I was so sick and depressed

I happened upon keto quite by accident. My cousin who has back problems began posting his weight loss on keto/ "44" lbs he would post and friends and family of course supported and encouraged him. Other than this never thought of it until, in desperation, I googled stomach bloating and came accross the keto diet--I thought of my cousin--and decided to give it a go. The hilarious thing was that I had no idea about the fasting part lol. Met with my now skinny cousin, on day two of my diet, for inspiration and ideas and over a water and yummy keto dessert he talked about his progress,, gave me ideas for help with keto foods, and talked about intermittent fasting. At first, I thought he meant between 3 meals.. I went home and checked it out. WHAAAAA? don't eat for 18 hours? No--my knee jerk reaction--this is NOT the diet for me. But then It thought it through. I realized I have never been a breakfast eater and have skipped lunch often---it dawned on me that this might work. And it has!! I have been on keto for two weeks now and have lost 10 lbs--breaking though a plateau from my previous exercise to death (daily 2.5 hours swim at the pool plus the gym)--I was actually googling what Olynnpic swimmers do-fortunately my Dr. put a stop to that, letting me know that exercise while very important for health, goes only so far for weight loss--the over exercisng was affecting my family life and frustrating me to no end as the scale did move and the loss of inches slowed down) And 1200 albeit nutrient dense but sugar laden calories a day diet. Other things than just weight loss and inch loss has happened on keto.. The eczema on my head is simply gone (after two weeks!) My foot eczema is receding daily--the itch is mostly gone my brain used to question me about the possibility of being allergic to my own sweat but I didn't listen). My bloating is really gone and I discovered I can eat most any vegetable leading me to discover that ones I though bloated me are fine--just in moderation. I stopped all antacids after being on them daily for almost 15 years. My blood sugars are pretty much normal now and I have reduced my medication--I was so scared by my sugars, I assumed I would leave this world on the early side--I no longer fear that. I have only 11 lbs to go before I am at the top end healthy weight for my age and height. Which brings me to a question--Do short women (I am 4"11) have to eat 1200 nutrient dense calories a day? I think the 1200 calorie thing is actually stagnating my weight loss. The one size fits all 2000 calories a day for women would be impossible for me to eat as nutritionally dense calories and I would definitely gain weight no matter how healthy the choices. It seems as I google this, this is a common problem for short women. We don't need as many calories--so it seems but what is safe? In the end I am down to 134 lbs--still overweight for a shorty but I have lost 45 lbs. I wish I had know about keto as the other health benefits mentioned are incredible. I am no longer obese. This is now my lifestyle-no stomach pain all day long, depression lifted, eczema abating, sugars like a non-diabetics, on and on. I started out 18-6 but find I can do a 20-4 quite comfortably.. As I near a healthy weight my body is stubbornly fighting it. My metabolism is slow, as I traumatized my body with a HYPERrthyroid that was treated with radiation--I was skinny but so unhealthy. Now I have hypothyroid for life--radiation does that. My hope is that keto will continue to give my body a chance to heal from all the traumas of too much sugar.. Oops I have no pictures on my computer--who wants picture when they are overweight. As I am only 4'11, imagine.....a 175 lb balloon with a head and sad face, and feet and arms rolling down the street. That was me!