My story- I am a 44-year-old mom of 2 boys (ages 8&11) and wife to my wonderful husband for 14 years. We live in Lake Mary, FL (a suburb of Orlando). At the moment, I am a part-time Trainer at my gym. From 2022-2024, before having kids, I was a paralegal for 15 years. I started yo-yo dieting around age 16. Since then, I have struggled with my weight. In college, instead of the “freshman 15”, I gained about 40lbs… Fast forward to 2016-17 – I was pregnant now with my second son. I was gaining just like the first time, but at 28 weeks, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Because I had to follow an extremely strict diet to control my blood sugar, I didn’t end up gaining as much. It was what came in the next 2 years that was the worst. I tried to go back to work (I am NOT the stay-at-home type) when my youngest was 7 months old. It was an absolute disaster. My husband got a big promotion 9 months later, and I was forced to quit my job and stay home with an infant and a 3-year-old in a town we had just moved to. I fell into a horrible depression and developed a pretty nasty sugar addiction...you know the kind, when you’re eating an entire bag of candy in hiding, trying to cover up the wrappers in the trash. I ate ultra-processed food constantly… fast food, cheeseburgers, and fries were at least a weekly occurrence. Over those 2 years, I gained another 25(ish) lbs. I am 5’3” and my highest weight was around 200lbs...although I’m not 100%, as I never weighed myself. I remember weighing 191 at a doctor's appointment in January 2020 (right before I started fasting). So many health issues started piling up at this point...I lived at the doctor’s office, but none could give me any answers....and not ONE mentioned weight loss, diet or lifestyle. I tried everything to lose this weight...I would lose 5-6 lbs, then it would come right back. This went on for a while before I accepted that this is who I was now and that I would be unhealthy and miserable. An old friend of mine had been telling me about IF for about a year at this point. I thought he was NUTS. How could anyone not eat for 16-20 hours?! I was someone who carried snacks in my purse long before I had kids because I was taught to keep your metabolism going, you should eat 6 times a day! Fast forward to January 2020...I’m getting my hair done and overhear the client next to me chatting about how she lost 30lbs doing IF. I went home that day and began researching. About a week into my journey, I ordered Delay, Don’t Deny and read it in about an hour – this book would completely change my life (followed by Feast Without Fear, Fast Feast Repeat and more!). I’ve lost 50 lbs, met my original goal of 140 lbs in late October 2020, and have been maintaining for over 2 years, bouncing between 135-140. Almost every single health issue I had before is gone now. The best for me, though- I have completely tossed diet mentality in the trash (along with my scale) and my eating has never been cleaner - out of choice! I love the flexibility and freedom of this lifestyle. Today, I am a “qualitarian”, meaning I only eat high-quality food and focus on a protein-based diet. I work out 6 days a week in a 125-degree infrared sauna because I WANT to and really want to be as strong as possible for the very big hormonal changes I am experiencing at 44. I LOVE sharing this freedom and occasionally still take clients, so the links for my socials are below ☺ h ps://www.instagram.com/mrs_shellee81?igsh=dGR5bTN0dzRvZmlo&utm_source=qr www. ktok,com/@mrsshelle0?
New Zealand