New Student Teacher

[bnm4 93]

Hi all - I'm looking for some advice!

I am just about 9 weeks post op and feeling great! But I am about to start student teaching and am worried about how my coworkers are going to act about how little I eat.

I've been able to survive going out to dinner with friends saying "oh I had a late lunch" and was able to go through a full day training with friends who are also student teaching by packing a bunch of healthy Snacks and "snacking" all day (which really I ate a little and shared the rest with them!)

So how so I handle questions about eating so little when I start student teaching? Any teachers out there with the VSG? How are yall handling back to school?

[wantingabetterlife 364]

I'm not a teacher but one thing I have noticed is that most people don't even pay attention to how little I eat. They see that I eat "weird" things or eat really slow. Most of the time, people are talking or looking at their phones and don't pay much attention to others around them. I think we all focus on it because it's what we always think about!

[WL WARRIOR 690]

When I student taught 16 years ago, I was quite the health nut and very thin. I'm assuming that you bring your own lunch instead of eating cafeteria food? Are you eating at the teacher's table or with the students? I always brought my own lunch and ate the same thing everyday: an orange, yogurt, and a small sandwich. The other teachers may have made a few comments about my eating the first week of school, but it soon just became "how I ate" and old news.

[samy278 11]

Hey, I am a high school teacher and presently on sick leave because of my sleeve. However, I've been wondering about the same thing.

In the teacher's lounge, you get used to your colleague's eating habits but nobody really LOOKS at what you eat.

Also, if you dont want to burn out, it's important to snack all day because there's nothing worse than running on adrenaline...I think that if you bring healthy Snacks and then have a VSG lunch, no one should really notice and it's easy to just say that you snack so you have a smaller lunch.

I dont think we should get too preoccupied by what people think anyways. It's really none of their business.

PS : sorry for my bad English. I'm more of a francophone :S

[Smye 694]

I was a teacher when I had Sx and am now, 10 months out, a principal. No one really noticed, or if they did they focused on their own shame-spiral of "I wish I had control like you" rather than on "why the change?"

If you want some specific strategies I can definitely help - one that was incredible was to address the bane that is the teachers' lounge head-on. "Hey folks, you know how there are always donuts, cakes, etc in the lounge? I'm trying to eat healthier, so I'm going to start bringing in proteins/veggies instead." All of a sudden everyone was on board and it doubled as folks assuming my lunch was so small because I'd 'eaten healthy' on my prep