Do you fast regularly?

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I meant constant like once a week or something in order to feel closer to God.
 
I don’t. But I should. Discipline is my weakness. It know it will open the door to loving others but it eludes me.
 
I think for me it was so effective because I really like food and eating. If you’re not already prone to being overly attached to food, it might not be as beneficial.

Fasting also pointed out to me that I am very, very accustomed to being comfortable, and there’s quite a few vices attached to that. 😓
 
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Yeah, I try to do it often. Right now I’m on day 3 of a caffeine fast. It helps me to understand how much I depend on caffeine to help me get through the day. I didn’t know the extent of my addiction until I started experiencing withdrawal symptoms (I’ve been getting head aches). When I fast, it strengthens my prayers. Prayer while fasting is some of the most intense worship I’ve ever experienced. It’s a gift from God. 😃
 
i used to do a week bread, water & milk when i was younger

i was praying to find a wife (which i did : Praise Jesus)

now i am too fat, old & slovenly to do it anymore

fasting is for younger people
 
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OsculeturMeOsculo said:
I think it has to be constant.
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If you constantly fast, you will likely get a feeling of being detached from the world or a bit ethereal or “floaty”. Some people experience this as being “closer to God” or “more pure”, others just see it as a good feeling/ a “high” (which unfortunately is a driver for anorexia). You will also stop being hungry after a couple days and may see this as a sign that you don’t really need food, you just need God or whatever.

I’m not saying that everybody who feels “closer to God” when they fast is experiencing this, but it does happen. Those of us who have done extreme fasting have been there. In my case, since my extreme fasting wasn’t associated with anything religious when I was doing it (it usually happened when I was having some big emotional upheaval in my life and lost my appetite - I remember one time when I subsisted on a handful of dry Cheerios and a few grapes for several days) I didn’t associate it with anything spiritual. I also realized on some logical level that at some point I would need to make myself eat or I was running a risk of keeling over out of the blue (which has also happened to me).
 
pensmama87 said:
think for me it was so effective because I really like food and eating. If you’re not already prone to being overly attached to food, it might not be as beneficial.
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I’ve wondered about that. I’ve had kind of a love/ hate, mostly hate, relationship with food my entire life. Unlike many of my friends, I’m not a foodie and I don’t get overly excited about restaurants, tasting events, or cooking. I enjoy all those things occasionally, and I can cook, but there are usually a lot of other things I’d rather be doing. I’m generally just as happy with my 5 dollar McDonalds meal as I am with a 50 dollar restaurant meal (maybe happier because I just saved 45 dollars). I rarely eat a large quantity of food and many days, just procuring, preparing and eating the food I need to get through the day takes up more time than I want to spend. I’d greatly prefer being able to take a nutrition pill and skip the whole thing, but for health reasons I know I need to eat some food.

I spent a considerable amount of time when I was younger not eating and it didn’t have good effects. Nor did it make me lose weight, in fact the opposite as my metabolism just got more “efficient” and held on tighter to the weight. When I want to lose weight I actually have to eat 2 to 3 times the volume of food I eat when I’m not trying to lose weight and spend even more time preparing and consuming the food.

In view of all this, I don’t find fasting to be particularly holy or have much to do with my relationship with God. To the extent it makes me uncomfortable or gives me a headache, it’s on the same level as wearing a hair shirt or putting a pebble in your shoe - it’s just penance to be offered up.
 
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If you mean in the sense of “subduing one’s bodily desires”, no. I am not fasting in order to make myself want to eat less or make myself do some other sinful thing less. (Side note: For me personally, fasting is a lousy way to control sex drive, as not eating makes my drive go up, not down.)

If you mean in the sense of penance generally or causing discomfort to oneself generally, yes. Basically it’s fasting in reparation and for poor souls in purgatory. Many of my devotions are for the purpose of reparation to Jesus and Mary and to save souls. There is a long tradition of saints who have fasted and prayed for this purpose.

I presume there may be some benefit to me, spiritually, from engaging in this practice, like perhaps it gives me grace or brings me closer to God, but I am not praying, “Lord, I am fasting today in order to be closer to you.” I am praying, “Lord, I am fasting today to save this particular soul” or “to save this particular group of souls, as many as I can” etc.
 
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I really need to get better at doing this throughout the year. And I need to better incorporate prayer life and the other sacraments into fasting.

During Lent, I fast on Fridays and every time I feel a hunger pang I reach for the Bible instead of food, and usually read from the Psalms or other wisdom books to strengthen my resolve not to eat. And before the day begins, I offer my fast for an intention, like the Holy Father’s intentions, the holiness of the Church, souls in purgatory, etc.

But I think fasting really helps me to focus on prayer and intentions throughout the day, so I would like to do it more often.
 
We all have our “favorite “sin. Some struggle with Lust, others with vanity, me, I struggle with gluttony.

I find fasting a powerful weapon against this sin. Also it strengthens my will to choose good every time.
 
Matthew Kelly has a good articulation of the reasons for fasting disciplines in his latest book.

In the call to love others, we must be able to give ourselves to others freely. We can only love others to the extent that we are free to love. And we are encumbered by various chains, as some of us have discussed above.

Fasting helps to break those chains and make us whole, thus we are able to give others our full selves, as God intended.
I had heard about fasting all my life, but this was the first time I saw it explained in this way. I now feel an imperative to develop some discipline in my life, with the goal of loving others more completely. It’s not some sort of heroic discipline for it’s own sake.

Thanks to Matthew Kelly.
 
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Yeah it depends on the person. My body actually doesn’t hold on to weight at all - I’ve had times where not eating has led to dangerous weight loss very quickly (and a frankly creepy number of compliments). If I’m feeling up to it sometimes I’ll do a “plain foods” day, which isn’t really a fast in the true sense but a strict abstinence from seasoned foods. But I pretty much don’t fast because I get sick very quickly, and I know the not hungry thing can lead to me dropping too much weight far too quickly.
 
Fasting is not for everyone. There are other forms of mortification available however I strongly advise they be done under the direction of a spiritual advisor.
 
St Faustina used to pray the Divine Mercy chaplet with her arms outstretched, I’ve tied it and my arms ache.

I think on Fridays she used to pray the Rosary like it.
 
Some forms of mortification can be mental. Such as curbing ones inclination to impatience for example.
 
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