Calling all shift workers!

Mizkirsty

Gold Member
Hey everyone sorry I know there must be loads of threads but I'm struggling to find them I'm prob looking in wrong place so apologies !!

I'm a midwife and I work long shifts 12.5hrs usually 3x a week but for example the last week was 5x.

Tiredness really causing my motivation to lack and my focus to be lost! I start out so well but if I miss a break or lack in energy I reach for the week treats!! (this last week has been very tough with totm too!)

What do you eat?! Or take with you! (this I generally find ok - I actually find a double helping of cereal 1x breakfast and 1x lunch keeps me fuller even More so than a tub of pasta! It also allows me to give my sweet craving a help (I usually have apricot what's as a heb! Or as mentioned 2x heb)

It's evening meals it's usually 830pm before I get in and I'm exhausted! I dont wanna cook and convince food seems a dream - takeaways etc seem so easy and quick!

What can I do to conquer this what do you do?! Xx
 
I don't work shifts but I tend to work quite long hours or when I'm not, I like to meet up with friends after work so by the time I get home I really can't be bothered either!

I find what helps is that I bulk cook. For example, yesterday I cooked a SW lasagne, a quorn chille and a mushy pea curry with chicken, peppers and mushrooms. I've frozen everything in separate containers, freezer bags (apart from tonight's dinner of curry and tomorrow's of lasagne in the fridge) and then I can just pull them out, defrost/cook them and eat when I get in. I find this helps massively. The reason that I do 3 dishes at one time is so I don't get bored having the same thing every night.

Hope that helps :)
 
See I'd love to be able to do that but I have a tiny freezer but I could cook extra and put in the fridge for a couple of days!! Thanks :) xxx
 
I found you just have to be super prepared when you get a run of long shifts.... I find a lot of pasta dishes will keep good in the fridge for a couple of days and are ok in the microwave. Or I'd make a pot of stew the day before and have it with some of those microwave steamed veg things.

Working in healthcare on this diet can be a right pain sometimes, I used to find there was always the wrong sort of food knocking around and I'd resist but the craving just used to get to get so bad that is cave when I got home. Add to that long unpredictable shift patterns and it tends to suck away all your motivation. But being prepared really helps I think.

Ps. 5 long days in a row.... Im dying after 3, you must have been knackered!
 
I struggle with my shift work particularly when I'm working through lunch AND dinner - I really dislike eating in the canteen too and have a bit of a phobia of eating in front of my colleagues. I do try to eat a cereal bar at some stage of my shift though, sometimes I take sugar free jelly with me or a muller light.

By the time I get home it can be anything from 7.30pm to 10pm before I get my main meal of the day and after standing all day at work I can empathise with your situation not wanting to cook. I try where possible to cook meals in advance so things are ready to simply pop in the oven when I get and this is easy at the start of my working week but not so easy when I get to day 4 or 5 in a row with 3 more days to go. Those last few days of my working week I tend to pop into my local supermarket on the way home and see if there are any reduced stir fry packs/reduced mushrooms or reduced chicken. I also pick up a packet of blue dragon stir fry sauce (5syns). then when I get home I just turn on the pan to it's highest heat, spray with frylight cook the mushrooms/chicken quickly, throw in the rest of the stir fry veg til soft then add in the sauce and stir well for a minute. Then I devour it! Very quick and easy, literally a 5 minute meal (you can even use already cooked chicken).

I actually find that I eat less during my late night dinners as I would usually have rice with a stir fry but by that time of night I can't be bothered and even if I had the rice I wouldn't eat it as I seem to get full up quicker for some reason!
 
Are you a group member? there's a good article on coping with shift working while on SW on the website :)
 
Some great ideas here guys! I can be organised and have it all ready to be cooked when I ey in but then just CBA to do it!!! :(

I think the stir fry is a great idea - but unfortunately I'm not a fan!

Maybe some low syn ready meals are the way forward for me maybe! Or homemade ready meals in Tupperware as such!

It's where my motivation dwindles! But it's odd bc on nights I seem to be ok! It's the dam day shifts that get me!!! And I can't figure out why!

And 5 long shifts almost killed me too! Won't be opting to do that again anytime soon!!!!

Thanks for the tips will be trying them out this week! Xxxx
 
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