Look, I am just going to come out with it.
What the fuck are you DOING? Seriously. You were starving yourself, you want to study 18 hours a day, you are talking about some weird relationship between food and study hours, what the hell is going on in your life? What can 18 hours a day of study possibly gain you?
I was intentionally starving myself (a year ago or so) due to severe depression. I stopped that around when I stopped being depressed, after having been mildly/moderately depressed off and on for perhaps 15+ years. I eat when I'm hungry, and nothing more or less. If you want to hear a more definitive answer for "Vector isn't anorexic," I'm 5'3.5" and weigh around 110-115 pounds or so. I'm not starving myself.
I am, however, making a serious attempt at becoming a mathematician. Do you have any comprehension of the kind of work it takes to get there? It's generally "14 hours or more a day, every day, for 10-15 years." It's not like econ or music or somesuch. You're not an expert after 10,000 hours of work.
It's more like 80,000.
So, what the hell is going on in my life? I've got a shot at greatness, and if to you that looks like insanity, then so be it. I'm asking for opinionata on food to eat, not "can Vector fulfill her dreams or not."
Or, if you want to put another point on it: mathematics is my obsession. When I obsess, I typically do the same thing for 12-14 hours with few breaks, ever since I was a little girl. The only problem is that math takes more energy than other things. Wanting to study that long isn't a matter of some sick desire to hurt myself. It's a matter of love. This is what I love. It's what I really want to do--everything else feels like a waste of time. It's what I live for.
If you have other objections, feel free to raise them... but for now, I'm off to the library.
A degree maybe? Knowledge perhaps?
And starving is a relative term. I'm a guy and I can live on 1000kCal a day for long periods, and I have when I was still studying.
I know it's easy to judge people on the internet, but please show some respect to other peoples choices in life. We might return the favour.
^ Deeply appreciated.