How does taking a half hour of time per day (if that) to track your food have any affect whatsoever on your job? Do you enjoy time with your family or did you sacrifice that for your job? Do you refrain from haircuts or brushing your teeth because they are not a top priority? Do you do your laundry? Keep up your house? Or have you let those slide as a way to improve your job? (I'm a little lost here with your reasoning, if you can't tell.)

Are all the people at your job obese because they have stopped caring for themselves on account of the work environment?

I understand the work thing. I just got off a 6 month stint of 70-110 hour work weeks, at the end of which 75% of our 200-person studio was laid off...that hard work I put in is the reason I'm part of that 25% that got to stay. However, during that time, I did gain 10-15 lb because work was the only priority in my life (well, that and wedding planning :S). I had no time for anything, even laundry! Now that I'm back to more normal hours, I'm making the time to focus on my body. I kind of wish I'd set aside a few minutes a day to do some meal planning/exercise to stop this gain in the first place, but meh, hindsight 20/20, and I did what I felt was best.

The point being...it's true that sometimes we don't have time to do anything but work. And losing weight DOES require some time commitment. If you can't make the time, then you won't lose weight -- you must decide where your priorities lie and make that choice yourself.

Is there anyway you could merge work with a new healthy lifestyle?

For example: teach a nutrition class to the kids each day, give them a list of your calories for each week and turn it into a math problem (they don't have to know that the numbers are your calories), maybe plan a field trip to a farm and educate them on different healthy veggies and meats, or a field trip to an orchard and learn how they are run and then pick apples to bring home.

If this is not possible either I would just try to make the healtiest decisions possible and start counting when I had more time.

To the OP; there are certainly MANY diets out there that do NOT focus on calorie counting. Since you are so GENUINELY busy teaching the brains of the future (which I thank you for!), you may try just trying to find a healthier balance of foods to snack on through out the day, that happen to be lower calorie and start there (cucumber and carrot sticks, air popped pop corn, lunch meat roll-ups, etcetera). You could also try following a diet like the South Beach Diet which works for many people, and doesn't include calorie counting. For low impact exercise, could you try step-counting with a pedometer?

Do take a good look around. I hope you find encouragement and some new great tools to help you on your journey.

I must not be as good at this counting calorie thing as you are, cause it took me way over a half an hour a day to track my food. It took at least an hour. Maybe I'm stupid. I had to look up every thing I ate and, in some cases, manually enter the information. This was really a pain when it came to home-made dishes. And yes, I do let a lot of those things slide.

Listen, I can understand that you think I'm making excuses, but cut me some slack here. Can you not see that my life is pretty hectic and stressful and that I am NOT adjusting well to it? I don't really want to air all my dirty laundry on here. There is a lot in my life that is out of control, and I'm trying to find some way to reign it in. You don't know everything that is going on in my life and I'm not going to put it all out on a forum. Just understand that I have a lot of stuff I'm dealing with and I'm trying to find a way to lose a little weight.

If time is your main concern with calorie counting, here's a first step: Set up some 300-400 calorie meals and 100-200 calorie snacks. Mix and match these daily to get to your desired calorie level. You'll already know how many calories they are, so the tracking is done. On some level, a lot of calorie counters do this anyway and it makes daily faster, almost automatic.

Here's the thing, though. Effort and time are necessary for any sort of sustainable (as opposed to short-term/rapid) weight loss.

Another option is to take some baby steps for right now. Choose a fruit or veggie for a snack. Switch from full fat to low fat dairy. Cut back on or eliminate fast food and/or soda. Take a different baby step every month, and a chunk of calories will take care of themselves.

What are you using to track calories? Something like Sparkpeople.com or Dailyplate? Or are you looking stuff up somewhere and tracking it on paper? Honestly, once you get the hang of it and have your "regular" stuff in the system, the tracking doesn't take that long.

Everyone has stuff and stress in their life. For me, the discipline from tracking (I do WW) spills over into the rest of my life. I feel better from eating better so I sleep better, which makes me happier and more effective at my job. The confidence from seeing the weight come off makes me more likely to go out with friends and have fun. The tracking also helps me get in the groove of tracking my spending.

You might notice a similar side effect. The confidence you find from choosing to make time for yourself a priority could be what you need to make changes at work. But you have to stop thinking of yourself as a victim of your circumstances and grab some control of your life. Even if that control, for now, is counting calories.

Hi firefly,

There are other ways. I think calorie counting is popular because it helps people to have a balanced diet - instead of reducing one particular food group, it's just a reduction in general.

