night shift questions (long, sorry)

[zephyr]

hi,
I just stumbled across your little site a couple weeks ago while looking for some success stories to spur me on with weight loss journey. I just had 2nd baby 4.5 months ago and am working on getting rid of the pesky 40 lbs that have been hounding me since the end of 1st pregnancy. (I'm 5'3" 157lbs now and would like to get back to 117 lbs like I was before babies, only more toned).

I have a treadmill at home, resistance bands, a jumprope, various weights (hand, wrist and ankle), an ab roller, a trampoline and have a recumbant bike and bun and thigh roller on their way (just so you know what I'm working with). I have just gotten started with HIIT (slowly, so as not to injure myself, only doing 20 mins total and then bw and band resistance exercises, as well as dvds/on demand workouts), and I worked out before and during last pregnancy, so I'm not starting completely cold. I also eat pretty well (limiting carbs and fat and virtually eliminating sugar), although I'm not taking in enough calories according to this site as I have a bad habit of skipping meals that I am trying to break .

Anyway, main question is this: I work three 12 hour night shifts each week (W, F, Sat from 7pm-7:30 am) and have ready recently that ppl who work on the nigth shift tend to have a harder time with weigth loss. Have you heard anything about this? If it IS true then is it because of the lack of sleep ppl who work the night shift tend to get? I've heard if you don't get your 7-8 hours every night that it can get in the way of weight loss. Let me give you and example of week so you have some idea of just how little sleep I get:

Mon and Tues are weekend

Wed I wake up with kids (3 yr old and 4.5 month old) anytime between 7-10 am and am awake all day with them until I go to work @ 7pm and then I work straight through until 7:30 am (getting home around 8:30 am) and spend Thurs during the day taking care of kids and try to get to bed early Thurs night or sneak in a nap with kids if I can.

Fri is basically the same as Wed, except when I get off work on Sat morning I can go to sleep as their dad doesn't work weekends and watches them.

Sat night I go back to work and finish off "week" on Sun morning @ 7:30 am and generally try to stay up until the night so we can have a bit of a family weekend and just try to get to bed early.

And I do this every week

I know that I don't get enough sleep (routinely staying awake and active, to an extent, for more than 24 hours at a time at least once each week) and tend to have problems with eating (mostly going too long between meals and then not really eating enough overall and eating too much in one sitting).

I'm worried that schedule (while it doesn't get in the way of me working out) is going to hamper weight loss because of the erratic nature of sleep cycle ( circadian rhythm is pretty f*ct). Is there anything I can do to offset this? Also, the eating 5-7 meals thing and not going more than 3 hours without eating...would that work for a 24 hour period? Like would I just add more little meals? And, if so, what? I know protein and fruit in the am and protein and veggies in the pm, but what about the middle of the night and very early morning?

I have tried to find websites with info reguarding situation, but I think I may just be in such an extreme minority that no one has really covered it yet. I'd very much appreciate any advice you could give me.

Sorry this was so long . If you made it this far then thank you

~zephyr

[swanso5]

Food
- you need to eat every 3hrs you are awake...if you know you'll be having 8 meals, then plan for 4 x protein and fruit and 4 x protein and veg / healthy fats...you should try and pack as many meals as you can for workm so you already have the food there and then you onlhy need 5mins every 3 hrs to have a quick munch so fodd planning and preperration needs to be addressed as well...some days i take up to 4 meals with me from home if I have a long day ahead of me...maybe try 3 meals of protein and fruit, 3 of protein and veg then 2 - 3 of protein and healthy fats for those long days

Sleep
- not enough sleep (which you are no where near) causes cortisol to rise which is catabolic to the body which then uses muscles for energy and stores fat all over the body as it is trying to reserve it...you need to find a way to average 8hrs of sleep a night and those 24hr days have to go...not sure what you can workout with the kids but something needs to be done for you to reach your goal

Exercise
- your exercise seems to be on track though so keep progressing there as you are

[zephyr]

Thank you for the response. The food solutions is def good to know and I'll just have to see what I can do re: sleep and try to get as much in as I can on Wed and Fri during naps with kids before work.

Thank you again!

[shadow04]

Its bloody hard. I work from 6pm until 5am. I wake up and feel like I'm drugged. I do get about 7 hours of sleep though which is the best I can do with earplugs in, an eye mask and a 'storm' screensaver on in the background which also blocks out a lot of sound...

Anyway about an hour after I get up I head for a workout. I do 50 pushups and then a 20 minute run on the treadmill. I have first meal at about 6:30 and then three more before 3am when I stop food and liquid intake.

Working nights is a great way to lose motivation. Getting 7-8 hours of sleep during the day can not possibly be compared to the getting the same hours of sleep at night! Plus I find that I get a lot more tired during shift. Work is work I guess. We have to go so I guess we just do the best we can...

[swanso5]

an idea may be to use your days off as main workout days...for example if you have 2 days off do lower bady 1 day and upper the next than all you'll need is another full body type workout during the week which only puts you out 1 day...that being said you probably can't stuffed doing it on your days off but just an idea...i would at least do 1 day of working anyway in that time being the most hardest workout you do for the week

[elgatogrande]

Im brand new here and work nights also. Id like to put in 2 cents.

