Anyone else doing this that works shifts? I do 3 x 12 hour day shifts (7.30am – 7.30pm) and a 12 hour night shift (7.30pm – 7.30am), and then have four days off. Today is my first day doing this in work, but my 4th day on the diet so need coping strategies! It doesn’t help that there is a buffet here today for a leaving do – but I will resist!!

Hello Denise47 Jones

Welcome, I have just started today, and sorry to say I don’t have any answers for you but appreciate your difficulty. I have just posted, (First four hours!), and will have a similar problem when I return to work in a few days time. So like you would appreciate any ideas people have.

Good luck!

Hi Sarah
Today was ok actually, especially as there was a buffet there for a colleague that’s retiring! I kept my head and noticed how many saboteurs there are around me. Planning is the key to it so just have to remain really organised.
Denise x

Hello Denise
Pleased to hear the day went well and well done for getting past the food at work….. think I would have struggled with that one!
The bit I I’m going fined difficult is how many cals in something. I’ve never weighed food unless making a cake and I know generally speaking root veg. are higher in cals than veg above ground! A number of recipes say things like one courgette, at my greengrocers that could be rather larger. I know I need to be sensible but with such tight margins it could be very easy to go over the 800.

Keep up the good work!

Hi Sarah
I know what you mean about calories! I brought red peppers this week and they were massive so am worried about going over by a few calories. I’m finding the diet easy so far and haven’t been hungry at all but am struggling to give up coffee!
How are you getting on?

hello Denise
I started two days ago, lost one pound yesterday and delighted to see I’d lost a second one this morning….. and I had a slice of seeded bread yesterday, also must confess I’ve not given up coffee but I do drink it black and no sugar. I have been very hungry! I am drinking lots of plain water, always have and enjoying the fact I can purchase products with fat in, great! I was getting concerned about my rather high intake of sweet things of late and thought I would miss them but apart from feeling rather heady this morning (but feeling a lot better since breakfast and I’m sure the coffee has helped!) I’ve been okay. It is the hunger that is so difficult, I would normally eat a lot, always have and had a good metabolism but am aware I should take more care as the years creep up and I’ve been feeling rather tired all the time, so hence changing my eating habits!

5lbs lost in my first week! Thrilled to bits with that. Week one is done and dusted so week 2, I’m coming for ya!

Congrats Denise, great results, especially with shifts involved….week 2, watch out! 😀😀

Thanks Col. Been craving today, but have kept my head! Let’s do week 2!

Go for it Denise, you’ve had a great start
No need to drop the coffee as long as you count the milk in with your cals, don’t worry about going over the odd time, the lack of carbs will still let you lose weight.
Sarah, you’re well on your way, don’t worry, the hunger (or rather carb cravings) will stop.

Thanks Bill. Your support is very much appreciated especially with all that’s on your mind at the moment. I don’t know you, but you clearly are an amazing person and the support you show everyone on these forums is wonderful. Keep your chin up.

My husband and I are about to start this BSD and are very motivated to succeed. I am trying to be prepared so as to avoid “falling of the wagon along the way”
My husband does shift work and his roster requires 4 weeks at a time of night shift with day & evening shifts between blocks of nights- It is the nights I am worried about as I know one of the things he and his colleges do to cope is eat a lot of the worst kind of snack food- lollies chips cup-a-soups etc. I would very much appreciate any tips on meals that can be prepared ahead of time and suitable snacks for when he just cant cope at night and needs a pick me up at 3am.
Many thanks in advance for any advice on offer

Hi Sunny

I have done 2 weeks now and have lost 10lbs so this is very motivating. I am finding that I am not at all hungry, and although I work 12 hours shifts, I try and keep my eating to all within an 8 hour window. I now bring my breakfast to work with me and eat this about 9am whereas before I was having breakfast at 6.15am, so by 9am was looking for more food! I then have two 45 minute breaks throughout the day and have my lunch and my supper in these. You have to be SUPER organised so I use my days off wisely and have become very selfish in allocating time to myself during my days off to do this for ME! As I usually only do one night shift (but am ironically writing this one as I’m coming off a 2nd night shift), I tend not to eat throughout the night at all. This is easy to do when its just one shift, but with 2 shifts, then I have done the same principle as I practice in the day to the night. We are not allowed out during our night shifts, so I now bring an ipod to work with me and relieve some of the quiet times by moving to some music so I’m still getting in some steps during the shift too.

I use a small handful of almonds as a snack, or chop up salad veg such as cucumber, carrots and peppers and snack on these. The low calorie soups would be a good idea for your husband too as he can use these instead of the cup a soups.

I wish you both the best of luck, but when you start losing the weight, it will be the best motivator you can have.

