I am a 38 year old teacher, mother, and wife. I enjoyed my summer off from school, but gained back the 12 lbs. I had lost in the spring. I look forward to getting back on a schedule, hoping that the structure will help me avoid overeating. At the same time, I worry that the hectic schedule of a teacher won't leave me enough time to take care of myself...not like I have a choice because school begins for me on the 25th of August.

My goal is to make time for myself to exercise, and to be at goal weight by next summer.

So who's with me?

Summer

Hi Summerlover! I'll gladly join in your quest to get back on track! I teach in an elementary school, in the library (thus the handle 'Storylady', that's what many of the kids call me!) so I can appreciate the need for the structure and routine. I did well this summer though, lost about 15 lbs of the 30 I gained last school year--by Christmas!! It was my first year and needless to say I used food to feed my stress, which only made me gain weight which made more stress and on and on and 30 lbs heavier.
I'm sort of nervous about starting up again, and we start tomorrow, not only because I did so well over the summer, but because our school feeds us constantly. If it's not the Social committee laying out a spread of food it's the PTA, heaven bless them. So far I've stayed strong and not given in to the massive munchies, but I worry that after a day of 1st and 2nd graders and the accompanying (sp?) stress, I will falter.

What grades do you teach? It'll be great to support each other through the year, maybe other teachers will join in too and we can help each other.
Thanks for posting this, Summer!
storylady

Storylady: HURRAY!!! I found someone in my shoes!!!
I will be beginning my third year of teaching on the 25th of August. I taught kindergarten in a very rough inner city school my first year. Last year, I taught pre-k in a smaller and nicer inner city school. As far as I know, I shall be returning to the same class this year. Because enrollment shifts a lot, my school system isn't settled in until October. Even after that, it isn't unusual to get a new student in January or even May! My school is full of food. There are always bake sales, birthday parties, holiday parties, and Dunkin Donuts runs. I have a real weakness for chocolate and sweets in general. When a birthday boy or girl visits my room with a cupcake, I find it hard to say, "No, thank you." And if the child is in my room, forget it! I just can't resist. Last spring, around April, I finally got my act together. I said, "No," to the cupcakes, bagels, and candy. I started exercising...not a lot...but more than I had done in a long time. I lost 12 pounds! Then the long awaited summer arrived. It began with my daughter's pre-k graduation, my friend's wedding, and lots of other celebrations. The weight began to creep back on. By the time I had returned from my fabulous 10 day vacation on Cape Cod, I was 10 pounds heavier. My 10th anniversary 3-day getaway to Mohegan Sun put on the last 2 pounds. After returning from vacation at the end of July, I caught up with friends I hardly see, errands, and household chores. And I just didn't feel like dieting. Now the time approaches. Like you, tomorrow I will be in my classroom...only I won't have students for another week or so. But, like it or not, I must get back in the groove. I'm not ready. I look to the next summer. I was proud of my 12 pound loss in the spring, and would like to build on that success adding a lot more lost pounds and inches. I have a whole year. I can accomplish a lot if I am really serious. I can't wait till January, because just like last year, I won't get serious till April. The time is now. Best of luck with your new school year...your second year!!! I'll be online regularly, maybe not daily, but as often as my schedule will allow. Take care!!! Summer

So Storylady, how was your first day back? Since you go back a week earlier than me, I was wondering when you get out of school at the end of the year. We normally get out the second week of June, but last year, we had so many snow days, that we had to go an extra week. So I only had one week in June at home.

I went into my classroom today and worked for 3 hours while my daughter played in the learning centers. It wasn't too bad getting organized. Not like last year. But there are some bad rumors floating around right now. They are eliminating a kindergarten, so bumping will begin. Being that I am only a 3rd year teacher, I could easily get bumped and end up teaching a different grade in a different school. There are a couple of newbies who could get bumped before me, but they teach 1st grade, which isn't as desirable as my grade, pre-k. So, I will be holding off on bringing most of my personal items into school until I know what my permanent placement will be. I don't want to move twice. I know a veteran teacher who last year began teaching 1st grade, then in October, because of a huge enrollment, ended up moving to kindergarten, which she'd never taught before. She had to move her room, and change everything to accomodate the younger children. I pray that doesn't happen to me. Needless to say, my eating has been really bad...stress eating!

Hope your first day back was great! Summer

Summer, hi! First day back was chaotic to say the least. I live near Houston and our enrollment is about 1/3 bi-lingual, with
Pre-K 3 and 4 year olds through 5th grade. Our elementary has nearly 775 students right now and the office was packed with parents registering kids today! There were several cryers, a few screamers and some sad sad little faces. Those little Spanish kids must feel so lost, only having their teacher and maybe one or two other people who they understand. I don't envy you Pre-K teachers your challenges the first several days!

