Well, I'm no longer teaching at the school I was teaching at, and to be honest, I thought about not going back into teaching after having come out of the school alive! It was without a doubt, the worst experience possible. I was teaching 9th grade English at an inner-city school district that didn't have an ounce of integrity. The kids were bad enough, but they are in fact only kids. The administration and the superintendent were as corrupt as they come! The entire experience, since literally day 1, was an uphill battle that left me heavier than I was when I started, and without as much energy. I'm a very high energy gal, so that wasn't a good thing for me. The extra pounds were absolutely not welcomed.
Because I could see that I was gaining weight and having other stress-related issues such as daily diarrhea and the onset of mental depression, I had to get out of that place fast. I was under a contract so leaving wasn't an option. I began walking in my classroom, literally pacing to get 3 miles of steps in each day. Sure, the kids thought I was crazy, but they needed me flitting about anyway from second to second, keeping them from cheating, Facebooking, texting, lying, and worse. It was an on the feet, hour in and hour out job just to keep them from failing my class. I still ended up failing 1/4 of the class(es) but that's another story.
It's mid-July now, and I have decided to take charge of the two things I can control; my food and/or calorie intake, and my exercise program. I haven't been stressed since about June 1st, my last day of school was May 22nd officially, but I was suspended on May 9 for something I didn't do. Turns out it was so that I would not report what the administration was doing. I reported it anyway, not to the superintendent, but to the state of Oklahoma and to my union representative. I waited with bated breath until June 28 when I was paid my final check. The entire time I kept thinking they'll find a way to keep my money from me, but in the end, the school was obligated to pay me. We were paid for June and July 2018 in two separate checks and that money literally has to last me until I'm paid September 25 by the new district. Can I do it? You bet I can! I've learned to live with so little for so long that nothing is difficult now. Jesus is awesome like that.
So, back to the topic at hand! I decided to lose the belly fat that I've picked up over the past several years, but was unable to force it to come off due to stress. I'm doing a mostly Keto diet, more fat, less carbs, very little sugar. I'm not t-totaling it, and I'm counting carbs. I'm just being mindful. I've added Matcha tea to the mix since I don't mind the taste of grass, and I feel that the research I've done on it is valid. Matcha tea is supposedly much stronger, some say 130x stronger than regular green tea in terms of antioxidants. It is caffeinated so I do have to watch that and be mindful of when I drink it. Matcha tea is supposed to do wonders for boosting metabolism and burning fat. I'll see if it works. I remember and recall the GREEN phase that everyone and their dogs were using for smoothies and swearing that they worked on both metabolism and belly fat, well, turns out they were using either kale powder or Matcha tea powder. Both are readily available at any health food store, and at about the same cost. I may have to switch to kale if the caffeine is the cause for the boost. I really don't need to overload on that. I'm down to one cup of coffee in the a.m. now. I do try to sleep at night.
I measured my gut today which is something I've not done in years. It was FAR worse than what I had hoped for. You see yourself in your mind, and you think you're one size, then you measure or step on a scale and figure out you were only kidding yourself. I know the number that popped up on the measuring tape is only that, a number, but it's a number I don't wish to associate with my gut size. I'm hoping to reduce it by 14 inches. Dang....just saying that means I'm fat. Oh well, I'm fat. I fit into jeans that I've owned for a long time, and that's OK for now, but I want to get into new jeans that I've not dreamed of wearing for many years. It can happen. I can do this. I really can. Because I'm now eating so much better than I was, I have caught myself at the store just passing by the aisles that have fatty foods, sugary foods, starchy foods...I just walk by. I don't hate them, but they are not needed any longer, sort of like training wheels on a bike. I'm a BIG GIRL now, and can't eat that stuff.
I weigh about 185 now, which is literally where I was last year when I said I wanted to lose weight. I don't blame the school district, the kids, the administration, the work. I blame myself. I wasn't putting the energy into the cure. This year it will be so much better in so many ways. I'll do a weekly update here to see how I'm doing. I won't say what the belly size number is, but I will tell you what I lose each week if I lose anything. For now, it's Matcha powder in my smoothie and one cup of Matcha tea; literally pouring hot water over a 1/2 teaspoon of the powder. We'll see how it works.
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