Hi Arwyn. Thank you for the kind words, it always feels good to be understood.

In your situation, and acknowledging that I don't fully know what it's like to be in it, I would say a couple things.

First of all, I think it's great that you are slowly working your way towards a more intuitive eating schedule. You don't have to do it all at once, just keep pushing it slowly as you seem to have been doing. HOWEVER, if you have a long history of limiting calories, I would look at something like a pro-metabolic diet (you can search for Ray Peat or Kate Deering) for a while before going toward any type of "fasting".

In any case, I implore you to focus hard on high quality protein. I think you will find that as often is the case, the thing that most intimidates us is exactly what we need.

Lastly, no – you don't have to push for exercising more right now. Move your body as much as you can in a way that feels natural to you and doesn't cause too much pain etc. Then over time, as you lose weight, you can start slowly doing more and more.

But really, If I where you, I would focus on diet, circadian rhythm/sleep and the mental aspect of it i.e managing expectations, social connection, keeping motivation etc.

Hope this helps and good luck! It's absolutely possible to achieve what you are aiming for :)