The FastDay Forum

Oh cblasz, what a shock and worry re your friend's daughter. Look after yourself so that you can be strong to support your friend too.

Thanks @Sassy1! She has some swelling on the brain and they have to wait for that to go down. So, she is making progress, but very, very slowly! I'm hoping to go see my friend tomorrow.

I'm off track again this week, just because it's a weird week. I am getting in 4 mile walks though and avoiding sugar and mostly sticking with my eating window.

They finally called me about the job I applied for and I have the interview tomorrow. I happen to know that only me and one other person applied. I'm very nervous, no so much about the interview, but about possibly making a huge change!

An anxious time for your friend - good that you are going to see her. At least the situation seems to be improving.

i feel you need to be kinder to yourself with your weight related challenges! I think doing the walk, keeping sugar low, and sticking to your eating window are great achievements. I know you like monitoring things, but when you have so many, it is hard for them all to be " " ! I do admire your persistence though and that you don't give up.

Happy that she's doing better, it's always a heart tug for a parent to consider that situation.

Hey! After nearly a month"on hold", it's about time for that interview!

Thanks for reminding me ADFnFuel! I meant to say, cblasz, all the best for your interview. Remember, you don't have to take the job if it is offered to you (though presumably you will) so for now just concentrate on doing the interview, and don't worry about the future. And if (when!) you do get the job, I am sure you will be rewarded by the challenge.

Hi @Sassy1 and @ADFnFuel thanks so much for your well wishes for my friend's daughter. I saw her again on Friday and she is making great progress. She is very alert and walk with assistance. She isn't quite talking yet though. Hopefully she will get to go home soon.

It's a long story, but I had the interview on Thursday and they wanted me to come back on Friday morning to do a demo lesson. However, in reflecting on the interview and a couple of conversations I had with people who are familiar with the school, I got the feeling that while the job itself would be fine, the environment might not be very supportive and the principal might be difficult to work for. I decided it wasn't the risk, especially for the same salary. I ended up sending them an email thanking them for their time and telling them that I decided the position wasn't right for me right now and didn't want to take up anymore of their time with the demo lesson. I am very comfortable with the decision and hope that something else will come along in time!

With this week being so crazy, I haven't been tracking still, but still doing pretty good with not eating sugar. I did have a chai and of course had to test the chocolate chip cookies that I made to bring my friend at the hospital! I'm getting my walks in too. It's supposed to be really hot here today, so I'll be heading out soon for a walk to try to beat the heat.

Tomorrow I'm leaving to go visit my cousin in Canada, stopping in Vermont on the way. I'm definitely looking forward to getting away from everything for a while! I definitely won't be tracking for the week, but do hope to get a lot of walking in every day! I told my cousin I don't eat breakfast (to which she responded "But that's the most important meal of the day!" ) so that should help me stick to my eating windows! And I do expect to eat some sugary things, but will try to only eat things that are truly worth it.

I will have full services on my cell phone, so will be able to check in a bit. I'm not sure if I'm going to bring my laptop or not.

Anyway, thanks for those of you reading this and have a great week!

Of course, you eat breakfast! Others may call it lunch, or dinner or the next day....but we all have it eventually.

A suggestion for a summer "job" might be an internship at a high tech company. If disinclined for a coding position with all its pressure, consider one in test. The pressure "to create" is far less, the job more flexible in scope, and there's always code-tinkering on the side to automate tests if interested.

Oh, I'm not looking for a summer job. This would've been a full-time job change. As I said before, I was a software developer for many years and I managed to have summer jobs in that field for my first 7 years of teaching. But I'm a little far removed now to get that kind of position, for such a short period of time. (Summer is less than 8 weeks.) So, once that ran out that's when I got the college job, which I do during the school year and use the money to support myself over the summer and catch up on everything that I don't get done during the school year, while working 2 jobs.

Dear cblasz

Hopefully the interview was a useful experience anyway - well, it was useful in as much as it helped you decide that you did not really want the job! Now you can relax and enjoy your summer break.

Btw - Doesn't your full time job pay you during holidays??

Great news about your friend's daughter. Hopefully her speech will return okay soon.

