u/MorbidTangerine

I work overnights, 4 days a week. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I have a fixed schedule, and I know a lot of people would die to have 3 days off, but somehow it still feels like I’m wasting away. Those 3 days are mostly spent sleeping, with the entire first day dedicated to ONLY sleep. I cannot physically stay awake after I come home on my last day, so I honestly feel like I only have 2 days off and my coworkers that I’ve spoken to about this have agreed with me that it’s the same for them. I’m just so exhausted. There’s no other decent jobs in my area so I’m kind of forced to stay here, even though it’s taking a toll on my physical health. On my work days I consistently only get around 4-5 hours of sleep because I have things to do and I don’t want to immediately pass out once I’m home. Can never hang out with friends anymore because I’m at work when they’re off. No more Sundays at the bar or anything. Constantly had to reject plans until people started getting the memo that I’m never available, so now nobody ever asks anymore. Working at Walmart is not for the weak. You genuinely become a bot with no social life and that’s exactly the way this system was designed. I should’ve listened to the people who warned me about it but it’s too late. Now I’m stuck putting boxes of cereal on a shelf for a company that makes billions and doesn’t give a flying shit about me. Only profit.

Hey fellas. I’m a night shift worker, and have a fixed schedule of 11 hours, 4 days a week. I wake up at 7 PM, clock in at 8 PM, then I go home at 7 AM, so 8-7 every night. I work Thursday, Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday, with my days off being the following Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It’s a pretty brutal schedule, and I’m only 25, but lately I’ve found that I haven’t been eating nearly as much as I should, and the result of that is low energy/motivation to even workout.

My lunch break at work is an hour, and it starts at 1:30. I do eat my lunch but it’s not a ton of calories or proper nutrition, and I admit I snack a lot of unhealthy shit to get me through the night. Surprisingly, I’m not overweight, and if anything I could probably afford to gain about ten more pounds, but I also want to put my focus into getting some muscle gains, which seems impossible right now. Besides my work lunch, I’ll usually get home and have a decent breakfast, then fall asleep around 12 PM. I don’t really have time to eat before I drive to work unless I start waking myself up earlier.

I haven’t eaten since 8 AM yesterday, but I still wanna workout. I’m usually pretty exhausted even when I get a good amount of sleep. I can easily sleep 12 hours straight on my off days and wake up at like 9 PM or so. Oversleeping is becoming a problem as a result, and I just don’t know what to do. I was planning to eat more yesterday and then work out around 2 PM but I was too tired and just went back to sleep. Obviously the hours that I usually work, are gonna be the same hours I feel more awake and alert, thus I try to maintain a similar schedule, but lifting at like 2 in the morning seems a bit redundant lmao. Idk, thoughts?

What’s the best time to eat and workout to optimize performance? I’m scared of working out and having it not even be worth it, because muscles need energy to grow, after all. I appreciate any and all answers.

PS: If it’s also more helpful, I’m following (or trying to follow) the “GZCLP” program.

For me, it’s those goddamn Poptarts. There’s always, always topstock left over and it’s consistently a mess. Gets on my nerves. Also the jello boxes.