TEACHERS...What/Did you tell your students?

 I had surgery on August 1st and am recovering very well. I start school on the 24th and am wondering if I should just come out and talk to my students about my RNY as they will be watching me melt away (hopefully!) and eat small portions. Curious to know what other teachers have done. Thank you for your advice!

 I am a teacher as well.  I go back to work tomorrow.  I am not going to tell the students anything about my surgery.  I will just say that I am exercising and learning to eat healthy.  Hopefully they will pick up some good tips.  What are your thoughts about eating at school and having what you need there? I am still trying to figure out eating 6 times a day while not being very hungry.  Thoughts?

I am lucky to have a nice classroom that I share with one other teacher (my mentor) and I already have a microwave that I used daily last year. I think I want to get a mini fridge (preferably with a lock!) to keep milk, cheese and yogurt in. I think I am more likely to to eat well if my food is chilled. I am still looking for a protein drink ( I have tried several and want to barf when I drink them). I let students eat and drink in class so that I may also eat and drink in front of them. Hopefully trash and distractions will continue not to be a problem. I think the structure of the school day will remind me to eat. I eat much better when I am working and not thinking about food all the time.

 I'm a middle school teacher.  I had my surgery near the end of the last school year, May 2nd.  Returned to work in a week.  I lost 20+ lbs before the end of the year but NO ONE noticed.  Not my co-workers or the kids.  I did not tell my kids last year that I had surgery.

I think it is personal and does not need to be shared with students, at any age.  If a student notices, which they really didn't mention much when we came back this year, I just tell them I work out and eat right.  Honestly, the kids do not mention it much.  Plus your kids are going to see you everyday so they will not really notice the WL like people who only see you every few months.  My co-workers notice it big time now and comment on it everyday.  Yesterday I was out at my sons football event and the kids from the team last year didn't say a word to me about losing weight, but they said it to my son who told me later.  

Kids don't seem to notice that stuff, and the comment you are going to get the most is "did you change your hair".  What grade do you teach?  the younger the more likely it will be they won't even notice.  If you teacher 14 or older they might notice, but I just tell them thanks for noticing and yeah I am losing weight  and if they ask how I say "hard work"

 I am a high school teacher and go on lots of overnight field trips with my leadership and competative teams. I know that I will have to address the issue in more detail with the kids I spend a lot of outside class time with but I guess I could just say nothing and address pointed questions when they come up. Thank you for your thoughts!

I have been "post op" for almost 4 months....I will tell you this one thing I learned.  At first I did not care who I told about my surgery, I was proud and well adjusted and had no shame....still don't.  But when I became "free" about telling people I opened myself up to lots of opinion and judgement that I never asked for.  Even an xray tech one time gave me judgement out of no where.

I teach AVID which makes me very open with my kids.  I know my kids love me, we create that culture in our classroom.  I want to tell them, I want to share that success, just like you will want to with these kids that you are close to.  I fear more what the parents would do with the information.  There is alot of judgement out there.....and teachers already get enough.  I don't need to give them another reason to judge me.  That's just how I feel.

If you do share it with your kids, post how that goes......I would be interested to know.

This probably does not count.  I am a retired teacher, and some of my former students are my facebook friends.  When they asked me how I lost so much weight, I told them. 

If I were still in the classroom, I would tell them the truth once it became obvious - if it became an issue.  I was a math teacher so I would have made  a lesson out of it, and I also taught high school so that would have made a difference. 

Because you just had surgery though, I don't think I would say anything because you are still early and they might not notice.  But if they eventually begin asking, I would tell them the truth.  Your story might be the stepping stone for onsomeone they know that starts them on the path to a healthier lifestyle.

I am glad that you mentioned a lesson! I am a science teacher and what a great lesson this is about nutrition, anatomy and health!

Retired teachers ALWAYS count! Hopefully I make it to retirement!

I had been wondering myself whether to tell students OR parents that I was going to have WLS.  No, not necessarily their business but at 9 and 10 I think my students may be a bit upset when I am gone for 2 or 3 weeks for the surgery itself.  Especially since we will only have been in school 3 weeks.  Thanks for sharing thoughts.  Haven't decided how to approach yet.   Marsha

 I am leaning towards honesty if a student asks. I think it is good conversation about disease, making good personal decisions and frankly prejudice/judging others (if the conversation was facilitated carefully and respectfully by the teacher). But every classroom and set of students is different!