Night shift and hunger

[daedme]

I have worked the night shift for awhile now and I have found that since I started it has been impossible to actually stick to my normal calorie intake for weight loss. I am not gaining weight but I have been in a holding pattern since I started this job (4 months ago). For some odd reason my hunger is out of control and no matter how much I eat to satisfy it during the night once I get off of work at around 6am I am starving and feel like I need to eat everything in sight. This causes me to eat up the calories I would have normally cut.

There is some labor involved with the job but not a lot and I have used a pedometer to see how much I was generally walking a night, around 3-5k steps, so I cannot see it being caused by burning a ton of calories (the vast majority of night is mostly sitting). I was wondering if anyone else has ran into this phenomenon and, if so, what they did to overcome it.

 

[ChefChiTown]

I have worked the night shift for awhile now and I have found that since I started it has been impossible to actually stick to my normal calorie intake for weight loss. I am not gaining weight but I have been in a holding pattern since I started this job (4 months ago). For some odd reason my hunger is out of control and no matter how much I eat to satisfy it during the night once I get off of work at around 6am I am starving and feel like I need to eat everything in sight. This causes me to eat up the calories I would have normally cut.

There is some labor involved with the job but not a lot and I have used a pedometer to see how much I was generally walking a night, around 3-5k steps, so I cannot see it being caused by burning a ton of calories (the vast majority of night is mostly sitting). I was wondering if anyone else has ran into this phenomenon and, if so, what they did to overcome it.

Key phrase in all of this...

once I get off of work at around 6am I am starving and feel like I need to eat everything in sight.

It makes you feel as if you need to, but you don't actually need to. That's where willpower comes into play. And, unfortunately, willpower is something that you'll have to muster up on your own.

But, try this...instead of waiting until you get off of work to eat, which is obviously causing you some hard times, try snacking on some foods while you're working. Just throw a healthy snack bar or two into your pockets, take a couple of pieces of fruit or even pack a sandwich to take with you. And, as the night progresses, just snack on those things when you get the chance. That might help cut down on these cravings that you're getting when you get off of work.

 

[daedme]

Thanks for the reply. I think I was not clear in explaining that I do eat at night. I eat plenty during work. The problem is that nothing I do can seem to stave off that hunger after I leave work, especially after the sun comes up. It is a really wonky thing. I have already, up to the point of getting this job, lost 110 pounds. The willpower is there but this whole schedule is playing havoc on my eating habits. I was just wondering how other night shift people were able to cope with it if they ran into a similar situation.

It almost feels like no matter what I tell myself and how I divide my food up (like I did during the day), my body wants something entirely different.

 

[dobner]

It would be good for us to know more about how much you weigh and how much you want to lose. Total up the number of calories that you are eating and we can figure out together how much you should be eating. Eating is the main show in weight loss. When you lose weight, you will have control of your eating.