Overeating junk, always tired, can't fall asleep, clothes won't fit... Help!

[tiredandgreedy]

Hi, I need some help but don't know where to begin.

Firstly, I can't stop eating, in the day it's ok, but in the evening, I can't stop (eg last night a whole pack of Fingers). I feel uncomfortable and am putting on weight but can't seem to stop it. I work alternate daily shifts (9-5pm, 2.30-10.30pm) which means it's hard to get into an eating routine but also at night after a late I find it very hard to switch off my brain and sleep, meaning sometimes I've had to get up for a 9am shift after not getting to sleep until 4am that night. All sorts of things swirl through my mind and I just can't switch off.

I've tried to exercise but as I'm so tired I always put it off. (I know working til 10.30pm then in at 9 the next day doesn't help my tiredness but I am stuck with this rota for a while). I've tried WW etc and I do ok in the day then again, in the evening, carbs and sweets overload, as though to compensate for being so cold and tired this time of year!

Now I'm not fitting in my clothes and I hate it, I know I need a kick up the bum, but I just don't know where to start, has anyone been in this situation or got any advice? It feels like I'm trapped in a circle!

(I've namechanged as I'm so down about this, but been here yonks, penguins, fresh pasta etc..) Thanks x

Don't do what I did which was to cut out everything all at once. Found that I absolutely could not live without coffee, so am doing a strict diet regime except for the caffeine as I ended up with a migraine I am so addicted.

Late shifts are really difficult as you get home and let's face it, a glass of hot water with lemon just isn't great.

Are there other low calories snacks that aren't too horrible you could find somewhat OK? Apples are good with marmite. Rice cakes with salsa?

You know waht the answer is.
Stop eating crap.
Do some exercise.

What, realistically, can anyone say other than that?

Alternate shifts/an irregular timetable is very tough on your body. Don't underestimate this: you need to organise and meal plan for the whole week to take account of this and to ensure that you will be eating and digesting properly (how is your digestion, by the way? Do you manage to go to the loo when you work until 10.30 pm, sleep badly and then go back into work for 9 am?).

Do you have weekends/two consecutive days off during the week? Could you use them to eat nothing but vegetables and fruit for 48 hours, and drink masses of water, in order to rest your liver and get your intestines cleaned out? And then work out a healthy eating plan for the week and shop and prepare for it?

moondog, yes I know what the answer is, so does every other unhappy woman out there... I am asking for advice on how best to achieve it with my irregular shifts and sleeping patterns etc.

Ilovemydog I don't mind things like rice cakes etc, in fact if I'm working over lunch I'll often have a Boots Shapers lunch with the snack a jacks or fruit, am quite good like that! But it's as if once it gets dark my body goes into hibernate mode and all I want is comfort food

Bonsoir I have two days off but not consecutive. I do like the idea of making them a sort of detox day, that's a good idea, thanks. Possible TMI but, no, I don't go to the loo often(!) Sometimes it's couple of days.. I've always assumed that's just how I was??

IMO (and in my DP's opinion, too), good regular bowel habits are essential to well-being! Every morning, around breakfast time, preferably. Up your intake of vegetables, fruit and water.

Every day, crikey! Well... that might explain something then!

Any tips on how to switch off at night and fall asleep? Usually I have no problem but the last month or so I just can't stop thinking!

Can't you change your job????

I don't think that working til 10.30pm then starting work at 9am is a good enough excuse to overat- sorry!

Why don't you :
Have a proper lunch before you 2.30pm start?
Take /have something filling but healthy when you get your dinner break- you do get one, don't you?

Snack on fruit, veggies and other low calorie foods when you are starving.

Exercise should not be too tricky on a late shift- do 30 mins in the morning, then some in the evening when you are on a 9-5 shift.

No excuses- just do it! Or change your job.

Your bowels are sluggish dear- you need more water, more fibre and more exercise. Bowels do not work well without exercise. Google the amount of fibre you need each day and the foods it comes from.

I "go" anything up to 3 times a day- usually never less than twice.

finishing work at 10.30pm and then starting at 9am the next day is in breech of the working time directive.

you need to look at doing some relaxation exercises. i have found the brathing ones quite good and sometimes can be asleep within 5 minuts of starting them.

