I used to eat little, just because if I ate anything near normal I would gain at once. They put me in a type of group therapy where I HAD to eat what the others ate. I explained to them I cannot eat that much because I will get FAT. They said everyone has to eat and I was in starvation mode (I've heard this a lot). And that I should exercise instead. Taking walks. So I did that. I ate small meals of what we cooked, but I started gaining at once. It never stabilized, I never exited the so called starvation mode. I really doubt it even exists. If it did, no one would starve to death but live on air. All that happened was I gained and gained. Unrelated I got sick and ended up in hospital and lost a lot of weight to illness, or I would have turned obese.

At my worst I only needed a very small meal a day, or I would gain. After they started me on thyroid med I got hungrier and I could eat a little more. I don't still eat a normal amount but I still gained about 10 kilos after the hypothyroid diagnosis. So meds let me eat more, but I overdid it and gained way too much.

I just have to face that I actually don't need as much food as others do. Yea, I'm not extremely active but not extremely lazy either. I have a typical high estrogen body with very little muscle mass, so to actually burn calories I would have to do at least twice the exercise of someone else.

Hard luck but what can I do instead of starving myself? Pretty much nothing. I try to balance it and allow some overweight so I get energy to do things. It's not easy. People always have opinions on my eating habits.