I have some ideas but wanted to see what you guys would do, if you were in my situation. I work 12 hour nights. Very physical job.
5:00pm - Wake Up 7:00pm - Shift Start 9:00pm - First 10 Min Break 11:30pm - First 30 Min Lunch 2:00am - Second 10 Min Break 4:30am - Second 30 Min Lunch 7:30am - Get Home 9:00am - Sleep
I have fasted for awhile before and am very comfortable hitting my 2000 calories in the 4 hour window. It’s been years since I’ve had a job this structured so I thought I could see what others would do.
TIA :)
Honestly it really depends on you and your job. You say it’s very physical. How do you feel doing it in a fasted state?
Personally, I prefer eating later in my “day”. I’ve never been a breakfast person. Back when I was working nights (I wasn’t doing IF back then), I was eating on the same schedule as if I had worked a normal day. So breakfast (if any, rare) when I woke up, lunch about 4 to 6 hours after waking up, and dinner about 4 to 6 hours after that. Didn’t matter if I was having “lunch” in the middle of the night.
I say later in the day, bearing in mind that I don’t like going to bed with a full stomach. So I try to stop eating a few hours before bedtime.
I also don’t mind being active while fasted, as long as I eat enough calories (and carbs) during my eating window. But then we’re talking normal active, running, and weight lifting. Not being a construction worker or something for 12 hours a day with 2 half-hour breaks.
So not having those details, if I were in this situation I would either:
Eat a full lunch at 11:30pm, a good sized snack at 2am, and maybe a smaller one later around 3:30 or 4am if possible, then call it a day. Without the second snack, that’s a 2:40 eating window.
Break my fast with full lunch at 4:30am, eat a good sized but still light snack at home at 7:30, and again, call it a day. That’s a 4hrs eating window, but closing a little close to bedtime for me (hence the LIGHT snack, as in light on the stomach).
Or I’d go OMAD at 6pm or 4:30am.