Yo-yo dieting cat—hepatic lipidosis risk?

How consistently does a cat need to not eat/undereat to get hepatic lipidosis? My cat is basically yo-yo dieting, some days she eats a good amount over the 15 kcal/lb that's recommended for avoiding hepatic lipidois, sometimes she only eats right about that amount or less. Does the undereating need to be constant for hepatic lipidosis to develop? Or if she's eating weight loss amounts over the minimum with dips below the minimum every couple days do I need to worry?

So for example, for her 15 kcal/lb is about 160 kcal/day (slightly overweight 10.5 lb inactive cat). To maintain weight she needs about 250 kcal/day. Over the past week, her daily caloric intake has been: 160, 222, 144, 203, 161, 88(!), 226, 268, 121.

So out of 9 days, she got enough calories to maintain weight only one day.

Days with moderate weight loss calorie amount: 3

Days right around minimum: 2

Days lower than minimum: 3

Part of the issue is she was recently diagnosed with renal failure (I think stage 2, slightly elevated creatinine, normal BUN), so I am going through a diet change getting her off Orijen 6-Fish (dry, with way too high phosphorus) onto Kattovit Sensitive (wet, not ideal phosphorus but under 1%). She also has stomach/bowel issues, but for over a week her poop's been solid and no vomiting. I've been using Fortiflora to make the food more appealing, but she just won't eat all of the wet food before it starts smelling unpalatable to her. I've tried splitting the 175 g can into 3 feedings (and flipping the food over and adding water every couple hours so she has a "fresh" side to eat from) and she still leaves a good portion behind.

I'm planning to start making her food once she's off the dry completely (now it's 25-50% of her calories), but my main worry right now is whether or not she's at risk for hepatic lipidosis with the amount of food she's eating right now. She had hepatic lipidosis a few years ago when I was trying to change her diet and ran out of the old food earlier than I though I would, and she completely boycotted the new food. And I can't get her off the dry food while it's still the only way she's getting over her calorie minimum.

Even when she was only on the dry food she yo-yoed a little: some days she'd eat 1/2 cup a day (about 250 kcal), then she'd go a few days eating only about 1/4 cup (125 kcal). And some days she'd beg for even more food.

It really does vary with the kitty.  It is good that you are aware of the risk.  The rule of thumb that I see the most often is no more than two days of not eating at all but your kitty is still eating just sometimes doesn't eat the 15 calories per pound,  I really do think you are okay.  Kitties with CRF do often have days where they don't eat as much as usual.

So a week later and she's still hovering around the 15 cal/kb. Half the week was under, half the week was barely over. Does anyone know if it's safe for a cat to have such low calorie intake for extended periods of time?

This week's calories were:

168, 140, 141, 186, 215 (and I messed up recording two days, but they were really low days, probably under 150)

I guess her calorie requirement might be dropping a little if she's losing weight (I don't have a scale), but she doesn't look visibly different. How long can she keep eating this way before being at risk for malnourishment or other problems?