Any Professors, Teachers or Educators out there?

Enos1981

I teach high school English. Exercising after a long day of teaching has been a challenge. I've definitely had to adjust things and find what works for me. Add a new baby to the mix, and the challenge grows! I'm getting there, however. Lost 43 pounds thus far. I'm happy to lend my support.

Mike

Christiej272

Hello Everyone! I can assure you, there's enough stress to go around from PK to infinity! I'm an Asst. Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of West Georgia. When I retired as a K-12 school district administrator about 6 years ago, I was about 30 lbs. overweight. I'm now trying to lose the last 10. Slowwww go!

texasredreb

IEP's and BIP's and PI's and Progress Notes, and STAAR testing and ESPED (which is about to undergo major formatting changes)....oh my!!

garystrickland357

So think about this y'all - when you're worried about that one student or frustrated - you can go exercise or go eat the bag of Oreos. Which one is better? I know. I've done it too. If you find make the time to exercise your mental health will improve and I bet your eating habits will also. Find the time. I know about the grading, and the calls home, and the IEPs, and all that. But remember if you died tomorrow they'd have someone covering your class before your funeral. I don't mean to sound jaded because I'm not. It's just that you'll be a better teacher - and set a better example for your students by being healthy.

What would you tell a student that was giving you 100 excuses for why the work didn't get done? Why are you using the same ones for not doing what you know needs to be done for you own health?

RunnerGirl238

garystrickland357 wrote: »

So think about this y'all - when you're worried about that one student or frustrated - you can go exercise or go eat the bag of Oreos. Which one is better? I know. I've done it too. If you find make the time to exercise your mental health will improve and I bet your eating habits will also. Find the time. I know about the grading, and the calls home, and the IEPs, and all that. But remember if you died tomorrow they'd have someone covering your class before your funeral. I don't mean to sound jaded because I'm not. It's just that you'll be a better teacher - and set a better example for your students by being healthy.

What would you tell a student that was giving you 100 excuses for why the work didn't get done? Why are you using the same ones for not doing what you know needs to be done for you own health?

All of this! I bring my students into half marathon training, discuss perseverance and tenacity, doing what's hard.

Our students are all some of our cheerleaders. They want us to succeed as much as we want that for them. Also, they love seeing us as human; my running definitely helps that. Some are even motivated to try running themselves, which makes me all 🥰🥰😍😍. Good luck with this final 6 weeks. Ack.

clicketykeys

Enos1981 wrote: »

I teach high school English. Exercising after a long day of teaching has been a challenge. I've definitely had to adjust things and find what works for me. Add a new baby to the mix, and the challenge grows! I'm getting there, however. Lost 43 pounds thus far. I'm happy to lend my support.

Our high school has a weight room next to the gym, so I've started going there after school to lift. They also have a treadmill, which I use to warm up and for short runs.

garystrickland357 wrote: »

So think about this y'all - when you're worried about that one student or frustrated - you can go exercise or go eat the bag of Oreos. Which one is better? I know. I've done it too. If you find make the time to exercise your mental health will improve and I bet your eating habits will also. Find the time. I know about the grading, and the calls home, and the IEPs, and all that. But remember if you died tomorrow they'd have someone covering your class before your funeral. I don't mean to sound jaded because I'm not. It's just that you'll be a better teacher - and set a better example for your students by being healthy.

What would you tell a student that was giving you 100 excuses for why the work didn't get done? Why are you using the same ones for not doing what you know needs to be done for you own health?

For me, it's not worried or frustrated that makes it hard - it's the absolute exhaustion that the stress creates. That makes it more difficult not only to exercise, but to create nutritious, low-calorie meals (including preparation and cleanup!) instead of slapping together a couple of peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread because it's faster and easier and not TOO high calorie (depending on how much peanut butter you use).

garystrickland357

@clicketykeys Everyone is different but I found that exercise actually helped with the exhaustion. I know it doesn’t make sense except I bet you are more mentally tired than physically tired - at least that’s my experience. It took a bit to adjust to exercising more but after a couple of weeks I found exercising after school made me feel better and more energized. Good luck. We’re almost done with this year at least.

smiles6428

garystrickland357 wrote: »

So think about this y'all - when you're worried about that one student or frustrated - you can go exercise or go eat the bag of Oreos. Which one is better? I know. I've done it too. If you find make the time to exercise your mental health will improve and I bet your eating habits will also. Find the time. I know about the grading, and the calls home, and the IEPs, and all that. But remember if you died tomorrow they'd have someone covering your class before your funeral. I don't mean to sound jaded because I'm not. It's just that you'll be a better teacher - and set a better example for your students by being healthy.

