I LOVE IF and after trying so many different crazy weight loss diets over the years, I finally feel like I have found a lifestyle instead of a diet that finally works. I have reached my goal weight, I am effortlessly maintaining, I feel FREE and I am truly LIVING MY BEST LIFE NOW!
Jen Tiemann – 2021
WELCOME! WELCOME! WELCOME and HELLO! I’m Jen and I am BEYOND EXCITED that your eyes have landed RIGHT HERE today! I help people LOSE WEIGHT (without dieting, counting calories or exercising like a crazy person) and FEEL GREAT (I mean like having more energy than the Energizer Bunny great!)
If this sounds good to you – STICK AROUND and Let ME HELP YOU to…
LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE… NOW!!!
I am a 46 year old MOM, WIFE, and TEACHER from the cool but very snowy mitten-shaped state of Michigan who is LIVING MY BEST LIFE NOW thanks to the discovery of the Amazing INTERMITTENT FASTING LIFESTYLE! I am super FIRED UP to use this space to SHARE with YOU all of the unique TIPS, TRICKS, RECIPES & SECRETS that I’ve learned along my HEALTH & WELLNESS journey that helped me lose 46 pounds in just 4 months, keep it off for OVER A YEAR now and feel like a MILLION BUCKS!
In addition to being what I like to call a “TEACHERPRENEUR” and starting this Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle website & BLOG, I have a few other very important jobs in my life. I am a MOM to two awesome kids, Cambria (20) and Carson (17). I am a WIFE to my college sweetheart, Barry, whom I have been married to for 22 fantastic years now! And…I am an ELEMENTARY GYM TEACHER who loves to laugh at corny jokes and play Pac-Man Tag with my superstar students who live in Fenton, Michigan and call me Mrs. T. I feel best when I am TEACHING, HELPING & LOVING others which is why all of these roles are so important in my life!
My favorite color is PURPLE (every shade). I daydream about MEXICAN food, SUPERMAN ICE CREAM (except for the blue-stained tongue) and all things CHOCOLATE. I LOVE to spend any free time that I have READING, WRITING, and LEARNING NEW & COOL THINGS! Oh, and I am an absolute TRUE CRIME JUNKIE (my favorite show is DATELINE and if being a full-time Jury Member was an actual real paying job, I quite likely would have chosen a different career path). I am addicted to THRIFT SHOPPING and really need the bumper sticker that reads “I STOP AT ALL GARAGE SALES!” I enjoy GOLFING with my husband (9 holes only please) and when I need to clear my head I often head out for a jog with my dog, Buddy. I LOVE TO RUN and have even completed two Full Marathons (26. 2 Miles), including the Boston Marathon in 2011. And…last but certainly not least, the island of, MAUI in HAWAII is the most beautiful place by far that I have ever visited in my 46 years on this earth and my hands down favorite way to travel is on a CRUISE SHIP with my family!
Alright, let’s move on and chat a bit more about this “Intermittent Fasting” thing and about HOW it has brought me to this AMAZING place in my life!
READY, SET, GO!!! (Believe it or not, this is the shortened Cliff(s) Notes version of my journey – you can find my full story under the Testimonials tab on this site)
As a child and teenager, I was very active and fit and never really struggled with my weight until after I got married and had my two babies. I married my college sweetheart and the love of my life in 2000, I found a job teaching 3rd grade, and we had our first baby in 2001. My body bounced back fairly quickly after having our beautiful daughter, Cambria, and I maintained my weight between 140-145 pounds, which was still in the “normal” range (I am 5″7′) on all the charts. Life was pretty good! Then, we knew we really wanted another child, however LIFE was really ROUGH for the next three years! I suffered a few miscarriages, a molar pregnancy and a serious bout with severe kidney stones. Somehow through it all, after being told I wouldn’t be able to have another baby, and against all odds, I got pregnant and gave birth to our handsome son, Carson, in January of 2005. Unfortunately, I gained 65 pounds with that pregnancy and DID NOT bounce back too well after giving birth. I took a leave from teaching so that I could be home with my babies and for the next several years I seriously TRIED EVERY DIET under the sun. I tried low fat, juice cleanses, detox smoothie diets, calorie shifting, Slim Fast Shakes and many, many more. I would lose 10-15 pounds but always felt so restricted and deprived that the weight would always come back at some point. My weight went up & down like a roller coaster for almost two decades!
