Losing Weight While Teaching

I've struggled with my weight my entire life. I've tried every diet out there...Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, Atkins, 21 Day Fix, Whole 30...you name it. I'd lose weight, I'd gain it back and then I'd gain it back and then some. Twice in my life I've gotten down to a size that I feel comfortable with (21 and 32) but both times I stayed at that weight less than a year.

When I started teaching I poured all of my energy and time into work. I stayed up until all hours of the night grading papers and writing lessons. I had no time for sleep or the gym for that matter. All I did was work. You don't need me to tell you how stressful teaching is and like many of us I'm a stress eater.

Early in my career I got 4-5 hours of sleep a night and sometimes less. Any doctor will tell you that to lose weight you need to sleep. I'm not a coffee drinker so I started drinking diet coke daily. I would even drink it before teaching. (The thought of having soda at 7 am now grosses me out but I did that for a long time.)

When I was 28 I was at my heaviest and I met a guy who was an athlete and we started dating. Through his encouragement I started going to the gym. At first I went one day a week (one of the weekend days) and then I went twice a week. After 6 months of working out I stopped losing weight so I joined weight watchers. At that point I was going to the gym 4-6 days a week. I was on the program for 3+ years and I was going to the gym on a regular basis. I was down 94 pounds on my 32nd birthday.

Shortly after that I sustained a serious knee injury and I had to stop working out. I was still following weight watchers and my first week out of the gym I gained 8 pounds. I was weighing and measuring my food and I gained weight. That led to discouragement and then I was completely off the program.

Fast forward a few years and I had some serious health issues that I'm not going to get into. After I was better I went to the doctor and to my shock and utter dismay I weighed even more than I had in my late 20's. Here I was 36 and I had tried and failed every diet I had heard of. My doctor basically told me I'd be dead in 10 years if I kept gaining weight.

Fear is exactly what I needed. So I started seeing a nutritionist. I had blood work done and my nutritionist designed a diet that fit my needs. A nutritionist is not covered by my insurance so I only went to her once a month. I cut out soda which was huge for me. I cut back on carbs and I ate more protein and vegetables. I started working out again slowly. It's much harder to lose weight in your 30's than it is in your 20's.

This is what I have been following for the past year and a half:

• I eat at least 90 grams of protein every day 
• I eat 5 servings of fruit and vegetables every day (I don't have more than 2 servings of fruit a day.)
• I drink 6-8 glasses of water a day
• I eat complex carbs (brown rice, whole wheat bread, etc) but I don't eat carbs with dinner or after dinner.
• I take vitamins daily

I have a major sweet tooth and I eat sugar-free Popsicles and sugar-free jello when I have my cravings. They taste pretty good. When I'm in the mood for chocolate I have sugar free pudding.

I try to avoid drinks that are high in sugar but every now and then I'll have some juice to satisfy a sugar craving. It's better for me to have a glass of juice that has vitamins in it than a piece of cake or some other sugary treat.

I eat Oh Yeah protein bars after the gym because they are high in protein and have only one gram of sugar. I also eat almonds as a snack (raw almonds not the salty ones).

I go to the gym every Saturday and Sunday. When I have the energy (it varies) I go during the week. Some weeks I have way too much work and other weeks are better. I know myself. I know that if I go home after work I'll never go to the gym. So I keep my gym bag in the car. Also going straight after work is better because the gym is less crowded and if I work out too late I have problems falling asleep.

I'm far from perfect. Every now and then I indulge but I need to do this for my health. I love to cook but with a job that takes over all of your "free" time you can't always cook. I have a few solutions for that:

• I cook a lot of meals that only take 20-30 minutes. I find tons of these recipes on Pinterest.
• I cook a lot on the weekends. I have a lot of containers and I portion out meals. This way I have lunch or dinner ready to go. This also saves money because when I'm too tired to cook I won't buy take out. 
• I use a crockpot. It's very easy to throw some ingredients in my crockpot in the morning and dinner cooks while I'm at work. There are a ton of healthy slow cooker meals online.
• I make grilled chicken in bulk. I have mastered the art of throwing together a salad in 5 minutes. As long as I stick to a vinaigrette dressing and I avoid fattening things like croutons this is an easy fix for dinner or lunch.

I save money by cooking. I have co-workers that eat out daily. In NYC that's easily $10 a day. I have a Brita pitcher at home. Buying a filter every couple of months is cheap enough. Now that I primarily drink water this also saves money. Sometimes I'll add a slice of lemon or lime to my water.

I've lost 73 pounds in the past year and a half. I still have a long way to go but I'm not giving up on myself.

Things I need to work on: drinking more water, sleeping more and my sugar addiction.

I accept my flaws and I keep going.