Teaching...the struggle is real

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Sarakayw
Sarakayw Posts: 1 Member
in Motivation and Support
I am in my fourth year of teaching and have steadily put on weight, which seems to be a common thing in education. I teach at the high school level so my struggle is not teacher's lounge snacks...it's a 4 pm until bed struggle. I am physically and mentally exhausted, have no motivation, and "feel" like I am starving for the rest of the night. I am also 41 and changed careers to teach.
My personal excuses are as follows:
1.) My 16 year old never wants dinner until 7 or we are running until then.
2.) I feel guilty leaving my dogs longer than I already do.
3.) I plan all my meals during the day but there are never enough calories for "dinner", so
"I'll try again tomorrow"
4.) I'm just too tired.
I am looking for other teachers as accountability partners. There may already be a thread or group, but I couldn't find it.

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,971 Member
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    Plan your meals the day before.

    Get into a routine. Surely 7PM is a good time for dinner, but if you are starving by then maybe you could delay your breakfast until 10 or so? Then lunch at 2-4PM? We all have to figure out how to juggle our schedules.
  • xxkaylamae93
    xxkaylamae93 Posts: 10 Member
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    My dad swears by his slow cooker. This year he's teaching 6th grade science with one period of social studies (thrown in right before school started). He's at a new school; teaching almost twenty years. But he's always loved the slow cooker. He eats a lot of pork and beans. I don't teach, but I use mine a lot, too. And I've found tons of variety. Pintrest has a ziti recipe that uses raw noodles; it only takes like three/four hours, but its great during the weekend when you want to relax. Chicken and dumplings works really well for me. Chili becomes Frito Pie in thirty seconds and can feed a whole bunch of teens if needed. During the week you could make things like soft tacos, that can be ready when you get home and/or kept warm until your kid is ready to eat. If you already ate and want to sit down together you could just have an apple or something.

    I find it easiest to figure out dinner in the morning before I eat anything, or the night before if I know what I'm cooking. That might be something you could do while you eat dinner. It takes like five minutes once you get it down. Plan in advance. Even if you just block out an estimate of how many calories you want for dinner with the "quick add". Then the rest of the day is just a game of budgeting with what's left over. I feel like its less pressure, because I know my dinner is "safe"!

    Also, when I don't have time to cook and end up eating on the run for a few weeks, its very easy to just feel like its pointless. I move my calories up to maintenance, or the .5lb setting and try to stay in that range instead. Sometimes it just doesn't work that way and I go over. But, I've been able to keep my weight stable when things go crazy, and not gain back what I have lost. Even a mental tally is better than nothing.
  • seashellybob
    seashellybob Posts: 33 Member
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    I regularly am figuring out dinner right before it happens, in that 7pm time period. One of the things I've done to keep from snacking before dinner or over-eating dinner, is I eat throughout the morning. Breakfast is a quick 100 to 150 cals from fruit/cereal/granola. Lunch is around 500, usually protein heavy with vegs. I have another snack between the end of the school day and rehearsal (drama teacher here), of fruit for another 100 cals. That usually leaves me with roughly 1000 cals for dinner. Then I can have a snack when I get home and still have enough cals for whatever random dinner happens.
    I'm going into my 5th year of teaching and I've always done much better when I meal plan out my breakfast, lunch, snacks all on sunday for the entire week. This year Ive been alternating between a veg rich soup one week and quinoa with veg and protein the next week.
  • BZAH10
    BZAH10 Posts: 5,709 Member
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    Can you take your dogs for a walk during that time? If you truly aren't hungry and eating out of boredom or habit, being active is the best solution.

    As others have mentioned, so is meal planning and having something ready when you get home.
  • lucerorojo
    lucerorojo Posts: 790 Member
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    While overseas on vacation for 2 weeks, I made 3 meals a day in addition to all the "vacationing". But the difference from home is that I had very few utensils and gadgets and limited food choices--since I didn't have the gadgets or time I simplified what I would eat. At home I tend to cook complicated stuff. You can easily throw a meal together with fish, chicken or turkey for protein, a potato, rice or pasta for starch, and a vegetable or salad. I purchased marinated turkey breasts, and here at home I found a marinate for chicken to do it myself. You can marinate them the night before and have an easy protein by just pan frying them or baking. Fish is fast and easy and can also be marinated or not, and you just pan fry or bake. Pasta takes 10 minutes, and if you have a rice cooker you can cook the rice pretty effortlessly. I also recommend the slow cooker but again, keep it simple for a while. Reserve 300-400 calories for dinner--a piece of protein and small salad or potato...
  • kcraig6207
    kcraig6207 Posts: 33 Member
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    I am also a teacher (year 10!) and what works best for me is a light breakfast and coffee on the way to school. I pack my lunch every day so I know exactly how many calories it will be. I personally like to eat a smaller lunch around 300-400 calories (oatmeal, yogurt, light cheese stick, etc) so I can "save" more calories for dinner. Sometimes I'll bring a light snack but often don't even have time to eat it (gotta love chaotic school!) I try to drink lots of water - that's a work in progress! The first few days, I was a little hungry throughout the day but now I am used to it and never feel like I'm starving.

    I completely understand being tired in the evenings. I second the slow cooker suggestion. The slow cooker is a great idea-you can even prep it the night before if you don't have time in the morning! Also prepping a few dinners on the weekends for the week may help with this as well. There are lost of recipes online for this or freezer meals to make weeknights less stressful.

    Feel free to add me as a friend if you want other support! Good luck and don't give up!
  • seashellybob
    seashellybob Posts: 33 Member
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    kcraig6207 wrote: »
    I am also a teacher (year 10!) and what works best for me is a light breakfast and coffee on the way to school. I pack my lunch every day so I know exactly how many calories it will be. I personally like to eat a smaller lunch around 300-400 calories (oatmeal, yogurt, light cheese stick, etc) so I can "save" more calories for dinner. Sometimes I'll bring a light snack but often don't even have time to eat it (gotta love chaotic school!) I try to drink lots of water - that's a work in progress! The first few days, I was a little hungry throughout the day but now I am used to it and never feel like I'm starving.

    I am definitely in the save more cals for dinner boat. It makes me feel better to know that if I get home and we end up going out spontaneously, I can enjoy a nice meal and not feel cheated. If I end up eating a smaller dinner, it still gives me the freedom to have a little dessert. One of the things that's really worked for me is still having those little indulgences like a piece of chocolate or a cupcake every so often. Otherwise I'd feel deprived and too easily fall off the wagon.
  • SnazzIT
    SnazzIT Posts: 215 Member
    edited October 2017
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    try getting a fitbit watch it will be worth the price...I work in an office job zero movement full time...but since I got my watch I can sync every step during the whole day and what I eat to the watch as well from myfitpal...Now I make every excuse to walk everywhere even a few times around the copier as I wait for printing...to add more steps....another friend at work has one and we have a healthy competition...it is addictive also...in two weeks of commiting to myfitpal and fitbit goals I have lost 2 kilos without trying.

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