hello, i am a 3rd year high school english teacher and am getting ready to start the new school year. i have been on alli for about a month and was wondering if anyone had any tips for getting through the stressful schedule? readjusting to the daily regime is hard for me, especially with all the temptations around in the lounge.

i am worried about keeping the temptations at bay during the day and looking for a few quick tips to keep active during the day (when possible!)

thanks!

heather

Hi heather.smith, 

Thanks for writing.  Although I am not a teacher at present, I have taught and coached and know the temptations that you speak of in the lounge!  My best advice is to be prepared.  It is crucial that you bring your snacks and lunch so that you do not give into take-out or whatever is at your fingertips.  Make your food the night before so that you do not have to mess with fixing it that morning while you're trying to get out the door!  Make sure that you eat a healthy breakfast and start your day off right!

Additionally, do your best to get in exercise on most days of the week.  This is going to be crucial to the long-term success of your weight loss.  Getting up 30 minutes to an hour early and getting in a walk, exercise DVD etc. will kick-start your day and also free up your afternoon and evening after your work day!  If you can not do that everyday, choose 2 or 3 days that you commit to getting an early morning workout and the other 2-3 days (including weekends), set aside time in the afternoon! 

The alli website provides many helpful ideas and avenues for exercise, both cardiovascular and strength training! Go to the other fitness forums, as well as "my activity" and click on the exercise logs to get ideas and view animated demos!  

Best of luck this year and please keep us posted with your progress!

Your friend in fitness, 

Kelli

Heather,

I have also been thinking ahead to the beginning of the school year.  I start back on the 18th and my principal has asked grade levels to supply snacks for our week of inservice training.  There will be lots of temptations so I plan on bringing my own fruit and low fat snacks.  By the end of a school day my energy level is usually very limited.  I thought I might get a pedometer and challenge myself to increase the amount of my steps until I'm at my maximum level.  Good luck and have a great year!

Janet

Hi Nodakjan, 

Thanks for writing.  Great for you that you're planning ahead and getting prepared for your inservice.  Don't feel "pressured" to eat what is sitting in the lounge, but set the example for the other teachers who are secretly wishing they were making better food choices!  Stay positive and committed to living as healthy as possible....what a terrific role-model you'll be for your students and those around you! 

I am so glad to hear that you are also considering increasing your physical activity!  This will greatly increase the amount of calories that you expend and promote not only heart-healthy benefits, but weight loss!  Challenge the other teachers to join you in the quest by starting a "Biggest Loser" club, keeping track of minutes exercised per week or by the pounds lost per week!  Find a friend or another teacher who will walk with you during lunch or recess to accumulate a good calorie-burning session while at work! 

Be sure to visit our other community boards to stay connected and to get any and all of your weight loss, fitness, and health questions answered! 

Best of luck, 

Kelli

Hi Nodakjan, 

Thanks for writing.  Great for you that you're planning ahead and getting prepared for your inservice.  Don't feel "pressured" to eat what is sitting in the lounge, but set the example for the other teachers who are secretly wishing they were making better food choices!  Stay positive and committed to living as healthy as possible....what a terrific role-model you'll be for your students and those around you! 

I am so glad to hear that you are also considering increasing your physical activity!  This will greatly increase the amount of calories that you expend and promote not only heart-healthy benefits, but weight loss!  Challenge the other teachers to join you in the quest by starting a "Biggest Loser" club, keeping track of minutes exercised per week or by the pounds lost per week!  Find a friend or another teacher who will walk with you during lunch or recess to accumulate a good calorie-burning session while at work! 

Be sure to visit our other community boards to stay connected and to get any and all of your weight loss, fitness, and health questions answered! 

Best of luck, 

Kelli

Hi Heather, it's great to see a "teacher" thread in here! I was a substitute teacher in my district for 6 1/2 years before becoming a "real" teacher. I teach 7th grade English and world geography (social studies) at a grade 6-8 middle school. I've been there for over ten years.

I started alli last January and will admit it was sometimes hard to resist during those times when there were "treats" in the staff room. Luckily, we only do that a few times a year. The biggest problem for me were those staff meetings where the parent club provided food for us! They do this once a month for our staff meetings and obviously none of the parents are worried about giving us "healthy" choices.  I started keeping "healthy" snacks at school (fresh fruit, yogurt, kudos bars, raw veggies, etc.) so I could either bring them to the staff meeting to eat instead, or I would eat some before going to the meeting, then I would not feel hungry. This seemed to work pretty well. I only slipped up once and had a piece of cake, but it was for a baby shower!

Keeping active can be a problem, especially since I only have a 30-minute lunch. One thing I do is to walk around the track right after school. For me, it's easier to do that than to try to squeeze in time in the morning, since I leave my house at 6:45am. I walk for 30-minutes before I get into my car to leave for the day. Even if I do it only three days a week, it's better than not doing it at all! If the weather's bad, I use the treadmill when I get home from school.

I don't go back to work until August 26th, but I'm actually looking forward to it. It's better being on a regular schedule! Good luck!

Peace, Susan

 One of my part time jobs is as a substitute teacher for grades pre-K through 8th. Last week I worked 5 days at one job and found that alli and my low-fat reduced calorie diet fit in pretty well. I have to adjust for each job because there are 27 schools in this district and different lunch times and schedules at many of them.

What I did was eat breakfast with my kids at 7. I got them off to school at 8 and went to my school to be there by 8:15. I had a 15 minute break at 11 which is when I actually ate my lunch. My lunch was scheduled for 12:30 but by then I'd be too hungry to think straight so I used this time for running errands or, when the weather was nice, taking a walk in the neighborhood. The school days ended at 3 and I was home by 3:20 and then my kids got home at 3:25-3:30. I would usually have a small healthy snack with them.

