Can't lose weight on night shifts

[ItWillWash]

I work 4 nights on, 4 nights off. I don't gain weight when I'm on nights but I don't lose any and it's really slowing down my progress and frustrating me.

I watch my calories and stick well within them. I have calculated my BMR and eat upwards of 500 calories less than that per day. If I'm hungry I snack on fruit or rice cakes.

The only difference with my routine vs when I am off is I move around a lot less. I tend to get up, drink some coffee, watch some Netflix and then start work at my desk where I stay until I finish work whereas when I am off I move around cleaning the house/running errands etc.

I always thought weight loss was 90% diet and almost wholly dependent on calories in vs calories out. Could my inactivity on night shifts really be having that much of an impact or am I missing something obvious?

Eating 20% less than tdee is what really ramped up my weight loss, with no exercise at all and a sedentary job, but if you’re working 4 on 4 off then it will all be averaging out over the week so you should still be losing over the course of a week. Weight doesn’t come off in an even line there are ups/downs/statics along the way as you could be holding water if you’ve had something salted, are around time of the month etc. consistency is key wrt diet/calories so, as long as you aren’t having ‘cheat days’ where you are eating too many calories and undoing your hard work, it will come off. Link to Tdee calculator below.
tdeecalculator.net

Could it be something to do with the fact you work nights? Maybe it’s messing up your hormones and sleep rhythms and stuff. For example, what times of day/night do you eat your meals and is there a difference in your ‘eating window’ between the on and off days?

It could be hormones but I didn't know hormones could affect weight loss. I know they can affect hunger and I do feel more hungry when I'm on nights but my calories are consistent on days vs nights.

My eating patterns change a lot. When I'm off I tend to eat lunch or breakfast and then a bigger dinner. I'll tend to have the same first meal (omelette or sardines on toast) and then a home-cooked meal for dinner.

When I'm at work I eat smaller meals more often. I'll usually have breakfast before I sleep (veggie omelette fried in spray oil made with 3 medium eggs or a tin of sardines on seeded bread toast)

I sometimes have a small snack or meal an hour after I get up usually museli and yoghurt or fruit. Then I have my dinner at about 23:00, normally chicken or tuna salad with helmanns low cal vinaigrette and then I have a snack at around 3am usually a low-fat yoghurt and fruit or a couple of rice cakes.

Night shift totally screws up your metabolism.
Research with nurses has shown this, besides the metabolism and weight gain problem it also increases your risk of breast cancer.

www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2021/october/a-dented-internal-clock-provides-insight-into-shift-workers-weight-gain-and-diabetes#:~:text=High%20rates%20of%20shift%20workers,of%20a%20molecule%20within%20the

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shift_work_sleep_disorder

It's a real thing and it increases the risk of all sorts, but including obesity, higher body fat content and diabetes.

I did them for 10 years between two different jobs. I've been off them now 2 years and my health is better, both mental and physical and I lost around a stone without changing anything else but not working nights. You don't say how old you are but it was definitely harder 10 years further on too.

People who have never worked nights will tell you it's excuses and bollocks but I've worked with a lot of other night shifters in those 10 years and nearly everyone has the same experience when working permanent nights that weight gain is almost inevitable if you actually want to eat and sleep ever and weight loss harder. It's not just the staying awake during the night, and having to be alert and on the ball, it's that your quality of sleep is poorer through the day and very often broken sleep too, which all contributes to the issues night workers face.