The teaching years

My first year teaching elementary school was a lot of fun and hard work. I worked with an amazing team of ladies who loved to eat. We ate lunch together every day and we made it a party as often as we could. We used every excuse to have a party and parties mean food! I don't really remember how much weight I put on that first year, but I do know that I associated a good time with good fattening food. Well, that year ended and half of our student body went to a brand new school which meant half the teachers had to go too.

I got a job teaching 6th grade at a different school and I wasn't excited about it. To make a long story short I decided to go to Taiwan and teach English instead. The first 6 months n Taiwan I was miserable. I didn't speak Chinese and things were hard. So I found comfort in food. I found the foods I liked and I ate lots of them. I enjoyed the second half of my time there, but I continued to eat. I came home from Taiwan the largest I have ever been other than being pregnant. I was almost 200 lbs by this point. It is hard to even write that number down!!!

I came home and got a job at my old school, but not with my old team so I wasn't happy. I kept eating. The following year I got back to teaching 3rd grade with the team that I loved and I decided it was time to take control of my life!!!! This was the first time I got serious about losing weight. This was the first time i went to Jenny Craig. And it worked for me. I lost over 60 lbs and I was confident and secure. My life was totally on track and I was doing great.....but I didn't learn how to change my mindset.

I met my future husband that year.We ate out more and more and once we got married the weight started coming back. And them I got pregnant with my first child. This is where the teaching years end and the baby years begin. I will continue the story in my next post.