My first and second grade classes went fine, of course the novelty of it will wear off quickly for them and I'll go from the nice Storylady to the Library Dragon before long! Our library is in the center of the school and open above bookshelves, no walls, or anything so all the hallway noise interferes with us, holding thier attention, and in turn if we get too loud, it seems like you can hear us all over the building! I'm paranoid about that and I probably am too hard on the kids as a result.

Our last day of school last year was May 31. It seems like, in Texas, it's an unwritten law that school had better be OUT by June! We only have 2 inclement weather days a year and haven't used those in about 5 years.

I don't blame you for not wanting to do too much to your room until things are more settled. My school has done some strange things but moving a teacher from one grade level to another during the school year hasn't happened--yet! That antsy, unsettled feeling is no fun, the waiting, so stressful. If you do stay there how big will your class be and will you have aides to help you? I'm not sure what the ratio is here but last year one Pre-K class was 28 kids to 2 teachers, 4 year olds.

As for eating, I did fine today, but I'm hungry now! I rode my exercise bike this morning before getting my own kids up and ready. Had 2 pbj toasts for breakfast and packed a Healthy Choice dinner for lunch. By dismissal I was starved so a stop at Sonic for me and kids and home to a grilled chicken sandwich. That's why I'm hungry now!

Well I've got all those first-day emergency cards and stuff to fill out for my 7th and 8th graders so they can get their lockers tomorrow. It's great visiting with you, hope you know something soon about your position.
storylady

Storylady: Well, it sounds like a typically hectic first day!
The ratios in Texas are very different from Connecticut. We actually have to follow the federal standard because I am attempting to become federally accredited with the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). They require no more than 20 four year olds to 2 adults. They prefer we keep it to 18 to 2, but in emergencies they allow 20 to 2. Last year I had only 15 to 2. It was heaven in the AM class because I had angels. In the afternoon I had 13 to 2, but it felt like 100 to 2 because I had two special ed boys who were difficult plus the other 11 were hyper and harder to discipline. Our kindergarten ratio is 25 to 2. I must say, I really feel badly for your pre-k teachers. They have it rough. I'm in an inner city school, so I have the bilingual issues as well...and I speak very little Spanish. What is difficult is that we also have Asian, Croatian, plus many other foreign languages in my school system. So, being Spanish speaking really wouldn't be enough. We have a lot of Jamaiccan children with thick accents, so even though they speak English, they aren't easy to understand. I'm getting better at understanding the different dialects.

Today, I had a good dentist appointment. Then my daughter and I went school clothing shopping. I ate at Taco Bell...2 crunchy tacos, 1 pintos with cheese, and nachos. The naughty part was our stop at Mrs. Field's cookies. I'm really blowing off Weight Watchers now. I plan on getting back on program 100% on Monday the 25th when I start school. I'm gonna be a wreck until then anyway. Not that I won't be stressed out when I start school, but the anticipation is almost worse than the actual event. I hope the rest of your week is a fruitful one!

Summer

Today was my last play date of the summer because school starts on Monday. Anyway, I spent the day with a friend whose children play with my daughter. Our friendship is wonderful in most every way except when it comes to my dieting. After lunch, she offered me a chocolate ice cream cone. I said, "No, thank you." She handed out cones to all of the kids, and then handed me one. I told her that I didn't want it. She said, "It is too late, I already made it for you. Eat it. It is light ice cream." Because I'm not really on program at the moment, I ate it. But I felt crummy about it because I was full from lunch and really didn't want it. I felt bad about the idea of throwing it away. Does anyone know of a tactful way to get out of a situation like this? Every once in a while, she does something like this to me.

Summer

Hi Summer! I can tell you what I might have done, hand it back (or never take it at all) and say, "Well you eat it then, I told you I didn't want it." That only works with some people though. We had a birthday party on my team today, with cake. I had a small piece, way smaller than anyone elses but still counted it as 10 points. It was good and I enjoyed it and counted my points, so that's not bothering me. What's bothering me is the sugar cravings it's has triggered all afternoon and evening. I haven't had much problem with it since I've been on program but that cake really set me off today. I'ts take me along time to pay attention to my body and realize how stuff like that affects me. I'm so glad I'm finally catching on!

So school starts for you on Monday? Our kiddos have settled in very well so far. It's been a quiet week all in all and I'm almost ready to have them come check out books in the library. I hope when it starts to get crazy I don't fall back on last year's habit of coping by eating. I don't think I will but hey, that's what got me where I am now!