What would you tell a student that was giving you 100 excuses for why the work didn't get done? Why are you using the same ones for not doing what you know needs to be done for you own health?

So many good points here Gary. I think we all know exercise makes us better, it’s the getting into and sticking with a habit that can be tough for me in the face of stress. I am always a much better educator, supporter of students, and peer faculty when I’ve done any kind of exercise.

But your points above are a good reality that we need to be showing students better work life balance. I constantly tell myself that the world will go on if people get upset that my grading or an email takes an extra day or so because I was taking care of myself first.

liketoyak

Hi everyone. Grade 5 and grade 6 teacher here. Good luck to everyone for their remaining days. I've got 33 more days to go. And then I can start the exercise plan to go along with the eating changes. Feel free to add me. I'm looking for some new friends too!

Deanner03

*raises hand* College Nursing Instructor here! I'm SO glad to be done for the semester!

cheyeneinthesprings

8th Grade Math Teacher...this will be the end of my 18th year. Oh...and I just ate 3 oreo truffles and a few bites of cheese cake brought in for Teacher Appreciation Week. It's like...hey...teachers you should eat and get fat!

cheyeneinthesprings

smiles6428 wrote: »

garystrickland357 wrote: »

So think about this y'all - when you're worried about that one student or frustrated - you can go exercise or go eat the bag of Oreos. Which one is better? I know. I've done it too. If you find make the time to exercise your mental health will improve and I bet your eating habits will also. Find the time. I know about the grading, and the calls home, and the IEPs, and all that. But remember if you died tomorrow they'd have someone covering your class before your funeral. I don't mean to sound jaded because I'm not. It's just that you'll be a better teacher - and set a better example for your students by being healthy.

What would you tell a student that was giving you 100 excuses for why the work didn't get done? Why are you using the same ones for not doing what you know needs to be done for you own health?

So many good points here Gary. I think we all know exercise makes us better, it’s the getting into and sticking with a habit that can be tough for me in the face of stress. I am always a much better educator, supporter of students, and peer faculty when I’ve done any kind of exercise.

But your points above are a good reality that we need to be showing students better work life balance. I constantly tell myself that the world will go on if people get upset that my grading or an email takes an extra day or so because I was taking care of myself first.

Ok yes I love all of this....I always want to quit my diet or not work out...but then I'm telling the kids all day to keep trying and redo your work. I don't want to be the pot calling the kettle black.

IsETHome

I teach, but Assoc. Professor for Univ of Phoenix online. I grade a lot on the weekend, so have to sit a lot. I also have another FT job. Sitting to grade takes up a lot of time.

garystrickland357

cheyeneinthesprings wrote: »

8th Grade Math Teacher...this will be the end of my 18th year. Oh...and I just ate 3 oreo truffles and a few bites of cheese cake brought in for Teacher Appreciation Week. It's like...hey...teachers you should eat and get fat!

8th grade... Bless your heart. I taught 8th grade science for 10 years. Middle schoolers are special - you either love them or run away screaming. I loved them. Every day is an adventure for sure.

jlklem

College professor 11 years. Mental health counseling is my speciality. Been in the counseling field for 26 years.

I built an entire indoor workout room to stay fit all year as I live in northern Wisconsin, so winter is stupid cold. The hard part is ignoring the feeling of tired after a long day. But tired is just a thing, it does not need to be listened to very often. But each to there own.

Feel free to add me

mhetzel1983

Feel free to add me! Intermediate Reading Specialist (grades 3 - 6)

apullum

Assistant Professor here. Second year on the tenure track, fourth year on MFP. I lost 100 pounds and have been in maintenance for about 1.5 years.

ms_maruska

Teaching assistant at a university here & a PhD student. Trying to lose weight & write a sociology dissertation. Both going slow but steady

staticsplit

I'm a creating writing lecturer for a masters programme. I'm in maintenance/recomp. I do a lot of mindless snacking while marking papers.

shanefcallahan22

I'm a HS history teacher and wrestling/ tennis coach. I enjoy lifting (and eating) but I abhor cardio workouts. In my 20s and 30s I had a slight "inner tube" around my mid-section, but I'm now in my 40s and my inner tube is quite noticeable and embarrassing. Good luck fellow educators!