Great thoughts, and thanks for putting these out there. Obviously I didn't get to my high weight w/o some hinky eating patterns either.. big brain dump here, sorry to hijack into my own little wonkyness on your post..
Your post resonated with me (deeply, to be honest.) As I'm nearly 5'7" (if I keep my posture up) and I hit a low of 133-134.. it was horrible. My chest was non-existent and the ribs up my sternum were visible, and felt repulsive to me. I wouldn't even touch myself in bed since I felt like a xylophone.. but.. I wanted to stay there, and all I saw was the belly that was still below, which at that point was skin that wouldn't go away even if I dropped another 10.
I stopped being strict at that point, got up to the mid/high 140's.. felt better, but then started wanting very badly to get back down as I didn't like that my jeans got snug again (but I looked better, and felt better).. thus started restricting again (with the aid of some very triggering posts from elsewhere, which now I've come to see as someone very, very disordered, that thinks crash dieting every few months and swings from one extreme to another is a good thing.. something that was dormant for me for many years woke up again) and at this point out, the restricting came with the opposite effect.. swings from one to another extreme again.
I needed/need to quit this, it was making me insane. A few months ago I stopped weighing everyday (and stopped posting in the daily wt threads/reading the encouraging posts to drop back to 600-800 cals a day for someone years po!) and stopped tracking my foods/cals etc. I now only track my behaviors. If I don't eat in a disordered way, I tend to maintain easily and my head feels so much better. My body seems to like my current weight (once a month, and only once a month I check.) BUT I am still fighting the urge to drop 10 as my jeans are snug, I don't like my belly.. WTF? I look like a normal woman, I wear jeans in the 8 range, sometimes 10.. I have collarbones and a shadow of a rib or two in the right light.. so WHY when I lose a little, start looking better to me, I now swing the opposite way and immediately bash the progress with a few days of bad choices.. never satisfied I guess. I don't want to be skinny again, but I can't stop chasing that extra 7lbs.. normal, not sure? Just trying to walk the line of eating well, thinking well, and especially not panicking on either end of the spectrum.. I really hope your exp with the program works well for you, if your guts have been happier- that's a great place to be.