Enjoy your last weekend off and don't sweat the ice cream cone.
storylady

Hi you two....
I was lurking and reading through some threads and found you two! I too an a teacher and my cheer for this year is healthy and fit by 2004.
I go back to school next week and the kids go back after Labor Day....
I'm behavioral specail ed teacher for K-5.
I plan on getting on track next Monday--- it's silly how I have to plan ahead instead of starting right here and now, to eat right and exercising.
I have a 7 year old boy, and would love to have support this year.
Good luck as you start back

Storylady: Sugar is evil! I have the same problem. Don't get me started, or I'll never stop. I hope we can both be strong and not succumb when the stress level gets high. This morning, I'm going into school to finish setting up my room and put up my bulletin board. But, there will be multitudes of pre-k parents waiting for me to register their children. In every other school in the city, parents of children of all ages register their kids in the main office. But, the set up at my school is for the pre-k teacher to take care of her own registration. I registered 23 AM & PM kids in the spring, and have 13 openings. They got the choice of AM first because they registered on time. Now there are all these parents who want AM and are angry because my only openings are in the PM class. The secretary was getting harrassed yesterday, and I get to deal with them today. Woopee!!!
I'm going to remain calm and offer what I have. Otherwise, they can check out another school. That is what they get for being last minute.

As far as my friend goes, I think I need to ward off any more surprise attacks with food by having a talk with her. She knew I was ambivalent this summer about losing weight. Now that I'm determined to get back on program, I will just have to set the limits. I've done this with her before, and it works if I seem really strong about it.

Noah: Welcome! I worked with developmentally disabled adults for 15 years before becoming a teacher. So, I have a good idea of what you go through with behavior problems. And now that we have inclusion, I will see my share as well. Best of luck, and thanks for joining us!!!

Summer

Noah: Monday is my start day too! You won't be alone.

Summer

Hi! I am SOOO excited to find this thread! Today was my last official day of "summer". I return tomorrow to first grade for my 17th year! I am a 38 yo mom with 2 boys. 11.5 and 8 going on 21! My dh and I have been married for FOREVER....

I am 45 pounds down / 20 to go to get to my goal of weighing 150. I began this journey...there have been others, ahem, on the proverbial January 1st. I do WW at home by myself with the support of some very dear "cyber" and "real" friends. I do various exercises....lately I've decided to start running...(Don't know WHERE that came from! But I'm enjoying it!)

I am anxious about school starting, the end of summer...gotta love those weeks!, HOW in the world will I be able to balance all the demands of school and home AND exercise and eat right too?? YIKES! I am so glad to find others who *KNOW* the trials and FUN that teachers go thru...especially those PTA dinners and the boxes and boxes of donuts!

I face tomorrow with my packed lunchbox, my water bottle full and the alarm set early enough for a pre-school run! We will see!

take care,
Robyn....THE HatterasMermaid!

This is such a great thread..a dear cyberfriend sent me here because I also am a teacher..i teach pre-k in an inner city school in brooklyn and the day school opens, september 8th, i will be 60 years old and struggling to unload years of winter weight..ok..summer weight also..
this is my 5th year teaching..it is a second career for me..
like robyn i am in a panic about how i will manage it all once school starts..right now i go to WW meetings for support in addition to online support from cyberfriends..but I am following more of a south beach approach..very few carbs..i joined liberty fitness which is like Curves for those of you who know what that is..
at the beginning of the summer i was 179 pounds and today, despite being away on vacation last week, i weighed in at 170. A loss this week of 1.2 pounds and overall loss of 9 pounds for the summer.
My goal is another 40 pounds which I expect to accomplish my next birthday..i am a very slow loser..
I need all the help and support I can get.
Sheila

Hi everyone, wow it's great to see so many new "faces"! Welcome Robyn, Sheila and Noah. Summer, how is your first week with kiddos going? Is the structure and routine helping?

So far I'm hanging in there, though the call of the chocolate at 3 o'clock has been tempting the last couple of days! We keep a candy jar stocked and it's funny to see all the teachers who head to the library for a piece of chocolate at the end of the day. I took a package of chocolate chip mini meringue cookies and keep them hidden in the back. When I feel I have to have something, I reach for one of those, 5 for 1 point, a bargain. Still, I try to tell myself not to start to reach for it just because it's there and because "it's time". I'm trying to re-train myself not to have something to eat as soon as my last class is gone, that became my downfall last school year, and the resulting 25 lbs or so I gained. I feel so much better already, more energy and better focused mentally. I ask myself if I know I feel this good being on program, why do I ever go off? Good question.

Well it's nearly time to rouse the troops and head out for another day. Have a great day, everyone!
storylady

Storylady
your description of reaching into the sweet jar really hit home..last year in school i hardly ate all day..a bad thing..and then at the end of the day after my kids left there was no stopping me..this year i am going to make sure i eat before i leave the house and i'm going to buy WW meals to have for lunch. i am lucky enough to have a full kitchen in my classroom so i can keep them frozen and microwave them when i'm ready..
i am getting nervous about pulling off the eating part of my day but i think if i plan correctly i will be able to do it.