Good luck and best wishes for getting all those chores done, and for staying on track with your weight management plan as best you can!

Hi @Sassy1 - yes, I am happy I applied for the job and found out. It was a good step for me. Maybe that principal will leave at some point or maybe I will look for a job outside of my district next year. But I'm happy with staying at my current job for now.

We only get paid for the 10 months of the year that we work. You can have that spread out over the 12 months, but that would be a big hit to my regular paycheck. When I changed careers, I basically took more than a 50% pay cut, so I needed to get my whole paycheck just to make ends meet. As I said, in the beginning I was able to still work the summers doing software development work, so that worked out ok. Then when I got the adjunct position, I just put most of that money aside and save it for the summer. My budget works out well that way for me!

Hi again, is that pay situation (i.e. no pay for school holidays) the same for all teachers in the US?

I guess when you decided to change jobs that you had other reasons that compensated for the loss of income?

Teachers in Australia get paid during the school holidays, but they (often) work long hours during the term (as no doubt you do too), do have to do some work during their holidays, and don't get paid relatively that much in the whole scheme of things.

Hi @Sassy1 - yes, that's the same for all teachers in the U.S. although all of them might not have the choice to get their paycheck spread out over the summer. Teacher pay is not that great in the U.S., some places are worse than others. The pay for teachers in my state is not too bad, but I am in a low-income district, so the pay in my district is a lot lower than the towns around us and we keep getting our pay frozen. I should be making a lot more than I am for the time I've got in. If I had started teaching when I was 22, it wouldn't be bad at all. We do work a ton of hours and do some stuff over the break and we also pay for a lot of our own supplies. I usually spend about $1000 a year of my own money. When I first started it was even more than that. But, yes I was unhappy with what I was doing and sort of felt a "calling" to become a teacher and I don't regret it. As a single person, who doesn't live very extravagantly, I was able to do it, although it was very hard in the beginning!

In the UK teachers receive an annual salary, divided into twelve equal month's payments, and salaries are the same all over the country, depending on length of service and responsibilities, except in London where they receive slightly more because of the higher cost of living. We have to do a minimum number of hours a day, including some time after the pupils have gone home, but we also receive a nominal couple of hours a week for planning and record-keeping (if you don't lose it because of covering another teacher's lessons due to sickness/absence!).

I loved my time teaching but am glad that I took early retirement, aged 55, from my teaching/headteacher (principal)'s post before I began to not love it. I have a great time now and am lucky to have my health so that nothing stops me doing what I want to do, when I want to do it!

Hello from Canada!
Today is my last day here. I've enjoyed my trip, but am definitely ready to go home. I am really interested in weighing myself when I do get home. I haven't really been bad with my eating. I've stuck with my 16:8 fasting, which has been pretty easy really and I've hardly had any sweets. I did have a local favorite called a Beaver Tail, which was very good! I've also been getting in about 12,000 steps a day. Besides that we've only gone out to eat a few times and since I'm staying at my cousin's house it's weird to snack on her food. But I haven't really worried about what type of food I've eaten at meals and such. I hope I can keep these habits easily when I get home. I'm also thinking of trying to wean myself off of Stevia (and other sweeteners) and eventually be able to drink my tea/iced tea unsweetened. We'll see!
Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well with their particular brand of fasting. Looking forward to getting back into my regular routine and posting regularly!

Weds July 11
Weight: 168.6 (168.6)
Eating Window: 12:30-7:30
Calories: 1339
Net Carbs: 153
Water/tea: 4
Steps: 8458
Other Exercise: 3 mile walk

Well, if I lost any weight on vacation, I made up for on the drive back and the next day! But, not gaining weight on vacation is a good thing, I guess. I am now getting back on track. I went to the grocery store yesterday and stocked up on healthy foods. Of course today, I have lunch and dinner plans! But we are going to a healthy place for lunch and dinner is Trivia night, so I'm planning just to have an appetizer and maybe just one beer. I will be heading out for my walk soon.

I'm going to Florida to visit my family on July 31st. If I haven't lost even a few pounds by then, then I think I'm going to join Weight Watchers again when I get back. Maybe I just need the structure and accountability. We'll see!

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer (if it's summer where you are!)