It’s possible to lose weight on any schedule. Wise food choices and regular exercise are especially important for shift workers — though it can be difficult. It’s a huge challenge. You will find it to be more of a challenge if you are working the night shift. There are several factors that go into making this shift less conducive to a weight loss and fitness-focused mindset. Here’s how to push through those obstacles to achieve your weight loss goals.
1. Pack Your Lunch
When you work the night shift, there aren’t a lot of healthy choices for eating out that are likely to be open when you take your lunch in the wee hours of the morning. Your choices are typically limited to fast food joints or all-night diners. For some reason, health food restaurants rarely are open all hours of the night. For this reason, avoid temptation by packing your own lunch.
2. Have a Set Time to Exercise
If you like to exercise outdoors, it can be tricky during the night shift. You’ll want to wake up while the sun is still up in order to get in a workout as soon as you’re awake, or you should time it for after the night shift every morning. Although it can seem like the last thing you want to do after a long night of work, that’s often the ideal time of day for working out.
3. Organize to Energize
Be organized with your schedule and weight loss plan. Not only should you plan your food for the day (even if you do it on a day-by-day basis when you get up in the morning), but you should also plan the workout for the day, and stick to it as though it was an important business meeting that can’t be rescheduled. It’s an important meeting with yourself for your needs; that makes it very important.
4. Put Yourself First
You’ll have to put yourself first when you are setting your weight loss plan in motion. When you work the night shift, it can be easy to get on a relaxed schedule, where you plan your day around last minute chores and the needs of others. A friend who knows you are free during the hours where others are working may be the first to call on you for a ride to the airport or to babysit a sick child at the last minute. While you should allow flexibility when being a good friend, you need to make sure that your friend understands that getting yourschedule and weight loss plan in motion has to come first right now. Any good friend will understand that.
5. Enlist a Weight Loss Buddy
If there’s another friend working the night shift, be one another’s support system. Be accountable to one another, and even plan workouts before and after work. You’ll find that losing weight, especially on an unusualschedule, is much easier when done with the help of a friend.
