How do I hit my macros when I work long shifts?

The barrier usually isn't the shift. It's a plan built around sit-down meals you'll never get. Jill, a labor nurse, treats her meals like snacks at work. She can be pushing with a patient for three hours, so when she feels her blood sugar drop she asks someone to take over for a minute and eats a meal in about two minutes. Her shift food is simple: pretzels, a sandwich, cottage cheese, yogurt and a shake she can finish at the desk. She eats breakfast right before she goes in and keeps a water bottle at the desk. One WarriorBabe coach sums it up: you don't bring chicken, broccoli and rice to a shift. You bring food you can eat within two minutes.

Prep matters too. Denise, a teacher, assembles each full meal the afternoon before, not just the ingredients. In the morning she drops what she needs for work into a cooler and keeps it in the small fridge in her classroom. She knows not every teacher has a fridge nearby, but says planning ahead and bringing food to class still works. Having meals decided in advance also kept her away from workplace temptations like bake sales.

If you've been skipping meals on shift and feeling it, the problem isn't your willpower. You just need food and a plan that fit the job you actually have.