timing of meals for night shift

[majortink]

Ok, got a question for all of you for my husband. He works straight nights, starting Sunday night and is done Friday morning. With having a family and wanting to have family dinners together, he is having a hard time figuring out when it is best to eat. He will ususally have dinner with us Sunday night as he starts a little earlier Sunday and has been taking 2 wraps with turkey, chicken or tuna to eat throughout the night along with a salad and either fruit or veggies. So the timing is something like this:
Sunday 5:00pm dinner
Monday 6:00 am - protein shake or bowl of cereal after being at the gym and before going to bed. 3:30pm wakes up when the kids get home from school and is hungry and needs to eat - not sure what or how much?? 6:00 pm has family dinner with the rest of us, and the cycle continues for the week until Friday and his schedule gets all screwed up on the weekends. Saturday and Sunday he tries to eat at normal meal times.

So I guess it's a 2 part question. If he is having a full dinner at 5:00 or 6:00 how much should he be eating through the night? He's not really eating meal, snack, meal, snack, meal. Also how does he adjust going from nights to days on the weekends and not screw up his cycle??

He is finding the eating thing a little frustrating so any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[Mahaffje]

Personally, I try to keep all of my meals around the same amount of calories. I try to make my meals surrounding my workout a bit bigger than the others so I can have some extra energy for them. As far as your husband goes, so long as he is eating every 2-3 hours, it really shouldn't matter when you have "dinner".

If he's getting up at 3:30, then he should eat some complex carbs and a protein source right away. If you guys have family dinner at 6:00, that would be very good timing for his next meal. From there, he should continue to eat every 2-3 hours, making sure that he gets the proper amount of protien, fats and carbs that his body needs. As far as an eating schedule goes, the most important thing to remember is that you need to eat as soon as you wake up and then continue to eat every 2-3 hours until you go to bed. It really doesn't matter if you are waking up at 6 am or 6 pm, the timing of eating stays the same. If family dinners are important to him, then have him plan his meals around the family dinner so that he knows he is always going to be able to sit down and eat with his family.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[goes4ever]

I work nites, and I just eat 6 meals evenly spaced out, depending on the day it is, if it is a work day, I eat when I get up then every 2.5 to 3 hours. On the weekends it is exactly the same, just the times may be different

 

[KajedAnimal]

I work 12 hour shifts at night. What I do is either eat a full dinner when I get up or just drink a shake with oatmeal before I leave the house and just bring a couple of lunches with me. I eat like I would if I was up during the day, every 3-4 hours. I workout on my lunch break too around 3-4 in the morning. Just tell him to stay away from heavy breakfast foods before going to bed. They can cause you to gain weight quickly. I've been doing this shift for 12 years and have seen a lot of people do it the wrong way.

 

[mikeyb]

Sunday 5:00pm dinner
Monday 6:00 am - protein shake or bowl of cereal after being at the gym and before going to bed.

I do hope he eats inbetween dinner and before going to bed. And after the gym he will want to get in carbs and protein.

 

[SarahPT]

Well, before answering I am wondering what his goals are? My first answer would be to agree that equal calorie meals spaced out evenly is best. If he is just trying to eat healthy and maintain he might not need to be quite that strict.

 

[majortink]

Well, before answering I am wondering what his goals are? My first answer would be to agree that equal calorie meals spaced out evenly is best. If he is just trying to eat healthy and maintain he might not need to be quite that strict.

Hi Sarah, his immediate goal is to loose weight. He has lost about 11 lbs in 3 weeks so he's doing good so far!

 

[majortink]

I do hope he eats inbetween dinner and before going to bed. And after the gym he will want to get in carbs and protein.

Yes, that's what the wraps and salad are. He eats that while at work.