Evening all. Have decided to be brutally honest with myself today and come to terms with how much I've been struggling with keeping up with being healthy and eating well. I've had to face myself and the lies I've been telling myself about the rubbish I've been eating and convincing myself I've not. It's easy as hell to do this, when you want to convince yourself that you're still on track. So today, and from now on, I'm going to be honest with myself and not self-sabatage any more.
I think you are being very honest with yourself and that's always a very positive step. I imagine that the pressure of your job and your very demanding daily grind,probable lack of sleep given that you get up so early are all contributing factors to you not being able to feel like you're nailing this.
I reckon you are right about having to sort out the not eating for so long throughout your school day but I imagine that there are other factors such as job related stress which impede everything being so strsightforward.... Try to take a step back and aim for some balance.. It's a very tricky task and with teachers leaving the profession in droves it's not one that people achieve all that easily.
Our lives are like a jigsaw and when the pieces don't all fit we struggle to see the overall picture and we get weighted down... See if you can get some space this weekend and some time along with the family to refocus, get next week's food sorted and some time to give yourself a pat on the back and tell yourself you're doing well..... Slow and steady remember 👍
Hi 19sunflower, thanks for that response. I think taking a step back and having time to refocus and have time to distress is definitely a way forward and I will definitely be taking your advice on that. I also love the jigsaw analogy, it really is a struggle to see the bigger picture sometimes with the amount of pieces you're trying to fit in to place all the time.
Will sort my food diary for each day and make sure I stick to it. Thanks again for your support, it means a lot.
I historically weighed myself at decade intervals as part of lying to myself. Including when I was deliberately trying to lose weight. I now weigh myself 3 x a week, including when I fear/know the scales will not be kind. Here’s to honesty.
Hi s4g, it is so easy to lie to yourself, whether it's on the scales or when you convince yourself that it won't hurt to have another cake or another beer or that you can leave that walk for tonight and walk twice the distance tomorrow. The trouble is you don't stop at one cake but tomorrow you convince yourself you did, or only put one cake into the calorie counter, then you can tell yourself you only had one. Being honest is hard, but the truth will set you free. Here is definitely to honesty! Thanks for your support.
Hi Wordsworth2. To be honest is one thing, and it is a good step.
Another good thing is to not set the bar too high (or too low, of course). If you do, you would constantly feel that you fail or you cheat. Then you may want to try even harder, and this can go on.
My opinion is that you should try and make the weight loss as pleasant as possible.
Now what shall we do with that cake that smiles at you?
And what shall do with that walk that does not want to be walked?
How about this:
Why not to wrap that cake and take it to your walk? When you are half way the walk, you eat it. Can't eat more because you only took one piece. And it motivates you for the walk.
That's an absolutely fabulous idea and one I think I will try today. I have been trying to enjoy the journey and, by and large, it's been working. It's just been recently that I've been eating more rubbish and not exercising and telling myself I've been healthier than I have. I will definitely have a bit of a think about where I am setting the bar for me and try to adjust it to the right level. Thank you for your advice and support.
I feel the same as you right now 😞 I mean I've just had a bath and for the first time ever I was upset with myself on how I actually look, I have put on so much weight of late I've chosen to ignore it and now I'm wondering where the hell am I going to start to get rid of it all.... I wish you good luck on your journey and hope you get to where you want to be.
Don't be upset, be determined. Every time I look in the mirror without my clothes on I tell my belly it's days are numbered. Silly, I know. But it helps me to start the day on a positive. Down be upset with yourself, you are the shape you are but you can change it. I've slipped up recently but I am still as determined as ever to get rid of the weight and keep it off. This forum is an amazing place of support and advice. You can also read my blog or join some of the other forums too. You are amazing and can do amazing things. Why not start with a walk and a think about some of the things you need to change and then make a plan? Maybe change one thing at a time and do it continuously to make it a habit, then change something else. This weight loss thing is a campaign with lots of battles, some you'll win, some you'll lose. Just be determined to win the war. And be honest with yourself. Ways honest. Good luck, stay strong.
