Hello! I thought I’d start a thread for fellow teachers since most of us have either just started the school year or are about to! I feel like there are experiences/questions/concerns/etc. specific to the teacher+WLS experience and that it might be nice to have a thread to use to share/ask/discuss/etc!

My workshop week starts on Monday, then the first day of school is the day after Labor Day - also the day I get to return to solid foods!

What are you most excited about with back to school? What are you most nervous about? What advice do you have for others or advice would you like from others?

To answer my own questions -
I’m excited about being back at work so I’m not as prone to spending all my time/energy obsessing about WLS and the scale. I’m excited to feel more comfortable moving around the classroom and between desks, etc - it’s a pretty tight space!

I’m nervous about how to respond when people comment on my weight loss. I’m a private person and really don’t feel comfortable sharing that I had surgery, but I don’t like the idea of lying either. It’s frustrating that weight loss all of a sudden makes me feel like my body/health choices are up for public discussion!

I’m also nervous about food prep and having everything I need to have on hand, being able to avoid the disordered eating that has always been a result of my school day schedule. Any advice on this front would be much appreciated!

Not a teacher myself, but I am a Mama and Grandmama, two other teach8ng positions. Just wanted to Gove you all a sbout-out, You are truly wonderful people, no matter what country you may be in You Guide And Train our Future, Our Children and you deserve all praise that can be Given . God Bless and Be With You All!?

I'm worried about the upcoming school year from a weight loss standpoint. I work in an extremely high stress school environment. I was heavy before I started teaching (50lbs. overweight) but gained another 50 and became morbidly obese. I have lost and regained those 50lbs. multiple times. I eat to soothe the stress and I tend to plan poorly, not eat and then binge from starving all day. On the other hand, if I plan well I tend to lose more when I'm working because I am busy, and when I'm home I have more time to think about food. I am committing myself to putting my needs above the needs of my school. I have a lot of trouble saying no, and my supervisors know that and take advantage of that. I often wonder that once I have the surgery and lose the weight if I will become more confident and able to say no. When you are obese and self conscious, you try harder to be liked. You have to be smarter, more organized, funnier, sweeter, more dependable, better at everything to make up for the weight. Sorry to be so negative, but it is what I am feeling right now.

3 minutes ago, Swanton_Bomb said:

I'm worried about the upcoming school year from a weight loss standpoint. I work in an extremely high stress school environment. I was heavy before I started teaching (50lbs. overweight) but gained another 50 and became morbidly obese. I have lost and regained those 50lbs. multiple times. I eat to soothe the stress and I tend to plan poorly, not eat and then binge from starving all day. On the other hand, if I plan well I tend to lose more when I'm working because I am busy, and when I'm home I have more time to think about food. I am committing myself to putting my needs above the needs of my school. I have a lot of trouble saying no, and my supervisors know that and take advantage of that. I often wonder that once I have the surgery and lose the weight if I will become more confident and able to say no. When you are obese and self conscious, you try harder to be liked. You have to be smarter, more organized, funnier, sweeter, more dependable, better at everything to make up for the weight. Sorry to be so negative, but it is what I am feeling right now.

Everything you wrote SO connects for me. This is how I felt the last several years of my decade teaching at the same small public charter school. From the self-soothing ("today was total bullsh** and unfair, I deserve pizza") to the being taken advantage of because of my dependability. Thanks for bringing up these issues, I think they're so important.

This will be my 11th school year as a teacher, and my first school year not being able to self-soothe with food. It makes me nervous because I have used it so long as a coping mechanism that it's hard to imagine not being able to have that as a go-to. I think your point about when/why you gain and lose during the school year is exactly why my weight has been SUCH a yo-yo over the years. Sometimes I am able to lose 20-30 pounds, only to regain that and/or more over the summer. OR I am able to lose 15-20 pounds over the summer, only to regain that as soon as school starts.

I'm curious what kind of strategies will help me stay focused on planning ahead. Trying to think about what things to have stashed in my desk and what kinds of things to try for self-care alternatives to eating. I've tried taking baths/doing facial masks before, and sometimes that works, but it's so easy to want to fall into the old comforting standbys.

Your point at the end about what will it be like for you post-surgery is one that's stuck with me and been nagging at me with both positive and negative possibilities - who will I be without the weight? who will I/can I be if I'm not fat? what can I do without the weight?

Not a teacher but stopping by to support y'all as a parent! Meal prep and win !!! You guys rock!!!

Curious if other teachers have advice on what worked for them, anything they’ve learned or tried that has made a difference. Specific things to have on hand or things to think about?

I’m really nervous about this upcoming school year. I’ve transferred to a new school which I’m hoping is a lot better than the school I came from. I was so stressed at my old school. So here’s to hoping to a great school year.

On 08/22/2018 at 09:15, AELdoesRNY said:

To answer my own questions -

I’m excited about being back at work so I’m not as prone to spending all my time/energy obsessing about WLS and the scale. I’m excited to feel more comfortable moving around the classroom and between desks, etc - it’s a pretty tight space!



I’m nervous about how to respond when people comment on my weight loss. I’m a private person and really don’t feel comfortable sharing that I had surgery, but I don’t like the idea of lying either. It’s frustrating that weight loss all of a sudden makes me feel like my body/health choices are up for public discussion!



I’m also nervous about food prep and having everything I need to have on hand, being able to avoid the disordered eating that has always been a result of my school day schedule. Any advice on this front would be much appreciated!