I love night schedule. I work from 8pm to 5 am and generally sleep from 6/7 to 2 or so. The important thing is I do this everyday. I maintain this schedule even on days off (notice the time of this posting)so I dont deal with "jet lag" from the weekend. I think maintaining a consistant circadian cycle and getting enough sleep daily are the very important aspects to a healthy lifestyle. (probably the healthiest part of lifestyle) Unfortunately most people have more commitments than me, I dont have any children. I also think the 12hr 3 day shifts are horrible. Im surprised that this is the schedule most often for nurses/drs. I would think they would understand the detrimental effects of such a schedule.

[sameey70]

hi,
I just stumbled across your little site a couple weeks ago while looking for some success stories to spur me on with weight loss journey. I just had 2nd baby 4.5 months ago and am working on getting rid of the pesky 40 lbs that have been hounding me since the end of 1st pregnancy. (I'm 5'3" 157lbs now and would like to get back to 117 lbs like I was before babies, only more toned).

I have a treadmill at home, resistance bands, a jumprope, various weights (hand, wrist and ankle), an ab roller, a trampoline and have a recumbant bike and bun and thigh roller on their way (just so you know what I'm working with). I have just gotten started with HIIT (slowly, so as not to injure myself, only doing 20 mins total and then bw and band resistance exercises, as well as dvds/on demand workouts), and I worked out before and during last pregnancy, so I'm not starting completely
cold. I also eat pretty well (limiting carbs and fat and virtually eliminating sugar), although I'm not taking in enough calories according to this site as I have a bad habit of skipping meals that I am trying to break .

Anyway, main question is this: I work three 12 hour night shifts each week (W, F, Sat from 7pm-7:30 am) and have ready recently that ppl who work on the nigth shift tend to have a harder time with weigth loss. Have you heard anything about this? If it IS true then is it because of the lack of sleep ppl who work the night shift tend to get? I've heard if you don't get your 7-8 hours every night that it can get in the way of weight loss. Let me give you and example of week so you have some idea of just how little sleep I get:

Mon and Tues are weekend

Wed I wake up with kids (3 yr old and 4.5 month old) anytime between 7-10 am and am awake all day with them until I go to work @ 7pm and then I work straight through until 7:30 am (getting home around 8:30 am) and spend Thurs during the day taking care of kids and try to get to bed early Thurs night or sneak in a nap with kids if I can.

Fri is basically the same as Wed, except when I get off work on Sat morning I can go to sleep as their dad doesn't work weekends and watches them.

Sat night I go back to work and finish off "week" on Sun morning @ 7:30 am and generally try to stay up until the night so we can have a bit of a family weekend and just try to get to bed early.

And I do this every week

I know that I don't get enough sleep (routinely staying awake and active, to an extent, for more than 24 hours at a time at least once each week) and tend to have problems with eating (mostly going too long between meals and then not really eating enough overall and eating too much in one sitting).

I'm worried that schedule (while it doesn't get in the way of me working out) is going to hamper weight loss because of the erratic nature of sleep cycle ( circadian rhythm is pretty f*ct). Is there anything I can do to offset this? Also, the eating 5-7 meals thing and not going more than 3 hours without eating...would that work for a 24 hour period? Like would I just add more little meals? And, if so, what? I know protein and fruit in the am and protein and veggies in the pm, but what about the middle of the night and very early morning?

I have tried to find websites with info reguarding situation, but I think I may just be in such an extreme minority that no one has really covered it yet. I'd very much appreciate any advice you could give me.

Sorry this was so long . If you made it this far then thank you

~zephyr

Are you breastfeeding? If so, you definitely need ensure that you are getting adequate calories. I see no reason to limit carbs, your body needs them. Limit total calories, this may be best done by reducing fat calories which provides twice as many as carbs and protein.

Cortisol, aka the "stress hormone" has many functions, among them: it helps the body break down food for energy (metabolism) and helps the body manage stress. It's levels are highest in the morning and drop very low in the evening. However if you sleep during the day and are up at night, this pattern is reversed. High levels are associated with increased appetite and the theory is that high amounts of cortisol promotes abdominal fat. Not getting enough sleep is stressful to the body and MAY be contributing your weight, but I think most likely it's your eating habits.

[SarahPT]

So how much sleep do you get? Not getting enogh sleep can be a problem. Sameey made a good point about the cortisol. Also, Sleep deprivation causes an increase in body levels of the hormone grehlin and a decrease in body levels of the hormone leptin. Grehlin increases appetite while leptin decreases appetite. So, those who sleep less are likely to eat much more. Sleeping less can cause poor food choices. We may feel too tired to cook a wholesome meal or lack the motivation to stick to a healthy eating plan. When we are tired is easy to reach for quick and comforting foods, which are likely to be full of fat and sugar.
A lack of sleep reduces the body’s ability to process and store energy from the food we eat.

This is only one aspect of weight loss though. While you may be eating pretty well, you may just not be eating quite right for what your body needs. How low are you limiting your carbs? And yes even if you are up longer than others because of work it is important for you to eat often. Please let me know if I can help at all!

Sarah