Hello everyone!
I work at a coffee shop and tend to be up pretty early for my morning shifts. The earliest being 3:30 am and latest being 6 am. I’m usually done with my day at 11:30, get home, shower and take an undisturbed nap until maybe 3 or 4 pm (depending how tired I am). I started this habit of napping after work because I always found myself tired and wanting to go to bed around 5-6 pm. By napping I felt good to function until a more reasonable bed time for me, being at 8-10pm. Im not really sure how IF would work for me since at work I tend to have a small break to enjoy a small snack/breakfast. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on how I should go about doing IF (eating to fasting ratios).
I’m a bit of the opposite. I usually sleep around 3-4am and am up around 9-10, work until 6-7pm and eat dinner right after. As long as I’m busy throughout the day I can manage the hunger temptations. After dinner, it’s mostly a matter of trying not to snack. Drinking tea, working out late at night, and simply buying less snacks has helped me maintain an OMAD diet.
Your schedule is quite adaptable to IF. Depending on what your eating window is and how many meals you eat, you can do something similar. You can either eat right before and after your afternoon nap, which will essentially be a 20-4/18-6. Alternatively, you can eat a mid-work meal and something right when you get home if you can manage not eating after your nap.
Either way, you can do it; you got this!
You can definitely do IF, I think the hardest part for you would be finding what works with your schedule. Most people are asleep for a big portion of their fast and that makes it easier, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a schedule that would for you. There’s 5/2, alternate day fasting, or more typical daily schedules - and every day does not need to be the same for daily approaches. I would start with 16:8 and see when it’s best for you to eat evolve yourself approach from there as you learn more what you like.
I too have a very irregular sleep schedule, sometimes I sleep midnight to 3am then work until 8am. Then nap and back to work at 9pm until midnight. Rinse, wash, & repeat. I find that I sleep better without having just eaten food. Since you’re in a coffee shop I would presume you have access to drip coffee. I would fast until you’re finished with work, then have a 6-8 hour eating window.