Denise x

Hi denise, great weight loss! I’m impressed that you are doing so well and coping with applying it all to shift work 🙂

Hi sunny, re your request for tips on easy meals for hubby to take to work: any of the dips with crudites. I make up a large batch of hummus and freeze it in portions in tiny tupperware. Frittata is also an easy packed meal – you can ring the changes – yesterday I fried onion, sweet peppers and chilli, added 4 eggs, then when it was ready to go under the grill i sprinkled a handful of grated cheddar on top. Delicious hot or cold and a 4 egg fritatta makes 2 portions. You can add spinach, rocket, courgette, bacon or anything that takes your fancy.

Any of the salads make good packed meals. If you have a wide necked flask he could take soup to work. A tub of full fat yoghurt with a container with some berries and nuts is a good meal.

Snacks: a few berries, a few pumpkin seeds, a boiled egg, strips of pepper or carrot, a couple of almonds, a small piece of cheese.

Hope that helps 🙂

Thanks Hashimoto! I am so pleased and can really feel the difference. Wedding anniversary tomorrow and we’re going away for a couple of days so am a bit nervous about finding places to eat that aren’t full of carb loaded foods. I am going to treat myself to a glass or two of the red stuff though – I deserve it after 22 years of marriage 😂😂😂

Hi denise, there should be plenty of choices:steak and salad minus the chips
Fish minus potatoes
Bolognese witbout pasta
Curry without the rice
Burger without the bread and chips

I now have no shame asking for a sandwich without the bread! In fact you tend to get a lot more ham,beef, prawns etc cos they feel bad giving you a sliver with leaves!

Good luck with your celebrations, after 22 years you deserve to enjoy it ( and feel holy about your food choices atthe same time!) 🙂

Thanks Hashimoto.

I had steak and salad and refused a dessert whilst my husband devoured a sticky toffee pudding. We did have wine and I felt really drunk after half a glass! I also had a hangover this morning and didn’t like it one bit.

Today, we went for breakfast in a pub but I offloaded the toast, hash browns and sausage onto my husband. For tea I had Cajun chicken with a flatbread and salad…was the only thing on the menu that didn’t involve chips, pastry or potatoes!

I am now in bed with a stomach ache after the flatbread!

Should I get on the scales tomorrow to see what damage has been done, or wait a few days until it’s all out of my system?

Nos da (goodnight in Welsh) all, tomorrow is planning and shopping day! 👍

Noswaith dda Denise, you did well with your choices during meals out. Sounds like your body didn’t like the carby flatbread though!
I would step on the scales because it will give you valuable info – but everyone has their personal preferences on this matter.
It’s good that you know you can eat out with confidence.

Re wine: you and I are very cheap to take out lol I can only manage a small shot glass of wine now and even then it makes me tipsy. 🙂
Nos da and happy shopping 🙂

Hi Denise
you seem to have this all under control, good choices and a determination to succeed
Well done you.

Hashimoto I stood on the scales and have stayed the same…phew. Glad I got on there now.

Back to work tomorrow so back to reality!

Good news re the scales Denise! 🙂

Hey Sunny – how are you and your husband getting on?

I sat in work today next to a bucket full of about 30 Cadbury Creme Eggs and resisted all day. Creme Eggs are my favourite so this was a real test for me.

Denise i USED to love creme eggs too. Half a dozen? No problem. Now just reading about them made me want to puke. What has this diet done to me? It’s like a miracle 🙂

I USED to love crème eggs too, but then I found them too sweet and sickly – even before BSD. But caramel eggs, or mini eggs – that’s a different matter!

But I’ve not eaten chocolate in any form for ages

I’ve been given a tin of Heroes (for me and the twins, and the donor knows I’m diabetic!). Today, in a shop I was given a big block of chocolate! I’ll find good homes for said confectionery 😳

I thought I’d bump this convo to the top again as it pertains to me. I work a mix of eight-hour shifts, varying from five night shifts (midnight to 0800) then three evening shifts (1600 to midnight) followed by a short day shift (0900 to 1300 – ok it’s a four-hour shift) then another evening shift, followed by four days off.

As you can see my Circadian Rhythm internals are in a panic. My partner Saga (on this forum) and I have just watched Michael on “Trust Me I’m a Doctor” talking about the best times to eat a meal so as to engage your Circadian Rhythms to benefit your health. It involves not eating before sunrise or after sundown. “But that means I don’t get to eat all night at work!” cry I.

What can anyone suggest?

FeltWicked.

