Hi, I'm a 20 year old female who is currently undertaking a 15 day water fast. Today would be my 4th day of the fast.

I'm not entirely new to fasting, as I have had a 5 day fast last week and before that, I have been taking random 1 day fasts, having only 1 meal a day if I decide to eat. I don't know if that's healthy or not, but it has worked for me for awhile. I started out as obese, weighing more than 100kgs (around 230 lbs? ) in May this year, when I started a Herbalife diet. (Kinda like slim fast ?) Naturally, intaking the same dang protien shake for days at an end kinda made me sick of the thing and my enthusiasm for the diet dropped within 3 months. However, I had to say that that diet worked for me while it lasted, I was dropping around 4 kgs a month, which some would say is a healthy amount to lose. After trying that, I decided to focus on my calorie intake to about 1000-1500 a day, which is supposed to be a decent amount to drop. And in 6 months, it dropped me from about 108kg to 89kgs, which I consider... progress x)

Last week as I said, I had a 5 day fast, which dropped me from 89 kgs to 85. Which at the end, since I didn't have a weighing scale with me, i regained back to 87-88 kgs after eating out all weekend. I didn't really research much about breaking fasts because it didn't really seem like a problem to me at that time, proved me wrong, it did xP

Now I've never been slim or thin all my life. As far as I remember, I have always been obese, even as a child of 2-3 years old. Which in turn, does not help me when I'm trying to portion my food. What I may consider normal or little may look like a food binge for people who have been eating normally their entire lives. That's one problem I had to deal with while breaking my fast last time.

During this time round, I'm trying to get my weight down to 78-80 kgs... or at least, after the initial weight gain. I'm planinng to break my fast with frequent small snacks of Celery dipped in very small amounts of peanut butter for the taste+ calories on the first day. I've been looking around the internet to see how to maintain my weight loss after fasting, and most of them recommended juice for the first day. So I'm wondering if i can replace juice with celery, a solid food, as I think that juice might contain way more calories and also that it's a slow way of reintroducing solid foods into my system.

Also, Christmas is coming up, so is new years. How long can I start to reintroduce meat into my diet after the fast? I'm not planning to go completely vegan after this and I don't think to maintain my weight I have to stay vegan forever? I mean, lots of thin people eat meat >.> I won't go munching on steaks or burgers anytime soon, but I was wondering how long until I can take meat types such as raw sashimi and grilled chicken?

Also, I have been having problems with insomnia during fasting, and headaches. The headaches I can easily dismiss after an asprin or two, but the insomnias are completely trying to break my healthy sleep cycle from 10-6 which I've been trying to maintain for awhile now xD I would roll around in bed for about 2 hours after tucking myself in at 10, then give in and go to do something more productive than trashing in my sheets. Is there anyway to solve this problem?

Also, I'm planning on a 30/40-day fast after this one in January, which I am hoping would be a tad bit easier after my 5 and 15 day fasts. As for food cravings, oh goddd I have them everyday. I spend half the time looking up food recipes on google =.= I know it's not in anyway helping me, but I have showed so far good control in resisting temptations, but then again, thats because most of my food is stored in jars and away from arms reach, and also that I tend to seclude myself from friends and family while fasting. I find that I always eat recklessly when I'm with them - an ego problem. This fast I will do the same too, but in January I start school, which makes it harder for me to seclude myself, I think, any advice?

So basically the summary of my main questions are , if you don't feel like reading an essay of crap:

-How to maintain weight a few days/a week after breaking fast?
-Is munching on Celery a good way to break the fast on the very first days?
-Can I advance to boiled brocolli and carrots on the 2nd day onwards?
-When can I start consuming meat again?
-How do I get rid of fasting insomnias? (I don't have any form of sleeping pills :/ )
-How can I resist the temptation of food when with people around me, espescially if invited or dragged to dinner/lunch/breakfast?
-Finally, do sniffing a jar of peanut butter directly makes me break my fast >.>

Thanks for your help! :)