Hello, this is my first time posting in this forum. I am really struggling to lose weight and change my life to healthier lifestyles, but I am having some troubles beyond my control right now.

I have an immune deficiency, which means that I catch anything that goes through and it takes me forever to get better. If I can live a normal lifestyle with healthy eating, regular exercise, and 8 hours of sleep a night, then I tend not to get sick. Unfortunately, I'm a teaching intern at a boarding school and my schedule is grueling. If I go for two nights in a row with less than 7 hours of sleep, I will automatically get sick. My job is so rough on me that I've had a really bad cold for almost a month now. I'm exhausted all the time and my nose thinks its a faucet, and I know I could get better if I could sleep straight through the next few days, but I can't since I'm a teacher.

I don't know what to do. I can't eat very healthily because boarding school food is included in my salary, so I can't really afford to purchase my own food on top of that. When I'm sick I don't have the energy to exercise without getting dizzy and needing to take a nap, which means that I don't have time to grade homework and plan my lessons.

I feel like I'm trapped in this cycle of illness and there's no way I can get out of it. Until I do (which is the end of May) I'm not going to make progress on my weight loss the way I should and I'll be tired and miserable all the time!

Have you spoken to your doctor about taking herbs or something else to help support your immune system? I've also got a slew of immunodeficiency disorders including Ulcerative Colitis, Eczema and recurrent bacterial infections. I'm treating them all individually right now, but I know my immune system is the underlying problem. I take a multi-vitamin to try and support my system, I'm starting acidopholous this week, and I'm considering trying to find herbal immune-support supplements to take on a regular basis.

I think I would talk to your doctor to see what he/she says about it and go from there.

seeing your doc seems like a good idea to me, too. is there any way you can take sick days? it seems like your body is screaming for it. i'm also wondering if you are in a temporary situation, or is this the type of schedule that you will have to endure throughout your career?

Talk to your doctor.

I hope I'm not out of line here, but your health is WAY more important then a job. Once your contract is up at the end of May, I'd look for a different job so you can get enough sleep and remain healthy.

I agree about going to see your doctor to make sure there isn't something they could suggest for you. And I have to admit, I am wondering what kind of job you are doing that won't allow you 12 hours off to get some sleep. Some live-in jobs can be abusive that way. What about one evening do prep and one do marking which could leave you more time overall. And, how bout doing all your prep and marking from Monday to Friday so that you can have the weekends free for recupe time???

As far as meals are, maybe just eat the dinners and avoid all the extra stuff. As for exercise maybe just walk to all your classes and take the stairs as that should give you enuff exercise each day. Or even walk around the outside of the class as you are teaching. You are probably doing more than you realize now.

And, like someone already suggested; maybe you should think about looking for a more regular position. We are always hearing up here in Canada how the US is desperately short of good teachers. Hope you find help real soon.

ROSEBUD

I have talked to my doctor and there isn't a lot I can do besides exercise and sleep. I take immune-boosting multi-vitamins and acidophilus, as well as some herbal supplements. The damage occurred because of a childhood illness that prevented my immune system from developing properly, so even if it's healthy and works properly, it's not developed enough to protect me as an adult.

I'm a teaching intern at a boarding school, so I live with my students. I am also teaching the classes of a full-time teacher who is on sabbatical. I had no idea it was going to be this crazy when I accepted the position, and it will look fantastic on my resume. It's a great experience and a fantastic opportunity, but while I'm living it, it's ****. Other teachers have prep periods, or get to go home in the evenings, but I rush from class to drive a student to a doctor's appointment to monitor meals to distribute medications to another class to another transport etc. And I'm on duty 3-6 nights per week. The other nights I'm in the dorm in my apartment, so I'm always getting asked for help with chemistry or soothing homesick girls, and when I'm not doing that I'm frantically trying to grade homework. I can stay on top of it as long as that's it, but when I give exams and start the next unit, it becomes impossible to grade all the exams and lab reports and homework and everything during the week, since my days are so packed.

Let's see ... 1) you are doing your own teaching job 2) and you are doing someone elses' full-time teaching job 3) you are the live-in Counsellor and Confidant to ?how many? 4) you are the always available Den Mother 5) you are the one and only free Taxi Service 6) you are the in-residence Nurse 7) the only meal & hall monitor 8) and GF to BF ... hmmm ... can't imagine why you don't have any time for sleep or anything else for that matter ~ LOL!

Sounds like a simple case of work over-load to me; and the only thing to fix that is to become 1) way more organized 2) way more scheduled 3) and way more unavailable!!! That means a timed schedule for homework, prep, and time-off where you lock the door at a set time each night, say 10:00 pm (except for extreme emergencies like fire). If you keep this up, you may burn out, but then it's only to May, right???

Hope you find some solutions real soon ... ROSEBUD

You sound like me before I found out I had celiac disease. Cutting out the food that made me sick helped so much. Of course there is still the PCOS and Type II diabetes that challenge my energy and the way I feel, but there is an improvement.

Honestly check with a doctor/nutritionist to see if something that you eat is making you sick. A lot of people have found that they had allergies and intolerances to food that were mis-diagnosed previously.

I think Rosebud is right. It's going to take some re-arranging but you have to build more structure in there. If you cant do it now I dont know that you'll ever really get to it (speaking from experience here)

I'm immuno suppressed. (its part of the interferons I inject) so I can relate to your situation somewhat. I MUST a. eat every few hours. b. sleep atleast 8 hours a night c. do mild exercise like pilates or walking almost every day. If I let any of these start slipping... my health goes with it too.

As for losing weight. When I'm miserable sick and cant exercise.. I drink plenty of water.. ATLEAST 12 glasses a day.. and keep very close attention to what I eat.. when i'm healthy and when I'm not.

I budget my calories for each meal and journal/calorie count all day. It takes planning.. and choosing nutrient dense foods but it can work without exercise.

take care