This week I haven't had sub work but I'm sure I will next week so I'll just take it one day at a time.

E

I have been teaching high school for thirteen years.  I know how hard it is to eat right on a teacher's schedule.

I have to be at work by 7:00AM,  but 7 is too late if I want to get copies made or straighten things out on my desk.  On top of that,  my commute is unpredictble with traffic.  So I end up waking up at 5AM every morning and running out the door by 6:20.

This makes stopping at the Taco Bueno on the route to work very tempting.  And I have.  A lot.

Also,  teaching honors and only having a 28 minute lunch period gives me almost no time to eat like a normal person.  The kids are coming into the room for help,  for make-up work and to hang out (because they're nerds and actually like being around teachers.)

This means that by the end of the day,  I am starving --- and stuffing crap in my mouth happens a LOT.

So I have really packed on the pounds.

But, I have a new plan.

I am making breakfast burritos ahead of time (with egg beaters and no cheese) and rolling them in foil,  freezing and popping them in the toaster oven while I get ready for work.  I can eat them in the car.

It keeps me from hitting the Taco Bueno and that helps the pounds come off.

While not a teacher, I am a sub para-educator. We have a lot of the same issues as teacher in the lack of time and weird schedules. I'm up at 5am to get ready for the day and get my daughter to high school by 7am. Some days I know where I'll be going, others I don't so having things I can put together quickly for lunch is important. When the weather was milder I was throwing together salads with chicken and a little cheese. Now, with the colder weather, I'm making up batches of soup on the weekends so I can just pack a bowl for lunch.

On some of my jobs the lunch/break schedules are really late. I've found that a bottle of protein water really helps with hunger when I can't get something in early enough. It also helps keep me from snacking in the staff room. :) I also like Pure Protein bars for snacks when its going to be a long time until lunch. Its a quick energy that stays with me.

 I have been in the teaching profession for 10 years now and have stopped off a lot at Del Taco for their breakfast burritos on my way to work.  I have taught 5th, 1st, and 2nd grades and there is no grade that I have found that is easy on stress. I used to have a prinipal who would provide us with donuts EACH Friday morning. I honestly NEVER ate donuts before he became my administrator but always gave into the temptation each Friday. Now that he is gone I don't have that obsticle to face anymore.

Teaching is stressful enough and is filled with challenges and obsticles without the added FAT on the side. Funny thing is I would find myself stuffing my face as soon as I got home due to stress and frustration even though I had 45 minutes for lunch and I would eat all of it. So I know I am a crunchy salty stress eater now. Honestly I have always known that but would never admit to it before Alli.

 Are there anyother teachers out there?

There has to be others faced with the same stresses as teaching.

Nici

Hello,

So I had a child about two years ago, and since that time I have gained about thirty or so pounds.  I have been thinking of loosing weight, but just not motivated. Anyway, for about a month I have been seriously thinking about Alli, a new way of eating, and trying to squeeze in some exercise.  The moment of truth was yesterday when I weighed, and I was about six pounds from my weight when I was nine months pregnant.  So, needless to say, something has to change.  So I bought Alli, fresh fruits and veggies, and low cal, low fat foods at the grocery store. Anyway, I am kinda worried about it because I am a teacher, and keep terrible hours.  My school is fourty minutes from my home, I leave by six am each morning, and then to make matters worse, I usually don't arrive home until six or six thirty that evening.  I am a band teacher, and we have monday night rehearsals, tuesday night private lesson night-- so on these evenings it may be almost nine or ten before I am home. Between getting a two year old his bath, and everyone something to eat, plus the stress of work and being tired-- I don't eat properly.

I am hoping that somehow I will manage to find a way, because I need to loose the weight.  It looks bad, it sets a bad example, and I am tired of feeling bad about it.

Anyway, I thought I would post.

Teacher in Texas

 Hi Nici and Cgsmith--

I teach HS  part time (every other day--yes, I am lucky!), have four children under the age of 7, and started Alli on 1-5-09.  I gained a lot of weight with each pregnancy and have fought each time to get back to a healthy weight.  I understand that moment of, "enough!" and your decision to do the Alli plan. :)

I find exercising within the school year soooo difficult..Cg, with your hours, I'd been so exhausted.  I know that exercise and diet should be "non-negotiables" in my life, but there are so many thing pulling me every direction. 

I would like to support each of you in your efforts--the only way I have done well with Alli is planning ahead with my  meals and my exercise.  There will always be something else I "need" to do--but, I truly need to take care of myself first this time.  I'll add each of you to my circle, and I hope we can support and encourage each other.  Take care.

Sandra

SW:  188  CW:  172  GW:  138

I believe I posted earlier on this thread that I am a substitute teacher. You can make it work. Some weeks I work one day, some weeks 5. I work with pre-K through 8th and never know what the day will hold. Schedules at different school vary as well. I can start as early as 7:30 or as late as 9. I am usually done by 3 though as I need to get home for my kids' school bus. It's all possible if you make it a priority.

E

Thank you for your post.  It has been a tough week, but I have managed to loose a little weight.  I figure its just water weight, but any little move in the scale makes me happy.  I wish I could find time to exercise, but I just don't know when I am supposed to do it.  I have made an effort to not eat "junk". When I need a snack, I grab an apple.  I don't grab a donut for breakfast, and I have not been stopping by the convenience store on the way home.  (Used to eat a bag of chips on the way home from school...fourty minute drive).  So my attitiude is better.  I have also cut out all sodas.  Alli is helping to motivate me to make the healthier choice-- mostly out of fear of the side effects.  Thus far, I have not had any treatment effects, but I have also been eating much better.  I guess fear really is a good motivator.

If there is anything I can do to help you, please let me know. And thanks again for your post. :)