How I Reversed Pre-Diabetes and Achieved Optimal Health

All the strategies that didn’t work.

My name is Tracey Mack and I live in Taylor, Michigan, a small city outside of Detroit in the U.S. I have been yo-yo dieting since the age of 25 when I started gaining weight after giving birth to my second child. I have tried every diet known to man, including working out in the gym for hours at a time. In fact, all of the diets worked, they just were not sustainable.

Stats

Starting weight: 208lbs/94kgs
Current weight: 170lbs/77kgs
Highest weight: 208lbs/94kgs
Height: 5’6/168cm
Total weight loss: 38lbs/17kgs
Total inches lost: 9

Discovering the key to sustainable weight loss after years of yo-yo dieting.

I reached my highest weight of 208 pounds (94 kgs) and became pre-diabetic in 2020 during the pandemic while working from home. I became very passionate (desperate) about finding a solution for my health and weight-loss. The solution that I found was intermittent fasting. I started keeping a journal about it and turned it into a book, Intermittent fasting For Life: Experiment of One.

I started intermittent fasting on January 18, 2022, and I have fasted every day for at least 12 hours a day ever since. Most days I fast between 16 to 20 hours. After the first 30 days of starting intermittent fasting, it became much easier. I just replaced my breakfast with black coffee and water. Some days I ate lunch and dinner and other days I just ate dinner.

Overcoming the mindset challenge.

In my opinion, the hardest thing about intermittent fasting is the mindset. Since my mindset was 100% on board with intermittent fasting, I didn’t have any struggles.

I had many non-scale victories with intermittent fasting. It reversed my pre-diabetes and lowered my blood glucose. I no longer have inflammation in my body. I no longer snore in my sleep. I went from a size extra-large to a medium. I can walk 2 to 3 miles without back pain.

Plan your eating window to open during eating events (birthday parties, weddings, etc.)

Keeping the journey going: eliminating sugar and processed food

I had all of this success eating the standard American diet. However, I recently have started focusing on eliminating sugar and processed food from my diet. My gut feels so much better when I don’t eat it. That’s my goal for 2023.

My best tip is to stay busy when fasting, especially in the beginning. I found I was so used to snacking for entertainment that fasting felt boring. I had to replace snacking with doing other non-food related things. I watched YouTube videos and listened to intermittent fasting podcasts every day in 2022. I no longer need to watch intermittent fasting videos and podcasts because it’s my lifestyle now. I’m no longer worried about failing at it. I still watch videos and listen to podcasts but now they are about eliminating sugar and processed food.

I know this will be a lifelong success with intermittent fasting.

I know intermittent fasting is something that I can do for the rest of my life. I’m never going back to my old way of eating. I effortlessly lost 38 pounds (17 kgs) even with birthdays, vacations, Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. I did not gain weight or feel deprived during the most stressful time of the year.

Drink lots of water/sparking water (no flavor).