Episode 408: Tami Haverkamp

In this episode of Intermittent Fasting Stories, Gin talks to Tami Haverkamp from Seneca, KS.

Are you ready to take your intermittent fasting lifestyle to the next level? There’s nothing better than community to help with that. In the Delay, Don’t Deny community we all embrace the clean fast, and there’s just the right support for you as you live your intermittent fasting lifestyle. 

You can connect directly with Gin in the Ask Gin group, and she will answer all of your questions personally. If you’re new to intermittent fasting or recommitting to the IF lifestyle, join the 28-Day FAST Start group. After your fast start, join us for support in The 1st Year group. Need tips for long term maintenance? We have a place for that! There are many more useful spaces beyond these, and you can interact in as many as you like. 

Visit ginstephens.com/community to join us. An annual membership costs just over a dollar a week when you do the math. If you aren’t ready to fully commit for a year, join for a month and you can cancel at any time. If you know you’ll want to stay forever, we also have a lifetime membership option available.  

IF is free. You don’t need to join our community to fast. But if you’re looking for support from a community of like-minded IFers, we are here for you at ginstephens.com/community. 

Tami is a wife and a mother of four. She works for a health insurance company in customer service. Tami opens up about her lifelong struggles with weight and self-image, recounting her early feelings of not fitting in due to her height. She tried a variety of dieting and weight loss methods over the years—including low-fat diets, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, the South Beach diet, and others. Despite experiencing some success, particularly with Weight Watchers where she shed 100 pounds, Tami faced emotional and physical challenges that she fought to overcome for years.

Tami stumbled upon Jason Fung's "The Obesity Code" and discovered the 16:8 intermittent fasting method in 2019, marking a pivotal change in her health trajectory. Despite initial hurdles with intermittent fasting, such as not losing any weight, Tami saw substantial improvements in her appetite control and finally was able to comfortably maintain her weight.

Shifting from 16:8 to a three-to-five hour window most days allowed her to finally lose weight, and she is currently at a weight similar to her high school weight.

She has continued to see progress in her well-being, celebrating non-scale victories like relief from carpal tunnel pain, hip pain, and silent reflux. Tami embraced the value of making an irrevocable commitment to herself, which is advice she heard from a past IF Stories guest.

Tami offers advice to beginners on their fasting journey: push through the initial difficulties, learn to tune into your body's needs over time, and remain patient and committed. By understanding and adjusting to new information and the tools we have available to us, Tami believes that anyone can improve their mental and physical well-being through intermittent fasting.

Get Gin’s books at: http://www.ginstephens.com/get-the-books.html, including her latest bestseller 28-Day Fast Start Day-By-Day, the Ultimate Guide to Starting (or Restarting) Your Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle so it Sticks, New York Times Bestseller, Fast. Feast. Repeat., and Cleanish, available wherever you buy books! Delay, Don’t Deny is available on Amazon.  

Join Gin’s community! Go to: ginstephens.com/community

Do you enjoy Intermittent Fasting Stories? You’ll probably also like Gin’s other podcast with cohost Sheri Bullock: Fast. Feast. Repeat. Intermittent Fasting for Life. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts.  

Share your intermittent fasting stories with Gin: gin@intermittentfastingstories.com

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