I would suggest that you forget all about Circadian Rhythms while you are on the BSD
It’s a known fact that shift workers experience different sleep and rhythm patterns to the rest of us 9 to 5’ers, so, in reality, as you sleep through the day, your sunrise and sunsets are reversed.
Trying to combine the 2 is a big ask. Other shift workers have found a way to do the plan that suits them, the main consideration is what kind of meals they can take to work depending on cooking facilities etc.
Try to find a way that suits you and stick with it.

Hi FeltWicked

I would agree with Bill on this. I manage very well on my shifts, but only do one night shift so am able to get away without eating at all on this and eat normally on the day before and the day after my shift (but these would be the brunch/evening meal days). On my long days in work, I would eat breakfast about 9am, and then split my lunch over my 2 breaks during the day, and have my evening meal as soon as I could when I got home (about 8pm). Its about finding how you can fit this new lifestyle into your life and think of it as a long-term way of living as opposed to “how can I fit this in for the next 8 weeks?” This is now how I live, I have found what works for me and have stuck to this pattern.

Hope this helps x

I’m a shift worker for over 20 years and have spent the last 10 years after stopping playing football battling fluctuating weight issues. The success i have had(on week 13 and lost 31lbs, now 12st 8lbs!!!) has been the need to plan ahead each week depending on if i’m on nights or days making and freezing plenty of what are now favorite meals and cutting out takeaways. So happy to have discovered this way of life after listening to MM on Jeremy Vines radio 2 show. Myself and a work friend started off at the same time and both have lost very similar ammounts. Now on a maintainance period and looking forward to introducing the occasional beer back into my lifestyle. I have really missed a cold beer now and again.

Thanks all, I’ve worked shifts for over 20 years too. I’ve been coping really well on this diet for the last 3.5 weeks, eating foods like the sardine dip from the book, which I love. I tried diet shakes until I discovered they had huge amounts of sugar in them. I thrive on a serving of mixed (unsalted) nuts too.

The worst part is synchronising meals with my partner (Saga on this forum) as there are meals which occur when I am ostensibly asleep during the day. Still we’re working around that.

So, Bill, Circadian rhythms are being ignored! I’ve been able to ignore sunrises and sunsets for years now, so the internal rhythm isn’t going to bug me. I was just curious.

FeltWicked

Just got the book
I’m type 2 for 14yrs
Hb1c bloods have crept up so need to remove head from sand and concentrate
I also work shifts which is a nightmare

Hi Steve,
Welcome to the forum, there are a few of us who read all of the posts as they pop up on the site, but most people hang around on a number of key threads. Most people are either on the weekly thread (which starts each Monday) or the monthly thread. In both cases we set ourselves aims and share progress as well as sharing information. – If use the latest posts option you will quickly find out which threads are active at present.

You will find a lot of help and support which ever of these threads you jump into. – Look out for Birdy a very kind soul who also works shifts.

Hi guys welcome to the forum. It is great seeing all you newbies supporting and encouraging each other already❤️

Like JGwen said there are some of us that read all threads but most are on the weekly thread. Don’t feel pressured to contribute if you don’t want to but they are well worth a read as they are full of so much helpful information and tips.sarah and Denice don’t worry too much about getting it dead on 800 when you start, we all gave up the white carbs first and then started with My fitness pal so we could log and see what are dailies were. I then went on to look at my calories. As long as you are keeping low carb anything under 50g a day and watching your protein in take you will succeed. When you have been going for a while longer and have found it easy to cope with then you can go deeper and start tracking your macros more.

It is a hard one to get into but once you do I am sure all of you will fly. Please remember not to put too much pressure on yourselves and never get down if you feel you have messed up, we all do and as long as you get back on the wagon there will be no real harm done. You have done the hardest part and Started this amazing woe. Give yourselves time to get into it and I am sure you will be pleased with the results.

Please don’t take this next bit as bragging as it is not, it is just so you know what this way of eating can do. I messed up loads in the beginning, but with the help of people on here I found my feet and pace. In 18 weeks I had discarded nearly 4 stone, nearly a stone of that was in the first week! Yes it was probably water but by sticking to this woe I have never put it back on. I am happy now to take it as part of my discard journey. We will all discard at different rates so please don’t get discouraged by people doing it faster than you. We are all different and one size does not fit all. Some people can discard easily at 50g of carbs where as others, myself included need to go 20g and below. It all depends on how insulin resistant you are. I work nights too and it is all about the planning, if we don’t plan we slip up. Oh and it is vital that you drink loads of water, water is our friend and helps with the discard, up to 3 litres a day if you can. Up your salt to if you are drinking all the water.

Sorry if I have waffled too much and I hope I have not overwhelmed you. Good luck with your journeys guys❤️❤️💞🦜Birdy.

Sorry Steve thought this was a completely new thread🤣🤣. But it all still applies but just for you. Sorry and good luck. Birdy💞🦜