Best way to deal with 60-hour restaurant work week

[Nut chef]

Not.even sure.if this is the right forum for that,but I will try,so when I was still chef de partie,even working for Ritz Carlton I still did my.40 hours,had plenty of time to exercise,and healthy eating and rest,now I'm sous chef,working 55-60 hours per week,most.of the.time don't have the time to eat on 16 hours shift,drinking lots of coffee,not.enough.sleep and when I get home I have to have drink or.else I will not be able fall asleep for 2 hours,how to find time for exercise and live.healthier? Is it even possible?

[Tri2Cook]

It's possible, just not easy. I'm working similar hours and it's definitely made a difference in my outside-of-work life. I'm into road cycling and mountain biking. When I first started in restaurant work, I was averaging 350  450 km a week on the road plus occasional mountain bike trips during the months when weather here allows and running on the treadmills at the gym 6 days a week during the nasty winter months. As I've worked my way into more responsibility and the additional hours that come with that, those other things have suffered noticeably. I probably average more like 150 - 200 km a week on the road now on my good weeks with the bulk of that coming on Sunday, my only day off. What I've found is that it's not really that there isn't time, it just means having to do it when you can instead of when you want to. It's also a lot easier to not do things even when you have time because it's nice to have a little time to just relax. Getting out on the road or trails on my bikes is more than just exercise for me. It's also my happy place where I can wipe everything else from my mind for a little while so it contributes to my mental health as well. That makes it easier for me to go do it even when I really don't feel like it. For the eating healthy part, I take a lot of fresh fruit and veggies and other fairly healthy stuff that I can just grab and eat quickly without any prep/cooking and keep it in a container in the walk-in at work. If I get a minute, I grab a piece of fruit or something and a glass of water and keep going.

[Nut chef]

That's great point,thank you very much,I'll appreciate it.

[Lisa Shock]

I found it useful to set a regimen for myself while at work: no caffeine after 3pm, only certain foods at certain times, no food 6 hours before bedtime, etc. This way, I went home tired and was able to fall asleep more easily, so I got more sleep in the long run. IMO, it's better to come in fresh and alert and leave tired than to come in tired and be half-dragging along all day. -And what's the point of a day off if all you wind up doing is catching up on sleep? Most people really need 8-9 hours of sleep a day (I just read a big study on this.) Time spent sleeping is important for your health both body and brain, so protect your bedtime hours.

[Nut chef]

Woow Lisa, this is really amazing advice,and point of view,well I guess more experience than anything else,what did you eat? I'm personally soo busy when doing prep I forgot I'm hungry,and when I remember,it's usually during service,so I end up grubbing fast fries,or piece.of cheese!

[gfron1]

I'm certainly no success story for what you're seeking but a few thoughts. Eating is the absolute hardest thing for me to deal with. Very often I send my floor staff out to get me something, although I've gotten much better at throwing a couple of eggs in a skillet in the morning. I've also bought cases of Tanka bars (soft bison jerky) for mid-afternoon snacks.

 

My average week is 65, and sometimes (like last week) I work 75. And yet, every morning I get my ass up and take the dogs for a hike to go foraging at 6 which 1. exercises the dogs; 2. exercises me; and 3. gives me some mental health by being in nature and fresh air.

[Lisa Shock]

Nut chef, I tried to eat oatmeal or granola every morning before work along with a piece of fruit. During a break, I would look for something high in protein and a vegetable or small salad. Sometimes that meant I packed myself something simple like a hard boiled egg and some coleslaw. I also started drinking full fat milk, a glass of that as a late afternoon snack really helped keep me on an even keel. I had to spend a lot of dinner service tasting, so eating then would be more about not over-eating. I'm a vegetarian, so, a lot of times my options for eating what was free/low cost at work were limited. I got myself into a regimen of buying/making food on my day off for the upcoming week's lunches. And I would shop with a plan for each day in mind as well: buy 4 bananas and 3 apples as my fruit, get baby carrots, buy a head of cabbage and make a big batch of coleslaw, make 3 days worth of pasta salad w/beans, figure out what my sandwiches and tossed salads would be, etc. It also helps to stock up on less perishable basics like nut butters, so you can make a sandwich on the run -and make salad dressing so that's always around. Cheese isn't a bad option, just make sure to plan some fruits and veggies, too.

 

It's different for everyone in terms of: what you like to eat, if you are allowed to bring a packed lunch, and, what's offered free/low cost at work. I worked at a breakfast place where we could eat as much eggs, artisan bread, and oatmeal as we wanted, and I tried to always take advantage of that.

 

I also always try to bring drinks, unless good ones are free at work. It can be tempting to guzzle soda when you're hot, or coffee drinks when you're tired. I always brought my own iced tea for daytime, and a small jug of fruit flavored water for later. (add a little sugar for energy, if needed) Once again, you have to look at what is possible in your situation and what suits your tastes.

 

Hope this helps!

[MattyC]

Don't have a *ton* to add, everyone else has made some really great points and suggestions, but I'll give my 2 cents in case it helps.

 

Working a lot is familiar to me, I don't remember the last kitchen I worked with less than 80 hours - to some people it's easier, to others it's harder, but either way, you need to make and stick to a schedule and think healthy long-term. Constantly changing sleep patterns, having to use booze or sleep pills to try and get sleep, etc, all wreck your body. Same goes for soda and energy drinks - it may seem like a good idea to keep with the instant gratification aids, but in the long run, it's SO much worse.

 

I think about 2 years ago it is now, I took over a restaurant that needed work, and on top of that, we were incredibly short staffed. I ended up having to work every single day for about 4 1/2 months (after which I got a single day off,then worked another 2 straight), 8 or 9 am until the kitchen closed at midnight, with a 45-minute commute by subway each way - that was over 100 hours of work alone,not counting commute time. It was nuts. I pounded caffeine at work, averaging about 7 TALL red bull a day (not joking), sodas, and when I got home I'd have to have bourbon just to try and relax and de-stress enough to sleep, then do it all again. I did ok, but felt like shit, and was always tired, even more than I should have been. Halfway through I figured all the crutches were just slapping band-aids on it all, so I quit all the snacks and red bull cold turkey. Holy shit the first 2 days were a nightmare, but after that I made myself a schedule, tried to eat good foods, and after a bit I was feeling a lot better - not always being as tired, being able to wake up on time, etc. Making myself wake up at a certain time each day no matter the schedule, eating better, and avoiding the aids while I was at work helped out so much, and to be honest, not sure I could have kept up after a while if I kept just trying to pound caffeine to stay up. A little if fine sometimes, but once you start relying on it all, it's downhill.

 

Point of the story? Treat yourself well. This is a shitty line of work in terms of care to our bodies and minds, and any little bit helps. Maybe you can't exercise as often as you'd like, and maybe you can't get in 8 hours of sleep (although I still don't buy into *everyone* needing that much, I rarely ever sleep that much, even with time off), but do what you can. Getting your body used to a schedule, and not filling it with crap helps out incredibly in the long run, trust me. And even more important than that, even if it's just 5 minutes a day, make time for your mental health. Stress and strain exhaust you even more, on top of the hours - sleep and energy are just half of it.

 

I'd give exact advice, but the others have helped with that, and honestly it's different for everyone. I guess for me it boiled down to treating myself the best I could, sticking to a schedule to get my body used to a rhythm, thinking long term, and find something to help de-stress, even just a little.