I don't count calories. Mostly because it doesn't work for me. The only thing that has helped me to lose weight is to eat reduced carbs. BUT I've also never really been a big eater, so I'm not too worried about overdoing the calories.

I definitely understand the battle between a busy schedule and losing weight. Don't forget that for some, small changes can make a HUGE difference. Make a list of small things you are willing to give up/trade out and just try them one at a time. For example, a few years ago, my sister decided that she could live without fruit juice and was willing to trade regular soda for diet. It made a huge difference!

Keep us updated - and good luck!

*Edit, while I was typing JenMUsic said it better *

Two points I would like to make:

1.Whatever you do you will get back the effort you put in.

2. We all have 24 hours in a day.

Truthfully, I'm a teacher in a class of 12 four-year-olds and I have no aid. I've had 2 UTIs since the beginning of the school year because I have no way to take a break from the beginning of the day (7:30am) to the end of the day (3:00pm) and most days, I cannot even take a potty break. Legally, a trained adult must be with the students AT ALL TIMES. Since there is no aid to help me, that trained adult is me. I do not get a lunch break. Yes, the kids eats lunch, and I can scarf a little food during that time, but when 12 four-year-olds are eating... they can be very needy.

I know I should ask for help, but I'm new on the scene and I'm at the bottom of the totem pole. The woman in charge is... well, I don't know how to explain her. She refuses to hire people that smoke. I don't even know if that's legal, LOL. There was a rumor that the cook last year was fired because this woman found out she smokes. I don't know if thats true or not, but I stay in constant fear of getting fired. I'm desperate to find a new job, but jobs are hard to find now days.

Again, I'm venting. For the most part, people on this site have been SO NICE to me, and I feel like I can vent. I hope that is true. I'm anonymous here, and I can talk about work where I can't in real life.

But anyway, thank you for letting me vent

As someone who has an extremely time-consuming job for about half the year, I can confirm that things like laundry, keeping up the house, etc. do indeed slide. Haircuts? I just let mine grow. Tooth brushing? Yeah, but that's 2 minutes, so that doesn't really count. Sometimes, it takes a lot of time to be a working professional. I understand where the OP is coming from.

Firefly we are all dealing with stresses in life. If you are on this board much you will see many many people have a lot of stress and a pretty much crappy life right now. We call them excuses because there are quite a few people who have been here awhile and guess what.........we all did it so we can see it for what it is. In fact I still do it in some areas of my life.
It seems you are not willing to make the sacrafices in your life to make changes that are neccessary. There is nothing wrong that...we all reach a limit to when we say that is enough I have to do this. Sooooooo is there any "bad" habits you can change until your life calms down a bit. Such as do you eat out alot? when you do--do you make healthy choices? Do you drink beverages that have calories instead of calories free drinks. Do you eat when not hungry? Things like that?
I hope none of this is making you feel like it is a lose cause cuz with maybe a few small changes you would be able to later handle something on a more accounable level.

I do understand this. You're certainly not stupid!

There are a bunch of online calorie trackers out there, and we all have our favorites.

I tried out a couple, including Spark and caloriecount, before clicking with the Daily Plate. Even so, for any of the programs there does seem to be a steep initial learning curve. It IS time-consuming initially, especially entering in recipes. The good news is that, once something is entered and saved, it's there forever and just a click away.

If you didn't like one, maybe try another one and see if you like that interface better.

Hi firefly,

I understand the idea of walking on eggshells and living in fear of getting the axe. I have lived that way for the past 2.5 years - it's a tough way to live. I hope it gets better for you.

I don't count calories myself - I monitor my carbs by not eating an refined carbs or sweets as much as I can. I try to load up on veggies and lean protein to keep myself full. I don't follow a specific plan, but mine is the closest to South Beach, I guess.

I just got serious about my weight loss about 6 weeks ago. Honestly, it has SAVED me in terms of stress about my job and life. I have kids, hubby, job, school - and eating better (NOT PERFECTLY) and getting in my workouts keeps me going.

You don't need to follow any plan - just make a change at a time. As someone who works with kids, I'm sure you know how important routine is. If you disturb your too quickly, it may backfire. Start small - it can help make lasting change.

Is there someone else you can talk to at the school about getting a bathroom break? Do you really think you'll be fired for saying, can someone come in a relieve me twice a day so I can urinate? Maybe a secretary from the office would take pity on you?

Are all teachers in this same position? Can you get a note from your doctor mandating a bathroom break at least once a day?