I think food prepping will be our saving grace. I’m really bad at food prep so that’s something I’ll really have to work on.

On 08/22/2018 at 10:23, Swanton_Bomb said:

I'm worried about the upcoming school year from a weight loss standpoint. I work in an extremely high stress school environment. I was heavy before I started teaching (50lbs. overweight) but gained another 50 and became morbidly obese. I have lost and regained those 50lbs. multiple times. I eat to soothe the stress and I tend to plan poorly, not eat and then binge from starving all day. On the other hand, if I plan well I tend to lose more when I'm working because I am busy, and when I'm home I have more time to think about food. I am committing myself to putting my needs above the needs of my school. I have a lot of trouble saying no, and my supervisors know that and take advantage of that. I often wonder that once I have the surgery and lose the weight if I will become more confident and able to say no. When you are obese and self conscious, you try harder to be liked. You have to be smarter, more organized, funnier, sweeter, more dependable, better at everything to make up for the weight. Sorry to be so negative, but it is what I am feeling right now.

I gained 40+ lbs at my previous school. I was so depressed I stopped getting on the scale.

6 minutes ago, BadWolf523 said:

I gained 40+ lbs at my previous school. I was so depressed I stopped getting on the scale.

I notice you are also in New York. It is a very difficult place to work with the teacher evaluation system in place. One year my rating was based partially on the scores of another teacher because I wasn't teaching a course that ended in an exam. That teacher was retiring and couldn't care less, and took at least 30 accrued sick days. Needless to say the scores were bad, so I had to make sure that anything that was in my power had to be literally perfect. The general public doesn't really know how the ratings work or the pressure, they just see the summers off. When I started years ago it was challenging and a lot of work, but it is now political and extremely anxiety producing. I am trying very hard to put myself first but it is hard. Have you had your surgery yet? I am hoping it will help me push through better than just doing it unassisted.

3 hours ago, AELdoesRNY said:

Curious if other teachers have advice on what worked for them, anything they’ve learned or tried that has made a difference. Specific things to have on hand or things to think about?

I am pre-op, but I imagine that what has been helpful for me in losing in the past will still be important. Meal prepping is #1, and for me personally, I need to plan for a snack for the afternoon. A lot of times I wouldn't because I didn't want the extra calories and because a lot of plans discourage snacking, but I realized that because of my schedule, which usually has a crazy early lunch, if I didn't have a snack in the afternoon I would go positively crazy overeating when I went home. It is better for me to add and plan for the 200 calories or less in a snack than eat an extra 500 calories at dinner because I am ravenous. I find that some protein, like a string cheese stick, combined with a mandarin orange worked really well. It was satisfying and I love mandarins (icy cold!) so it was a treat and a pick-me-up that kept me going through the after-school meetings and my commute home. I would look forward to that little orange! I know those will be off limits for a while after surgery but I will still plan for a snack at that time.

On 08/23/2018 at 11:35, Swanton_Bomb said:

I notice you are also in New York. It is a very difficult place to work with the teacher evaluation system in place. One year my rating was based partially on the scores of another teacher because I wasn't teaching a course that ended in an exam. That teacher was retiring and couldn't care less, and took at least 30 accrued sick days. Needless to say the scores were bad, so I had to make sure that anything that was in my power had to be literally perfect. The general public doesn't really know how the ratings work or the pressure, they just see the summers off. When I started years ago it was challenging and a lot of work, but it is now political and extremely anxiety producing. I am trying very hard to put myself first but it is hard. Have you had your surgery yet? I am hoping it will help me push through better than just doing it unassisted.

Yeah the evaluation system is terrible. I was rated developing last year and my principal didn’t know what to say because he knew that I was deserving of a better rating but I never received feedback. Just happy to be going to a new school.

I was and have always been a force to be reckoned with so my admin knew not to try anything with me. And I’d say what was in my mind in the most professional way possible.

I had surgery on the second so I’ll be a month in by the time school starts.

Heyyy my fellow NYC DOE teachers!!! How was everyone’s first day?

Mine was pretty good. I’m at a new school thank god. With a very supportive admin. Still stressed about the one day prep instead of the usual two days.

I'm not in NYC anymore (though I did grow up there), but today was my first day too. It was BUSY and NON-STOP, and of course I have class tonight so I can't even fully decompress and relax for day two!

I DID pack a great lunch though that I chipped away at over the course of the day - hard boiled egg, two roll ups with two very thin turkey slices and a slice of provolone each, a wasa cracker, and grapes. It was a great mix of things and good things to be able to sneak a bite here and there since I didn't really have time for lunch today!

Congrats on the new school, and supportive admin makes a HUGE difference!!

Edited September 4, 20187 yr by AEdoesRnY

How have the first few weeks been going for others? I’ve been working on trying to find my rhythm of what I’m eating when. I did better with planning ahead the first week than I did this last week, so I’m hoping to recommit on that front with some meal prep tomorrow!

My office mates always have SO much candy around “to share” and there have been so much free food in the staff room that I’ve definitely caved at least a few times. I’m hoping that doing more advance planning with what I’m bringing will make it easier for me to avoid all the bagels/candy/pizza/etc. that’s been around...

Energy-wise I can’t tell whether the afternoons have felt more sluggish because of surgery or just because I’m not doing caffeine anymore. I’m hoping it’s just about re-adjusting to school day and that I’ll regain my stamina soon!!