Hey everyone…I need a little help with something. At ten o’clock tonight i have to go into work and i will be working through the night til tomorrow morning. basically 24 hrs with no sleep. this is just a holiday thing. It is physical work so i will be moving around most of the time. my question is what can i do during this time to minimize catabolism and any other nasty things. i plan to try and at least have a snack every few hours. I am on a cutting phase so i am trying to avoid carbs. any advice would be appreciated. thanx in advance
You’ve got it right. Eat every couple of hours. In this case it might be good to at least moderately consume carbs, but that depends on the amount of carb avoidance in your diet.
Um, carbs is the answer actually. You will be officially “overtraining” today. The only way to blunt the cortisol is to be carb heavy. I’d have regular meals of low-glycemic carbs with protein throughout the day. keep them small enough to avoid sleepiness. Luck, mate.
YUP, do carbs man… i’ve pulled all-nighters too… get you a tube of oatmeal, and eat you a 1/2 cup every 2-3 hours…not a lot, only about 27g. carbs, but low g.i… or maybe swig a tbsp. of flax every few hours…
id go with some anti oxidants, beef jerkey, glutacenes good to sip if you got any, tuna salad on some whole grain bread (you might need it). like you said its just a holiday thing, youll get through it. Reduce volume next few days if you need to.
you’re just doing this one day, stop wasting your time and mental health worrying about it. 1 day of this will cause so little damage that it is negligable in the long run of a few weeks of training.
Also, reguarding sleep, I’ve found that after all-niters its best to get home and only sleep for 4hrs, then just relax the rest of the day so that you can get to bed a few hours before you normily would. When you wake up the next day you’ll feel good as new! trust me.
I worked nighfill for over a year so I know where you are coming from. It really depends on how little carbs you want. I would suggest if you can take in 100 grams or so, oatmeal is the ticket like the other guys suggested. Take in 25 gram hit’s with protein every few hours. However my problem was craving, so I used the old “make you wig out” ephedrine/caffeine combos. Curbed my appetite and when I ate I felt very full with small meals. I actually found with working all night with chicken/rice and epedrine over 12 months I cut up very nicely. Nothing like the equivalent of 6 hours of cardio a night!!! Good luck.
I work 5 days 6 am to 3 pm, have 72 hours off, then 5 days 2 pm to 11 pm, 72 hours off, 4 nights 10 pm to 6 am, 48 hours off. Tell me how to avoid catabolism. 
No way. I am on a verge of psychosis sometimes but have to stick with this job because I can’t get another where I live.
Just curious, what kind of job is it? I work full time nightshift at a factory doing boring assembly line shit.