Can you have a hot bath and listen to the radio (Radio 4 or something that talks to you) to change what's going on in your mind? Even better, a podcast of a funny programme? No computer or TV.

And then bed, with a lighthearted book that you enjoy!

Just take something healthy to eat-doesn't have to complicated. A sandwich. If you have a microwave, take some food to heat up.
Don't buy crap and then you won't eat it!

What about soup? It doesn't have to be high calories if you make it yourself. Curried parsnip, beetroot, lentil are all good.

moocowme - I know normally it is, but I work in retail and there is an exclusion for industries that have seasonal demand. But thanks for pointing it out purple I am changing jobs but not for another 5 weeks...

Ooh lots of advice there, i know I need to get off my bum, literally! I haven't been exercising before I go onto a late shift because I literally have been falling asleep at dawn and then getting up just in time to get to work, i am so out of kilter it's ridiculous. I think this lack of fibre thing is quite concerning too given how regularly you all seem to, er, go! Definitely need to look at that one. And doing some planning too instead of just grabbing whatever's closest!

I am on a late shift tomorrow. Would anyone recommend taking a sleeping tablet tonight to try to get me to sleep at say 11, to try and get my rest pattern kick started back to normal? Have never tried them before.

Planning ahead is the secret. Sit down with all your shifts for the week and plan what meals you're going to have, then make sure you go and buy everything you need for those meals. Don't buy anything else, and don't buy any junk/biscuits/sugary snacks/chocolate. If you haven't got it in the house then you won't eat it!

Drink lots of water and make sure that you have planned in lots of veg/salad stuff with your meals.

Hiya
I could have written your post a few days ago, except I didn't have the shift work on top to complicate things.
Once you get into the cycle of crap, feeling tired, eating crap, feeling too crap to exercise, it is really hard. The cravings you have are real and very strong, and when you are tired, it is too much to fight them.

What is working for me is giving up sugar (and yeast). It is a big pita, and like the others have said, takes planning and a huge amount of willpower in the first week. However, if you can get through the first few days of no sugar, your body DOES stop craing it, and you are able to resist temptation more.

I speak as a long standing chocoholic who was needing a sugar hit about every 2 hrs. I was always tired, never wanted to do anything. Found it nard to go to sleep - brain wouldn't switch off.

3 1/2 weeks into giving up sugar, my sleeping is fine. I have loads more energy - both physical and mental. I still want 'bad' foods but can control myself not to have them. My appetite has in fact gone down, and I have lost about 6lbs (which was not the reason for me doing it, but a real bonus and helps motivate me).

I stocked up on rice and oat cakes, found a muesli with no sugar, and allowed myself to have fruit if I wanted something sweet (but only one/two a day). Obviously fruit has sugar in it, but this plan seems to have worked for me. Breakfast and snacks = muesli and rice/oat cakes/fruit. Lunch - baked pots, salad etc. Dinners as before, lots of veg and not too much pasta.

Best of luck if you try it. I know how hard it is, but the fact that you are posting on here shows you have admitted to yourself that you need to beat this, and that is a huge step forward to just wishing it would get better by itself.

I think you need to relax over the sleep thing otherwise it will become a bigger problem- and hey, you only have 5 weeks til your new job!

Rather than jump into bed at 11pm which i s only 30 mins after you get home- and you are unlikely to have wound down- then you should relax and aim to get to bed by 12. That way you can chill a bit, have a bath and maybe a milky drink, and sleep through til say 7.30am?

You need to try and range of different exercises to find something you can commit to. If time is of the essence, then running and exercise dvds that you can do whilst DCs are in the house are the best.

Walking/running is the simplest and best form of exercise and will have an impact on your weight/body tone mood and bowels (!!)Pilates is an excellent way of getting body tone, and some sort of circuit training (Davina DVDS) are good for both fat burning and body toning.

You know all this - but you have to DO IT!! Once it becomes a habit then you will stick to it, and you will want junk a bit less because you know how hard you have to work to burn it off. (I still indulge in biscuits and cakes btw - I just run to burn them off!)

