First Day of School

Today was my first day of school. I decided Saturday that I wanted to look totally FIERCE. I figured, new body, new clothes for a new school year–one in which I will undergo continuous transformation. I had this dress packed away in the closet–it was one I’d bought pre-op because I knew I’d be able to wear it eventually; I just didn’t know when.

Well, I found out Saturday afternoon, and decided I’d wear it to school today.

I’d like to thank Talbots Woman for having a fantastically good sale on this dress about a month and a half ago, and my Talbots Black Card for making this outfit possible.  I’d also like to thank my brother for styling advice.  While I am pretty good at picking out my clothes based on how they look on me, I am not as good at accessorizing an entire outfit.  A text conversation with him last night helped tremendously!

I felt fantastic wearing this dress, and much more confident than I’d felt in a while.  Part of it was the knowledge that I was wearing a size I hadn’t been in over 20 years.  Part of it was the fact that this dress was Red!  Red! is a power color, no matter who is wearing it, and I certainly felt powerful.  I have never been one to shy away from bright colors, and today was no exception.  One of the great things about having lost nearly 70 pounds is that I am starting to feel more comfortable in my skin than I have in a long, long while.  I stood a little straighter, smiled a little wider and overall just felt a little more awesome today than I did at the end of the school year last year.

First day reflections:  “It was a good day” like Ice Cube says.

We went over class guidelines, or as I like to call them, “Things You Need to Know to Get Along in this Class Daily.”  These are the guidelines I have regarding food, drinks, gum, phones, music and going to the bathroom.  I am a fairly liberal teacher in that I allow kids to listen to music while they are working independently, provided that no one but the listener can hear what’s being listened to.  I also allow kids to get up and take care of bathroom business when they need to, so long as they take the pass.  Food and drinks are another thing altogether in my classroom since I teach science, and we perform lab activities on the regular.  I explained that food was a no-no but that they would see me eating periodically, and only at my desk.  I debated with myself for a long time about whether or not to tell them that I’d had surgery, and I decided that yes, I would tell them.  I simply said, “The reason you will see me eating is because I have to.  I had surgery this summer that took my stomach from the size of a football to the size of a banana, so I am required to eat multiple small meals a day in order to meet my protein and calorie requirements.”  Once I put it like that, they understood.  And I left it at that.

I felt compelled to tell them, because since we are in a science lab, eating and drinking are generally frowned upon.  I didn’t want them to catch me eating and then say, “Well, why are you allowed to but we can’t?”  If there are rules in place I feel like I have to follow them in order to enforce them effectively, but eating and drinking in class was one I had to be more flexible with myself about.  I felt the kids needed to know why so I told them in biological terms.  I felt it sufficed.  Now if they have questions during the year, I will answer them in a biological context of course.  I also let them know that they would notice that I would get smaller as the year went on, and that this was not a cause for concern–I didn’t have a terminal illness and that I am dying at the same rate they are:  very slowly, a bit at a time.  They laughed and we moved on with the rest of the day.

My classes are jam-packed full of kids who all look eager to learn (it is the first day, after all).  We made learning goals for the year today and after reading them before I came home for the day, I was heartened to read that many of them WANT to learn for the sake of learning.  I was concerned that so many of them want to learn time management–this is a skill lacking in many of my students which raises a bit of a red flag overall for me.  This is something I am going to actively work on with them since so many of them have said it is their goal for the year.

I am really looking forward to guiding this group to success.  Not just success on the AP exam, but success as learners.  I hope I can inspire this group and lead them to greatness.  That’s MY goal for the school year.  I also hope that I can find the balance I need to be successful with my students and with my weight loss.

I did fall down on the job in terms of drinking liquids while at school.  I did so much talking that I didn’t sip as much as I would have liked to even though I had a glass near me at all times.  Too busy talking, I guess.  I’ll do better at this tomorrow.  I got in 40 grams of protein  by the time I left to come home, which is not bad, considering my dinner had 20+ grams, and my nighttime snack had 20 grams.

Tomorrow is another day and another chance to get it right, beginning with breakfast.  FYI, the mini frittatas I had for breakfast:  totally filling and delicious!  Two of them (1 serving) have 13 grams of protein, 8 grams of fat (high for some) and 3 carbs (mostly fiber from the broccoli).  I had breakfast about 6:45 this morning and they held me over until nearly 10 am.  Good stuff!

Today’s food choices, from upper left: Isopure Zero Carb; multivitamin and calcium supplements x2; 40 cloves of garlic turkey breast with pan gravy; mini turkey sausage, broccoli and cheese frittatas x2; sliced roast beef and Sargento reduced fat cheddar cheese stick. I forgot to snap a picture of the crockpot chicken fajitas I ate for lunch. 😦