SHIFT Worker looking for help!
 

Hi ! I am a 39 year old female who is working shift work and wanting/needing to lose some excess weight. My husband loves the way I look but I do not :(. I have tried a few things with little to no success and have discovered this site. I am ready to work hard for this, but looking for advice from shift workers on how to lose weight while working crazy rotating shifts! My night shift starts at 1830 and ends at 0630 and that breaks all the rules of eating after 8! Please help!

Welcome Sheri;
The 'rule' (which is really just a suggestion) that you don't eat after 8pm is aimed toward those with traditional schedules. You just need to apply your schedule. The intent of this is to not have you go to bed with food in your system. Since your body is burning the least amount of calories as you sleep your body will end up storing most of the calories, ingested just before bed, as fat instead of burning them off through your normal activities.

When do you eat currently and when do you sleep? If you eat when you get off work and then go directly to bed you might want to consider eating only complex carbohydrates (no white bread, sugar, white rice, processed foods) like vegetables or oatmeal and/or a lean protein source of meat, poultry, eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese or even a protein shake. Limit the size of this meal before bed to minimize the chance that any of the calories will be stored instead of burned.

Let us know if you have any more questions.