Fast forward to the NOT-SO-MAGICAL year, 2020! I had gone back to teaching and was in my fourth year of being a full-time kindergarten teacher when everybody’s lives were abruptly uprooted by the Coronavirus Pandemic! I, like so many others who were sent home to work remotely, became quite depressed and even more overweight. I was sitting at home all day struggling to teach kindergarten students how to read, write and do math remotely. Furthermore, in an effort to help pay the family bills, I took on a second job teaching English to the kids in China from my basement computer! Needless to say, my stress level quickly reached an all-time high and my health, eating habits and self-care reached an all-time low! At the end of the 2020 school year I knew I needed to make some serious life changes, both professionally and personally. I applied and was granted a position teaching elementary physical education.
At the start of the 2020-2021 school year as the new Elementary P.E. teacher, I was loving my job but felt like a bit of a hypocrite. How could I be teaching young children about the importance of exercise and eating healthy foods and be so overweight and unhealthy myself? I will never forget the date: January 5, 2021. I was afraid to step on the scale for many months prior because I just wasn’t ready to face the truth of it all. When I did step on the scale that day I was blown away! 174.6 pounds!!! What??? I had never in my life been in the 170’s. That day was absolutely eye-opening. I cried for about two hours straight, curled up in the fetal position eating a box of Milk Duds and gulping down a Coke from McDonald’s. Then, I DECIDED it was time to end my pity party and get to work.
I had heard a little about intermittent fasting and that it could help with weight loss. For the first two weeks I easily started incorporating a 16:8 fasting regimen (skipping breakfast) into my routine. I lost about 8 pounds those first two weeks which kept me encouraged and in the game. Then it happened. I went to work on a Wednesday and passed a co-worker in the hall that I hadn’t seen in several months. She looked AMAZING! Of course I asked her what she was doing and she told me about Gin Stephens’ book Delay, Don’t Deny. Well, instead of eating lunch at work that day, I raced back to my office, Googled “all things Gin” and ordered the book off Amazon Prime so I could get my hands on it as quickly as possible. I received the book on Friday and stayed up until 1 am reading it from cover to cover. It was like I had a total “OMG!” moment and everything Gin said in her book about insulin being released every time we eat and the science behind clean fasting made so much sense to me. I was so excited, I didn’t sleep all night because my mind was racing with excitement! I am a “jump-in head first kind of girl” and so two days later I got serious, JUMPED IN and began my IF journey!
I have gone on to lose 46 pounds in four months and I feel healthier than I ever have in my entire life. I reached my goal weight in May of 2021 and have been effortlessly maintaining for well over a year now! My energy is through the roof, my sleep has improved immensely, I am no longer getting 3-4 headaches per week, I feel FREE and I truly am Living my BEST LIFE NOW!
Over the course of the next several months of my journey so many co-workers and friends were curious about what I did to make such a dramatic change in such a short time! I wanted to SHARE and HELP and shout this LIFE-CHANGING information from the rooftops. It is with this PASSION to PROVIDE HOPE for others that I started my own Facebook Group SO WHAT IF? WITH JEN on February 21, 2022. In just a few short months, our group has grown to almost 1,000 members and I have been blessed with the opportunity to HELP others FAST Their Way to FREEDOM! If you are looking to LOSE WEIGHT and FEEL BETTER THAN YOU EVER HAVE BEFORE, we would love to have you join us in our very POSITIVE and SUPPORTIVE Facebook Group! We consistently share Tips, Tricks, Recipes, Concerns, Questions, Struggles, Successes and so much more!
After witnessing the many successes and lives that have been changed in just a few short months through the So What IF? with Jen Facebook Group, I knew I wanted and NEEDED to DO MORE SHARING so that I could HELP MORE PEOPLE feel as amazing as I do!
So, this INTERMITTENT FASTING LIFESTYLE website and blog was created in July of 2022 in an effort to foster my intense love for SHARING, TEACHING, LEARNING, CREATING & HELPING! I’d love for you to JOIN ME as we FAST OUR WAY TO FREEDOM… TOGETHER!
You can also listen to my INTERMITTENT FASTING STORIES PODCAST EPISODE with Gin Stephens HERE!