Can I just add to notyummy, that I have been running for 3 years (2x a week) and pilates (1x a week) for 4 years, and agree they help with tone. However, they did not make me feel any less tired and I did not lose ANY weight doing it. Giving up sugar, and banishing the cravings has been the one thing that has worked for me. When I allow sugar to take over, then everything else becomes harder, and I reckon it does something to your metabolism to retain weight and keep you feeling sluggish.

However, I also know people who have taken up running and have lost loads of weight and say it has changed their lives, so it really is horses for courses!

You have to break the cycle, and it's going to take a bit of effort and discomfort.

Start exercising for 15 mins a day. Brisk walk, yoga stretches, an exercise DVD - whatever. Just do it.

Meal plan. Shop for your planned meals. Take fruit and healthy snacks into work. Have a few rules - no eating after dinner after dinner, for example.

Have a bedtime ritual that you do no matter what. Mine is bath or shower, warm caffeine-free drink, give myself a 3 minute facial massage with oil in bed, then read until I feel sleepy.

Give yourself 2 weeks of this new regime and I'll put money on you feeling a lot more energetic and positive.

I agree with whoever said don't go cold turkey. Start to cut things out one at a time, or reduce your quantities. I find if I ever try to do it all at once, I fall at the first hurdle, am full of self loathing as a result and then am back immediately to square one, plus an additional dose of self hatred thrown in for good measure.

I also agree with whoever said don't buy the junk food. Allow yourself the odd "treat", (eg, a delicious coffee w milk and sugar), but not if you can't limit portions. In other words, don't buy a packet of biscuits and assume you will be able to stop at one. Just don't buy them.

Find healthy snacks that you enjoy eating.

Draw up a plan for what you are going to eat, any exercise you are going to take, any supplements you might take (I would recommend flaxseed oil, vitamin B, chromium to help sort out blood sugar levels). Keep protein levels high, try to keep wheat and sugar to a minimum. and drink LOADS of water.

If you manage to do these things, you will feel so much better within a few weeks and lodas of your cravings will disappear.

Re: sleeping at night, rescue remedy night time formula is really good for helping calm a restless brain. A few drops of lavender on your pillow or added to water as a pillow/sheet spray also good (unless of course you hate lavender....!)

If you can bear it, you could buy/read/borrow from library, a book called The Fat Flush Plan (revolting title, sorry....). It makes v interesting reading about what your body needs to NOT store fat, to keep your metabolism at a healthy level. It outlines a 2 week bootcamp plan (which seems quite awful but if you cut down on everything beforehand and don't try it cold turkey, it's completely do-able, and I'm speaking as someone who joggles work, kids, etc, though without the shift issues that you have....) and the info about fat burning and metabolism boosting foods and supplements is great.

And yes, it's all about digestion and bowel movements too.

I am just going to disagree again here

For me, I HAVE to go cold turkey. Just cutting down doesn't stop the cravings, and the struggle is just as hard but I feel worse as I end up giving in.

Going cold turke means the rules are clear. You know what you are allowed and what you aren't, so there is no creeping and sliding back. Going cold turkey while really, really hard for the first few days/week, does then stop the cravings which gives you more strength to carry on.

IME, if you aren't strong enough to go cold turkey, you aren't motivated enough to see it through.

You, of course, may be different from me lol!

I found 2 weeks of cutting down on things made going cold turkey after those 2 weeks MUCH easier. Agree that if you don't actually STOP the bad habits at some point, it's pretty hopeless. But going from all to nothing is hideous, plus you get terrible headaches etc.

But, whatever works best for you. I was never a smoker, but my ex smoking friends are divided as to whether it's best to cut down first or just go cold turkey, so I guess its rather like that.

I'm in a similar situation without the shift work. My plan is that between now and Christmas I'm not going to even try to stop eating junk. However what I am going to do is to make sure that I am eating good stuff as well, so if I dig into a box of chocs then I eat some fruit or a salad/roast veg whatever.

Then after Christmas I'm going to ditch the junk - I suspect that by then I'll be sick of it anyway.

I'll also go back to exercising in Jan.

Relax about sleeping, if you lie in bed worrying about it then get up for a bit have a cuppa, read a book and then go back.