In this episode of the Intermittent Fasting Stories podcast, host Gin Stephens speaks to Tammy Haldeman of Wisconsin. Tammy is a health and safety coordinator for an excavating company. Tammy became aware of IF through her friend, previous podcast guest Lyn Houston. They’ve known each other since childhood, amounting to a nearly 50-year friendship, and Tammy admits that she thought Lyn was “crazy” when fasting first came up. She knew Lyn was having success with IF, but when they decided to take a trip together and she saw that Lyn was “freaking tiny”, she dove in to give it a try.
Unfortunately, in her first three-week attempt, she felt lousy, had headaches, felt hangry. She admits she also had high blood pressure at the time and was trying to adjust to different doses of medication. She ended up going with carb cycling, eating low-carb three days a week, and she says that it worked and it didn’t. She did lose weight but felt it was unsustainable because of the difficulty and shifting back-and-forth.
Eventually, she saw a picture of herself on her boyfriend’s motorcycle and was shocked by her size. She decided to give IF another try and it went much better. She offers one of what she calls her “Tammy Theories,” hypothesizing that she was better adapted due to the carb cycling experience. She clean fasted from day one, thanks to having already given up creamer due to earlier concern about lactose issues.
She now sees IF as not only “do-able, but necessary.” She uses her friend Lyn’s podcast episode as a motivator to keep her mindset right. She uses a variety of apps in combination to track her progress. Tammy and her supportive boyfriend stay active biking, hiking, and kayaking. She is down nearly 50 pounds in just under six months, and best of all, she’s pain-free compared to her pre-IF life.
Tammy’s advice for others is to remember that you are always an experiment of one. Don’t compare your journey to others, because comparison can become a form of self-sabotage. She also encourages people to teach what they know about fasting to others, because sharing keeps the learning process active.
Links:
For more information on Plated, go to plated.com/IFStories
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