Hello, Fellow Fasters!
Intro
I am Cindy, 4’11 and currently 144.0 lbs. My family cultures emphasized my body weight/looks throughout my life and heavily influenced the way I saw myself and food. There was a lot confusion, shame, and negative messages about food such as: “A minute on your lips is a lifetime on your hips,” “Should you be eating seconds?”, “Butter/bread/pizza/chocolate is bad for you/going to make you fat,” etc. The second question or comment from relatives after saying “hi” was “you’ve gained weight” or “are you fat or skinny?” (if on a phone call). While on the other hand, food was at the center of many celebrations such as birthdays, holidays, and exclamations of “eat some more!” Needless to say, I have food and body issues.
Why
I have chosen to find my own path to health and find a community that is doing the same. I’ve read research articles on fasting and testimonials of people who have benefited from a fasting lifestyle. Fasting is not new to me. The most of I have fasted were rolling 72 hours/low carb/Keto refeeds. I want more accountability and motivation to help me stay on track! At my current weight, I have noticed a lot of body aches that were not there before (feet/ankles/knees/back), dry and sensitive skin, lack of energy, mood swings, poor sleep, and food addiction. I’m hoping that fasting will improve these symptoms and especially get a handle on my food addiction. Also, diabetes and stomach cancer runs on both sides of my family. 
Long Term and Short Term Goals:
Long term: get from BMI obese to BMI “Normal”, better relationship with food and my body
Short term: be at a healthy weight range
Struggles:
For the past year or so, I struggled to fast longer than 24 hours. I would get motivated, write down my ‘whys,’ keep a journal and start…but then I had no mental discipline. Food “helps” me when I’m bored or tired. Sometimes I feel irritated or resentful that I’m restricting myself, so I break my fast and say to hell with it. It’s also easier to fast when I live alone and right now I do not.
Anyways, I’m happy to have a fasting forum for support and hope that I can support people on their journey as well! Talk to y’all later 
. I don’t drink coffee or caffeine drinks in general, so I just try to push through the tired feeling. I felt a slight hunger pang, but it went away after a few minutes.
It’s getting a lot cooler in Seattle and usually I enjoy my comfort foods during this time of year. I tell myself that the food is not leaving the planet any time soon. It will be there when I’m ready to eat! At the moment, I’m staying busy with arts and crafts projects, looking at this forum, and watching movies.
. But I did not cave in! When I chased the kids around today I was amazed that my body had a lot of energy. Usually I’m quite out of breath, but today I felt strong. Lots of water during lunch break and still felt hungry, but not bad.
. I admit I tend to eat when I’m not hungry! Fasting helps me be aware of true hunger signals and hopefully I will have better habits soon. If I only ate when I was hungry, then I wonder how many times I would ACTUALLY eat in a day (or week)?!
Respect 
(quote from the movie Finding Nemo if you didn’t know!)
great job at getting through the most difficult days for most people. I hope you’ll have a lovely thanksgiving!
?! A part of me wanted to keep eating for the sake of eating because there was more food on the table. But I checked in with my stomach and it was as if it said, “Ummm yeah lady, FULL.” I told myself that I could always eat later if I was hungry and the food was not going anywhere. Towards the evening all I had was a cup of Celestial Seasoning’s Bengal spice herbal tea with almond milk. I had lots of thoughts about eating more of everything, especially dessert! But I was still full, according to my stomach 
. I don’t plan on starting my 72 hour fast until Sunday night, so I’ll focus on ketones next week.
. We got this !
NOOO. I’m just going to bundle up and get those cozy feelings from a blanket. MUST NOT CAVE IN 
