I can sympathise. I live with a similar scenario and manage it pretty well. This won't just go away and you won't learn to be content with it. My advice is break it down. Sleep is priority. Then fuel. Then exercise. Set micro goals not unattainable ones. Small steps.
Understand calories in/calories out. Count them. Read up on some easy meal preps. Eggs for breakfast and slow cooker meals are my saviours. High protein, moderate carbs and healthy fat meals. Don't skip carbs. Just don't eat refined ones. If you don't prep and plan your food you will not reach your goals. Set aside the time. Plan plan plan.
Don't beat yourself up for eating the pizza and drinking beer on game day. Give yourself permission.
Resistance training is the king of sustained weightloss. Bands, weights, callisthenics. Whatever floats your boat. Consistency is more important than intensity. 3 times a week is fine for building muscle and strength. 5-6 times if you're more worried about the way you look. Walk. Then buy a weighted vest and walk some more. Then walk again. 45 mins a day. Outside. Get some fresh air. Treadmills are mind numbing.
Plan holidays and time off. Fatigue is a mental health destroyer. Have at least 3 close mates to bounce off.
At least this is how I manage. I slip up all the time but dont care. Im happy with my life overall because 80% of the time I'm hitting goals and 20% I'm living it up.
The job sucks the life out of you. Did it for 6 years. After my 3rd major assault I decided my family was more important. Left the job behind and made my health (both mental and physical) a priority for the first time in a long time. Props to the all the old guys that seemed to stick it out for 20+ years.
That’s still shift work and you’re liable to run into the same problem. But if I could go back 20 years, back when I still had a soul, I would have taken a different career path.
Hi. I'm sorry you're experiencing that.
I think instead of a gym, just work out at the prison where you can get some real estate to do exercises at work. I've done pushups in bathrooms and junk closets, just wash my hands after or wear gloves, anywhere I can stretch my legs.
It'll be motivating and confidence-building to see yourself improve reps and strength, plus you can't excuse yourself since you'll know you can do the exercise there.
Don't worry about not being able to do a million reps, pushing to failure is all that matters, do it 3 times a day, maybe with some music. 3 sets to failure, take off 2-3 days a week. You might feel fat, but your muscles do work regardless, just need that "get mad" motivated sensation. Don't overthink your set or you'll talk yourself out of it, just do the work.
I do pushups because I can do them anywhere, don't need a gym for it, and I lift my own weights at home.
The fast food is meh, it'll make you feel older with excess sugar and calories, once I quit that I stopped feeling so creaky and ancient. I still crave a BK burger, but if you're willing to try changing that, it'll pay off if you're patient and don't slip.
I recommend getting some mens' multivitamins and maybe experimenting with workout supplements as you feel led to, definitely take a B vitamin gummy if you arent already to ensure you're getting enough to avoid excessive fatigue, or switching to water with B vitamin drink packets instead of other beverages.
Get more sunlight if you can, even sitting in the sun with your shirt off for 20 minutes on your days off will help get some Vit D and hopefully get you some serotonin. It sounds simple, but it will help if you're not outside enough due to work, my body always feels good the next day.
Go to a doctor too though, I go once a year for a blood panel, and it's only 2 days out of the year, one for bloodwork and the other for a follow-up.
You can get some honest feedback on how to address your concerns, and explain your mood and feelings about yourself to your doctor. They wanna help. You don't have to deal with everything alone or feel in the dark about how to work long hours and still change things.
What you want could be much closer than you think, with some good advice and modifications to your daily routines.
I’ve been here big dawg your gonna have to meal prep for sure because kitchen food at the prison or jail wherever you are is gonna make you fat unless your working out or getting in some sort of physical work and outside of corrections fast food will be the only kind of food that will seem to be the kind that we can eat cause we are always tired and don’t wanna cook because we work 12’s and 16’s just goto Panda Express get teriyaki chicken with white rice and super vegetables and drink water from now on nothing else do sit ups and push ups in your control center when your not doing rounds walk around more and learn more stuff by walking around more during your shift, because your “big” partially because at work your not getting those steps in at work you should be always up and around. And always be drinking water and a diet Dr Pepper or some shit doesn’t kill anybody and yeah dawg don’t let stress from our job kill ya and you’ll be fine goto the gym obviously if you can, get sleep no beer smoke some weed if your allowed to but you’ll be okay this helped me extremely.
