ADHD

11839 readers

201 users here now

A casual community for people with ADHD

Values:

Acceptance, Openness, Understanding, Equality, Reciprocity.

Rules:

No abusive, derogatory, or offensive post/comments.
No porn, gore, spam, or advertisements allowed.
Do not request for donations.
Do not link to other social media or paywalled content.
Do not gatekeep or diagnose.
Mark NSFW content accordingly.
No racism, homophobia, sexism, ableism, or ageism.
Respectful venting, including dealing with oppressive neurotypical culture, is okay.
Discussing other neurological problems like autism, anxiety, ptsd, and brain injury are allowed.
Discussions regarding medication are allowed as long as you are describing your own situation and not telling others what to do (only qualified medical practitioners can prescribe medication).

Encouraged:

Funny memes.
Welcoming and accepting attitudes.
Questions on confusing situations.
Seeking and sharing support.
Engagement in our values.

Relevant Lemmy communities:

Neurodivergent Life Hacks

lemmy.world/c/adhd will happily promote other ND communities as long as said communities demonstrate that they share our values.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

MrPoopyButthole@lemmy.world

MrPoopyButthole@lemmy.dbzer0.com

125

How do you handle overeating caused by boredom and innatentiveness? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 3 days ago by zzffyfajzkzhnsweqm@sh.itjust.works to c/adhd@lemmy.world

51 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I figured my overeating might be caused by my undiagnosed inattentive ADHD I have been suspecting to have it.

Like with other habits I try to make any plan or strategy falls apart in max few weeks. But I need a long term solution. However I have never thought about it as caused by ADHD. But When I think about it, I overeat only when I am bored.

During meals I eat normal portions. But when I am bored I will be eating small chunks of food every time I visit fridge. I do not stop that because of my inattentiveness I do not even know I ate a lot. While watching a movie I get bored - even if it is interesting and I am very invested in it. I get some snack and I will eat a whole bag not even knowing when that happened. This happens even if snack was some special offer that tasted bad.

Few examples I get bored and overeating:

watching a movie - somehow movie is not enough stimuli for me
after I eat my meal and I wait for others to finish (I eat exactly as twice as fast as my wife)
when I am visiting someone and there is a food in front of me (conversation somehow is also not enough stimuli)
random parts of the day - usually if I have to wait.

No standard recommender diet practices worked in the long run (portion control, mindful eating, intermittent fasting, healthy eating, building a healthy lifestyle/routine...) Especially those based on building routine failed the most.

Do you have similar issues? Do you have a strategy that works in the long run? Have you successfully substituted eating for other stimuli?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Noodle07@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm medicated, still waiting for the loss of appetite while I know someone who has to stop taking meds to regain weight

[–] quid_pro_joe@infosec.pub 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If you're prescribed stimulants, you should feel the loss of (over) appetite the very first day. If you're using food for emotional comfort or as a coping mechanism, stimulants may actually increase your appetite. I used food for comfort/coping and boredom so I had to stop stimulants while I dealt with deep-buried emotional trauma. But even a decade later, if I have a really stressful week at work, no stimulant medication is going to prevent me from (wanting to) devouring a tub of ice cream over the weekend. P.S. if you have even a little bit of OCD, you can exploit that to keep yourself focused and engaged between meals.

[–] Noodle07@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Yeah food is full of dopamine 😕