Fitness Fellowship 2025: Check-in Fifteen

[sylvanwitch]

Welcome to another weekly check-in for our little band of merry fitness folk! I hope the week has been a good one for you.

If you're so inclined, please share your ups and downs for the past week and any goals you have for the week ahead. As always, there is no judgement here, only encouragement, commiseration, and support. :-)



Weight: 206.2, down 1.2 from last week and .2 pounds lower than my lowest weight since the first of the year. I've lost a total of 11.4 pounds so far. I know it's not the only and not even the most important measure of progress, but it still feels good to see the number going down.

Exercise (days done/days pledged): Walking, 7/7; Yoga, 4/4; Weights, 6/3. On Saturday, we walked 2.38 miles together, and yesterday, I jogged 1.58 miles and then walked another .72 after that. The weather has finally turned enough (for now) that walking outside is a pleasure. (During today's walk [1.67 miles], I spent some time crouched down and communing with the woodchuck who lives under the warming shed at the top of the sledding hill in the state park where I frequently walk.) The weights training has been especially fun because there are lots of great 10-minute arm workouts on Fit-on, so I don't get bored with the same old moves.

Eating plan: I've been doing okay. Too much non-dairy ice cream, too many snacks, but my main meals have been pretty consistently healthy and freshly made.

Hydration: I have been drinking SO much water.

Meditation: Yes, both breathing exercises and some actual meditation.

Sleep: I'm back to my night-owl habits because I'm on my spring break through Easter Monday, so I'm not getting to bed by my usual work-night time, and I know I shouldn't let myself fall back into my natural habits because I'll regret it when I have to return to work, but it is just too tempting, the deep quiet of late night/early morning and a good book to aid the escape. *sighs*

The week ahead: We're going on vacation for a few days starting tomorrow, so I'll probably be eating less well than I would at home, but I'm bringing fresh fruit, and there is a grocery store in the town where we're staying, so I can have salads with my take-out meals. The hotel offers a fresh, hot breakfast, and that usually includes potatoes, for example. There's also an awesome trail system that starts right in the town (which is part of the reason I chose it), so we have lots of rambling planned, and I'm bringing my yoga mat and hand weights, of course.



I'm hoping your week is as stress-free as possible, my friends!

Comments

[delphi]

Congrats on the successes - and on the vacation! I hope you have wonderful weather and a wonderful time.

My body's still doing some new/weird/annoying things, but this week was a combination of a slight improvement and just getting used to it. I managed three meals a day five days out of seven, met my sleep goal three days out of seven, and otherwise managed the full slate of walking, stretching, and eating well.

I didn't have a lot of energy for cooking this past week, but I'm very lucky to live near a take-and-bake place that makes some wholesome meals on the premises. Their chickpea and vegetable curry really came through for me. :)

[sylvanwitch]

Thank you so much. I'm trying to temper my anxieties and just let things go, so we can have a relaxing time. One unfortunate side effect of reading and writing so much speculative fiction is that my vivid imagination keeps telling me what could happen to us should things progress in the direction they are already going. *sighs*

I am so sorry you're suffering new, weird, and/or annoying things, and I do hope that this isn't a "new normal" but just a flare-up that will go into remission soonest. I think you're doing excellently well, all things considered, and I hope you feel better, stronger, and more yourself as the spring progresses. Also, mmmmmm chickpea and vegetable curry--that sounds amazing!

[delphi]

Oof, I hear you. I've been reading more books to spend less time online, but some of the things I'm reading—especially for work—aren't always relaxing.

💙

[oldtoadwoman]

I don't have a solution yet, but it's clear to me that my big focus needs to be on stress reduction and finding better coping mechanisms for the stress that cannot be avoided. I seem to be able to lose weight without much effort when life is going well for me, but I then gain rapidly as soon as life throws me a few curve balls.

I was talking with one of the tutors who works at my school and she says she's started smoking again due to the stress. She says that it's not just me; this is a schoolwide issue. (The principal always leaves me with the impression that I'm the only one doing a bad job.)

So I am also on spring break, but I'm about to go to a shift at my old job. This is the second shift that they've asked me to cover since I told them I was available over spring break, which feels promising. (The old job doesn't pay very well, which is one of the reasons I left, but it's so much less stressful and requires no extra work after hours. Whereas the teaching job is taking up every moment of spare time between grading and lesson planning and meetings etc. The "part time" teaching job pay is not worth the amount of work.)

Re: 💙

[sylvanwitch]

It sounds like your work environment is exceptionally dysfunctional, even by private school standards (29-year veteran of teaching in private religious schools), and I don’t blame you for not having the energy and focus to work on your fitness goals. It sounds like you may be hoping to return to the other job instead, and I certainly wouldn’t blame you for that, either. I’m glad you have that option. I do hope with the advent of better weather you’re able to get in some more walks outside. I know that always helps me to ease my stress to some degree. Hang in there and good luck finishing out the school year!

Re: 💙

[oldtoadwoman]

I think one of the hard things is that I cannot tell what's really normal or not, since I've never taught in the classroom setting before. Part of me feels like I really am just whining about problems I've caused myself because I have zero classroom management skills. I think I had this delusion that students at a religious school would just behave because surely their religion teachers would have emphasized good behavior and all I'd have to do would be pop in and teach my two classes, easy-peasy.

I do have a few doubts about going back to the old job (it doesn't pay as well and I don't think it looks as good on a resume), but it's so much less stress than this. The current job would be my dream job on paper, but I don't have the backbone to stand up to parents and do not project an air of authority at all so the students don't take me seriously.

Re: 💙

[sylvanwitch]

I can only offer observations based on my own experiences, but I will tell you that I tried to institute a new curriculum in the course for which I teach only one section of "regular" students, and four students' behavior has been so disruptive that I've had to pare off one and a half full units because I spend so much time policing behavior rather than teaching. We do have a fairly robust disciplinary office, but these four kids are not the least bit cowed by having to serve detention, and because of issues of tuition, the admin rarely throws a kid out, which these kids also know. (The other three sections I teach are advanced kids, and they are, for the most part, pretty chill.)

I've been luckier than many of my younger female colleagues because I look and sound like I will step on the kids' throats if they get out of line (I am not, in fact, violent ;-), but they still act up in my classroom, and I have zero patience for that nonsense. It has been a VERY long year. *sighs* It wasn't always this way, but kids have changed, for sure, and I'm not sure I have the proper mindset or skillset for those changes. So, this is a long way of saying that I completely understand how you're feeling.

I do think it gets better with time and experience, but I also think that classroom teaching is one of the most underappreciated and stressful jobs anyone can choose.

Re: 💙

[oldtoadwoman]

I want to magically change all the schools so that discipline isn't the teachers' problem. It feels genuinely detrimental to the learning process to set teachers and students up as adversaries, but I don't know of any schools that don't rely on the teacher as the main disciplinarian.

[lenzes]

You're making great progress on your goals! I know I said it before, but I admire your exercise habit :) And I feel you on the temptation of staying up late. It's quite difficult to constantly work against your biorhythm. I hope you have a wonderful vacation!

Goal 1 – walking: Yeah, last week was a total wash … no walking at all. I'm still working on finding ways of getting back into the habit.

Goal 2 – push-ups: And again, two more incline push-ups! :D

[sylvanwitch]

Thank you so much! I appreciate your encouragement, truly. And right back at you on the admiration—you’re doing so well on your push-ups goal! I hope the week is a good one for you and that you find a way to work walking into your routines.