By Lexi Waters I was born and raised in Northern California. I attended BYU in Utah and met my husband after graduating and moving back to California. We have moved around a bit, and now have recently landed in the Boise, Idaho area. I have 4 boys, ages 5,9,12, and 14. I started homeschooling in 2016 and I love it. I never struggled with weight as a child, and not even as a young adult. But after I got married and quickly started to have children, the weight started to creep on. I would lose it, gain it back in the next pregnancy, and then repeat the cycle, adding a little bit more onto my baseline each time. I felt sluggish, always in a brain fog, and stuck in a perpetual cycle of over-restriction and lack of control. I definitely came to a point of helplessness where I felt that my only options were to succumb to a life of perpetual weight gain and increasing health issues, or to be so strict and rigid to always deny myself the foods that I enjoyed. I found some success on the keto diet, but it was still a lot of back and forth, on and off, gaining and losing for me. Through keto I discovered intermittent fasting, and some other influencers that helped me to steer toward that path. After an experience of re-gaining weight I had lost very quickly once again, I decided to commit to intermittent fasting and make it work. At first I struggled to find a daily window that worked for me (also not clean fasting). Then I decided to commit to ADF for 6 months, doing the 4:3 method, where I fast MWF, eat Sun, Tues,Thurs, Sat. I ended up loving it and continuing past the 6 months. I lost 35 lbs (16 kilos)  in 9 months, going from 209 lbs (94 kilos) to 174 lbs (78 kilos). At the end of 2020 I re-gained a little bit and my body has been a bit stubborn about getting it back off, but I have maintained at least a 25 lb (11 kilo) loss since then.  I am okay with it taking a while to get back to goal weight, because this is a lifestyle in which I feel at peace with food and in control of myself, and I’m pretty sure I’ll do it forever! Lexi News. My book about my own story The Fasting Highway is available on Amazon in both paperback and kindle. For Australian and New Zealand residents, you can buy the book direct from me at www.thefastinghighway.com. For the rest of the world Amazon is your best option. You can follow me on Instagram at graemecurrie_63 or join The Fasting Highway Facebook Group. Thank you for listening to the podcast and for getting the book it helps to keep the podcast free from commercials. Enjoy The Show Graeme.