Hello!
I'm 1week new to CAD and found this web site by accident, (allright , my 10 year old found it ). I've never posted to a forum before so please bear with me while I figure this out!!

I've lost 3 lbs in my first week and am feeling very pleased with myself, my problem is shift work.
I'm a E.R. nurse and last night was my first night back on,
Iwork 12hour shifts rotating between 2weeks days then 2 weeks nights. Should I try to keep my reward meal to the evening all the time? What about days when I'm up for 24hours straight(that usually happens when I switch from nights to days ,and I'm home with the kids.)Of course my bigest problem is junk food at the nurses station(last night it was Krispie kreame dounuts!!!!!!
I think I deserve a medal .

Has anyone got experience in these cases, any help would be great.

Hello and welcome.....

I can understand the problems you have-I'm a veterinarian and when I'm on call my life gets a little crazy. That's when I remind myself that snacking at night and not planning my meals caused me to gain the weight in the first place!

You should try and keep your reward meal at the same time (dinner if that's what works for you)-you just have to be a little creative with your planning. You can change the time of your RM for special occasions-birthday lunch etc. as long you don't do it too often.

Good luck and stick with it!
-animaldoc

I have never done shiftwork so I don't know how the body reacts but I have to agree that planning will be the most important part. It really dosen't matter when you have your reward meal as long as it is balanced. Breakfast is the most difficult as we tend to eat the traditional foods which are not great for CLAP'ing.When is your best break at work? can you fitin your reward meal here?? Although not great cheese balls and meat sticks may have to become a part of the snacks at the nurses desk. Then at least you can have something!
Good Luck!!
Switching your reward meal may slow you down but at least you will keep on track!!

Hi Donnemoc! Welcome! Good to see you here! I just started CALP this week and I can't wait to see some results here! I'm so impatient to lose! It sounds like you did wonderful your first week! Let's see how I do...!!

I hope you can find a way to work out your schedule and your meals. I imagine that trying to keep the meals "more or less" around the same time would be the best...Then again, I haven't been in your situation. You're so lucky this diet works for you! I'm so hoping that this diet will work for me too!!!!

It's great to see you posting, since this board hasn't been too active from what I've seen... So, keep coming back and let's cheer each other up! Are you posting a journal? your meals? I'm going to go and check! Best wishes! and keep posting!

I worked as a unit clerk for 7 years at a hospital and it is one ongoing food party. That's when I gained all my weight. Platters of food were around all the time and we had a great cafeteria with good cooks. So it was difficult to stay on a diet.Like the prior responses , it would be best to try to stick to a regular time for the reward meal if at all possible most of the time. Also I would make sure i had something that was allowed when the tempation got too bad. But the book also says at some point we have to train for less frequency in foods and snacks.If we want to maintain our weight loss when we reach this point , we need to have shrunk our stomachs enough we can handle. So while i'm not hungry on this diet ,I'm training to eat only at the times allowed and no snacks and watch my portions at the REwar meal and not go back for seconds so when I reach my weight, I will be able to keep it off. Hope these suggestions help.Wawtigress

Thanks !!!!!!!

Sorry about taking a while to post(night shifts) but thanks for the advice and encourgment .

I've kept to the evening RM and it seems to be working out O.K
Today I got the CALP book so I'll read that tonight.

No, I haven't started a journel yet when I finish typing I'll go check them out .

Thanks again.

Keep on doing what you're doing and watch the lbs slowly drop away. That's the best way slowly so it will be easier to keep off. Wawtigress