It's not easy to say that things are going wrong Wordsworth, especially when we've been co cahoot with ourselves for doing so well to start with. Well done for facing the situation you're in and for posting... that's a big step.
Have a thought about joining in here more and you will find continuous support and less of a chance to deceive yourself... I know this from my own experience
I do try and post on here at least once a day, time constraints and work generally keep me tired up and don't allow me to post more. I will certainly try though. Thank you for the advice and support.
I think teaching is a very difficult profession and I don't know many teachers who work regular weeks, aside from one person who is much healthier and happier as a result. I have a lot of friends who have burnt out, one was even sectioned.
If you can find any time to cut your evening and weekend working and put that into walking the dog or other pursuits, you will feel loads better. But I know it's not easy.
Thanks for the support and advice. I definitely think you're right about cutting down on the work, but I also know that if I do cut down, I'll begin to fall behind and then become stressed. It's a vicious circle. However, I am going to have at least one day a week where I do no school work at all...and that is today! Thanks again for the support, it is much appreciated!
I know that it's not easy (and it's easy for me to say not being a teacher) and there's a mindset that you're letting the kids down if you aren't doing it, but I would say it's at the root of your problems, especially around time to eat during the day. I don't know a profession like it, where working all hours is the norm, but the pay doesn't reflect it.
I worked as a school librarian for a short time and it was the worse job I've ever had - disordered eating, having kids in the library over lunch, so only getting 10 minutes to eat and the stress of trying, and mostly failing, to control them. I have never known misery like it and I lasted 3 months, so I have a lot of admiration for you!
The psychology of all this is fascinating. I often find myself in group conversations about how little we are eating and still can't loose weight..... This is usually whilst consuming lunch, coffee or dinner. The irony is laughable!!
It's so easy to tell yourself one thing and do another. I always tell myself I have no time to do things yet always find the time if it's something that needs doing now. Weird.
I've got this terrible habit of thinking it's OK if I made it. The calories don't magically fall out of cake if I made it myself, lol. You've taken the step of recognising you aren't being entirely honest with yourself, and that's more than some manage, but at the same time, honesty shouldn't be being too hard on yourself either.
That's absolutely true. I've tried not to be hard on myself, but sometimes it's hard not to be. And I certainly know what you mean about the cooking a cake yourself and thinking it's better for me than a factory made one! Hehe. Thanks for the support!
A huge part of your problem seems to be your job! It’s not normal to have to get up at 4:30 in order to fit everything in. Nor is it normal to have to work so late every evening six days per week and through lunch. I don’t ‘know of any teacher who came away unscathed from years of backbreaking work. Some divorced only to realize later that the problem was the job and not the partner! One told me that it took 4 full years of retirement to evacuate all the stress built up over years. Society and the profession feed teachers lots of poppycock about it being a “vocation”, and about “doing it for the kids”. This helps maintain the status quo: overwork and low pay and low societal status. No other real job is associated with the idea of a self-sacrificing “vocation” —except for the priesthood and that’s not a job at all. You talk a great deal about being honest but perhaps you need to be honest about the toll this thankless job is having on your health and well being! My heart goes out to you and your sincere efforts in every area of your life but I can’t help feeling that you can’t see the forest for the trees. I know because I was there once and eventually had to walk away from a job that was sapping me of life and fun and my health. I had to leave to find my true self. And I did! The very best of luck!
Thanks for your honesty. I do work incredibly hard as a teacher, but I also think others work equally as hard. And I can't say I don't still love my job, because I do. I am currently doing bits and pieces on the side as a 'I wonder if I can do this full time' kind of thing, but at the moment it's just a hobby. Thank you for your kind and encouraging words, it's always great to have support and advice that's from the heart and worthy of listening to and taking ti.e to reflect on what you've said...and I'll certainly do that. Thank you.
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