Variable shift pattern diet plan?

CantTouchThis · Jul 28, 2020

Hey guys, here with another dumbass question.

Currently working 0700 - 1600 (2days) then 1400 - 2300 (2days) then 2300 - 0700 (2days) then 4 days off.

I've wondered why I've been losing weight slowly, I think its partially due to changing my sleeping pattern to accommodate my shifts.

If working a day shift (0700 - 1600) I will usually sleep at 10:00 to get 7h30mins sleep. Now, If im transitioning from a day shift to a late shift (1400 - 2300) I usually delay my sleeping until 3am and sleep around 8 hours or so until I get up. I also delay myself from sleeping from a late to a night shift also.

I worked out I'm awake 17 hours between waking up and sleeping (between a normal shift) and I have 3400 calories a day to maintain. If I divide 3400 by 17 I get 200 calories every hour. So let's say, I'm staying up until 0300 hours instead of 2200 hours, thats an additional 5 hours. In theory, would this be an additional 1000 calories to maintain?

This may seem dumb dumb to some of you, but honestly I cant find much on this. Maybe I type it in a super awkward ****ing way and can't find anything, But someone's gotta be a wiz here and tell me if my science is shit or if its right.

TDLR: If I stay up 5 hours later than usual (but still sleep for 8 hours after) and on average I have 200 calories an hour to maintain, Should I eat an additional 1000 calories to maintain my weight during that period?

Please don't flame me, I'm just a small boy trying to make it big

CJ · Jul 28, 2020

You burn a decent amount of calories when you're sleeping too, so you'd have to subract those calories from the calories you're awake instead.

For example, if you burn 200 Cals during an hour of sleep, but instead of sleeping that hour you were active and burned 300 Cals, you'd only need an additional 100 Cals to make up the difference. You're burning 300 instead of 200.

Plus, you're overthinking it anyway.

CantTouchThis · Jul 28, 2020

CJ275 said:
You burn a decent amount of calories when you're sleeping too, so you'd have to subract those calories from the calories you're awake instead.

For example, if you burn 200 Cals during an hour of sleep, but instead of sleeping that hour you were active and burned 300 Cals, you'd only need an additional 100 Cals to make up the difference. You're burning 300 instead of 200.

Plus, you're overthinking it anyway.

My head hurts trying to think about it all.

I know I'm overthinking, I just dont want to be losing weight I'm trying to put on due to my shift patterns being how they are! I think I'll just test it out over a week or so and see where I sit in regards to it. Trial and error is probably my best bet!

Much love CJ,

CJ · Jul 28, 2020

CantTouchThis said:
My head hurts trying to think about it all.

I know I'm overthinking, I just dont want to be losing weight I'm trying to put on due to my shift patterns being how they are! I think I'll just test it out over a week or so and see where I sit in regards to it. Trial and error is probably my best bet!

Much love CJ,

Just eat more if the scale drops.