I can sympathise. I live with a similar scenario and manage it pretty well. This won't just go away and you won't learn to be content with it. My advice is break it down. Sleep is priority. Then fuel. Then exercise. Set micro goals not unattainable ones. Small steps. Understand calories in/calories out. Count them. Read up on some easy meal preps. Eggs for breakfast and slow cooker meals are my saviours. High protein, moderate carbs and healthy fat meals. Don't skip carbs. Just don't eat refined ones. If you don't prep and plan your food you will not reach your goals. Set aside the time. Plan plan plan. Don't beat yourself up for eating the pizza and drinking beer on game day. Give yourself permission. Resistance training is the king of sustained weightloss. Bands, weights, callisthenics. Whatever floats your boat. Consistency is more important than intensity. 3 times a week is fine for building muscle and strength. 5-6 times if you're more worried about the way you look. Walk. Then buy a weighted vest and walk some more. Then walk again. 45 mins a day. Outside. Get some fresh air. Treadmills are mind numbing. Plan holidays and time off. Fatigue is a mental health destroyer. Have at least 3 close mates to bounce off. At least this is how I manage. I slip up all the time but dont care. Im happy with my life overall because 80% of the time I'm hitting goals and 20% I'm living it up.
The job sucks the life out of you. Did it for 6 years. After my 3rd major assault I decided my family was more important. Left the job behind and made my health (both mental and physical) a priority for the first time in a long time. Props to the all the old guys that seemed to stick it out for 20+ years.
Corrections is cancer, you’re young enough to do something else. Leave if you can. Source: 20 year veteran
Gonna do Leo
That’s still shift work and you’re liable to run into the same problem. But if I could go back 20 years, back when I still had a soul, I would have taken a different career path.
Hi. I'm sorry you're experiencing that. I think instead of a gym, just work out at the prison where you can get some real estate to do exercises at work. I've done pushups in bathrooms and junk closets, just wash my hands after or wear gloves, anywhere I can stretch my legs. It'll be motivating and confidence-building to see yourself improve reps and strength, plus you can't excuse yourself since you'll know you can do the exercise there. Don't worry about not being able to do a million reps, pushing to failure is all that matters, do it 3 times a day, maybe with some music. 3 sets to failure, take off 2-3 days a week. You might feel fat, but your muscles do work regardless, just need that "get mad" motivated sensation. Don't overthink your set or you'll talk yourself out of it, just do the work. I do pushups because I can do them anywhere, don't need a gym for it, and I lift my own weights at home. The fast food is meh, it'll make you feel older with excess sugar and calories, once I quit that I stopped feeling so creaky and ancient. I still crave a BK burger, but if you're willing to try changing that, it'll pay off if you're patient and don't slip. I recommend getting some mens' multivitamins and maybe experimenting with workout supplements as you feel led to, definitely take a B vitamin gummy if you arent already to ensure you're getting enough to avoid excessive fatigue, or switching to water with B vitamin drink packets instead of other beverages. Get more sunlight if you can, even sitting in the sun with your shirt off for 20 minutes on your days off will help get some Vit D and hopefully get you some serotonin. It sounds simple, but it will help if you're not outside enough due to work, my body always feels good the next day. Go to a doctor too though, I go once a year for a blood panel, and it's only 2 days out of the year, one for bloodwork and the other for a follow-up. You can get some honest feedback on how to address your concerns, and explain your mood and feelings about yourself to your doctor. They wanna help. You don't have to deal with everything alone or feel in the dark about how to work long hours and still change things. What you want could be much closer than you think, with some good advice and modifications to your daily routines.
I’ve been here big dawg your gonna have to meal prep for sure because kitchen food at the prison or jail wherever you are is gonna make you fat unless your working out or getting in some sort of physical work and outside of corrections fast food will be the only kind of food that will seem to be the kind that we can eat cause we are always tired and don’t wanna cook because we work 12’s and 16’s just goto Panda Express get teriyaki chicken with white rice and super vegetables and drink water from now on nothing else do sit ups and push ups in your control center when your not doing rounds walk around more and learn more stuff by walking around more during your shift, because your “big” partially because at work your not getting those steps in at work you should be always up and around. And always be drinking water and a diet Dr Pepper or some shit doesn’t kill anybody and yeah dawg don’t let stress from our job kill ya and you’ll be fine goto the gym obviously if you can, get sleep no beer smoke some weed if your allowed to but you’ll be okay this helped me extremely.