always found my "Lunch" to be the biggest meal of the day because I am not a breakfast person, and I didn't want to have a heavy dinner after work right before bed in the morning.

Also, don't fall into the trap of grazing to stay awake! Not that you will have that problem, but it did become a problem for me. Eating would help keep me awake - not a healthy way to go about it. :)

Good Luck! You can do it!