Stressed teacher hoping to get back on the ball.

smiles6428

Hello! I'm new to the community boards here at MFP. I'm a teacher and constantly find myself falling completely off the exercise and health boat during the school year. I am a massive stress eater. When students are frustrated with me I turn to chocolate, potato chips and anything else, while also not exercising. I am also overwhelmed (like all of us) with administrative duties and often find myself working 12+ hour days, which cuts out exercise.

I'm looking to connect with anyone who can help with support and encouragement - teacher or not. I'm hoping to eat better, workout more, and use exercise to decrease my stress and help me to be productive with the rest of my day.

compchar

Goodluck!! you can do it. Finding a crutch for your stress, that isn't food is a good start. Like a way to acknowledge you are stressed, tell yourself that's ok, (honestly, it is ok to be stressed!) and move on (moving on is crucial!) . for some, thats writing it down. some like stress balls. i personally go stick my head out the window and smell the fresh air for instant relief, but when its prolonged stress, breathing properly really helps me if i dont have time to exercise, i can always focus on breathing!

CafeRacer808

Scheduling workouts in my calendar has really helped me stay on track. I view my workout as another appointment (read: commitment) I need to attend to. Any work I still have to finish gets pushed until after my workout. The extra 30-60 min/day I devote to working out has certainly made my schedule tighter, but working out regularly really helps me manage stress, which in turn helps me work more efficiently while limiting my stress eating to a minimum. Hope this helps!

kenyonhaff

I'm in education--I feel your pain! One thing that helps me is to have a supply of better-for-you snacks, such as rice rolls (like rice cakes), fiber/protein bars, baby carrots, etc. I find these address the crunch and chocolate issue.
And have a supply of healthy quick to make lunches, such as soups, frozen lunches, etc. Nutrition drinks, while not my thing, can be helpful especially for times when you just simply don't have time to even eat because of that meeting.

Otherwise there's a tendency to slip into some very unhealthy eating habits. And the cafeteria can be a minefield unless there's a good salad bar...but who has time for that, seriously?

Oh, and be very careful of the faculty lounge during the holidays. We all know there is a huge correlation between teaching and baking for reasons not adequately explored by science.