The things that get in the way for me are: getting instantly bored with any weight loss strategy, an inability to do things if I’m told I have to, forgetting that I need to lose weight, needing the sensory input of food, inability to recognise when I’m full, hyper-focusing on weight loss for a month and losing a ton of weight and then putting it all back on the next month because I celebrated the weight loss with cake…
I just wonder if there are any ADHD behaviour hacks where I could use my neurospicyness to actually help me lose weight consistently.
I only have to have willpower at the grocery store. That’s it. I’m too lazy to go get snacks if they aren’t in the house.
This may not be an option for you, but for me it’s mildly easier if I make a pickup order. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What worked for me: Don’t have too much calorie dense and convenient food around. Track what I eat. Assume I ate 20% more calories withiut noticing. Get exercise doing interesting things like long walks in nature because it keeps me from snacking because I’m bored.
Worked for a few years, then of course I thought it wasn’t necessary anymore and started adding weight back. Starting up again, and really the biggest weak point for me is still the impulsive snacking when I don’t keep myself occupied.
Yeah - I can’t really meal prep in the traditional sense. But I have found that if I can bulk cook some meats and freeze them, and then have a few ~15 minute meals that I can portion, combine and cook the ingredients- that it works for me.
Eliminating snacks was the biggest thing for me.
Nowadays on weekends I’ve also stopped eating breakfast and lunch unless I’m actually doing stuff that day. If I’m just sitting around not doing anything I don’t need the energy, I can fast.
One particular thing that helped me with ‘eliminating’ snacks:
Replace things like potato chips… with trail mix.
You can usually get a fairly decent sized bag, you can probably pick from a few different mixes of varying kinds of nuts, dried fruit, m&ms or some tiny treat mixed in.
Of course, if you have nut allergies… sorry you’re SoL for this one, but if not:
Its a crunchy, salty snack, and you can get a whole lot more full feeling, satiated… from a lot less of a portion of a bag… its just literally more dense, and has protein and other good stuff that isn’t in chips or cheetos or what not, at all.
I will get a 40z mix bag and either have a handful or two or three, and an apple, as a small snack… or maybe along with some other meal I’d normally have chips with.
And that 40z bag tends to last me roughly 3 weeks.
Way, way, way more cost effective than the cost of eating chips in that way… chips are just stupidly expensive now, and are quite unhealthy to eat regularly.
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But yeah, if you can turn a ‘snack’ from basically junk food or candy or mini cakes of some kind… into something like trail mix and fresh fruit?
Way healthier for you, and probably works out to costing about as much or potentially less, especially if you can acclimate your ‘sugar’ desire back to some kind of fruit that is not seasonal, not stupid expensive.
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Also, make a big ass salad with some kind of meat, maybe some shredded cheese (buy a block and a cheese grater, pre sliced or shredded cheese is way more expensive per volume)… but no high calorie dressing… into a normal just ‘whole meal’.
(This is also a good idea in tandem with eating more nuts: you’re gonna want more fiber or you’re gonna be shitting constipated bricks if you’re older than about 30, rofl)
Vinegrettes tend to be lower calorie, but you have to do some investigation, a lot of them are also as bad as ranch or blue cheese or whatnot.
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Beyond that: Get a rice cooker and / or crockpot, and either keep some kind of stew always going, or learn how to cook rice properly, and make soups/stews with veggies, seasoning, beans or meat … a whole category of things you know how to cook well.
Personally, properly making rice still eludes me, but I am learning… crockpot with just some chopped up veggies, potatoes, and either meat or beans is… easier for my culinarily disinclined white ass, lol.
You can also get various broths and soup stocks to basically turn making decent stews into easy mode, they’re fairly cheap by volume, and you often don’t need as much as you might think you would.
Skipping meals might be my next approach. I ate when I was hungry as a kid and teen when not hungry and the transition to a job in a chair and scheduled meals seems to be the biggest contributor to consuming excessive calories.
Going to (generally) one meal a day had me drop weight like crazy. And you can eat pretty much whatever you want when you’re only eating once per day. You get used to fasting fast especially if you’re medicated for ADHD.
I’ve found it’s easier to create a set of rules that define my lifestyle than it is to commit to a diet. Like, think of strict keto as a way of living rather than a diet. Eat all you want, but sugar and carbs are no longer food. Don’t focus on losing weight, focus on following the rules. The weight loss will happen in its own.
Exactly this. Being able to eat unlimited amounts is liberating and doesn’t feel like a diet. On Keto there will be sugar withdrawal for the first few weeks, and that will be rough, but being able to stuff yourself with allowed food (cheese, meat, 100% chocolate, etc) makes it much more manageable.
Vyvanse is an ADHD drug, but also is prescribed and approved as a weight loss drug, too. I lost a bunch of weight on it.
Just make sure you drink lots of water. It also suppresses your thirst response in your brain, so you can get dehydrated easily.
Amphetamines?
I get tremendous joy from riding my bike. I bought a used one but a good one and it feels like flying. I go out 2-3 a day if I’m not working. It doesn’t feel like exercise.
Me too but I’m in my 40s and exercise alone isn’t enough anymore.
For me it’s about planning. If I know what’s for dinner I can handle it even if I’m not in the mood for whatever I’ve got planned for dinner. If I’m hungry and then start looking for food I’m far more likely to fail.
There has been exactly one thing that worked for me (other than the new relationship high when you do things with your new partner all the time, go places, lots of activity and little time for hunger. This is not sustainable though)
I watched 2 bears 1 cave when it started because I like comedy, Bert is funny and honestly a caricature unto himself, and it didn’t have as many annoying sponsor segments. Anyway, they were talking about what they were doing for Sober October and Bert, who seems to have a lot of problems similar to mine, said he was trying One Meal A Day and it felt like the first time in a looong time that his mind was sharpish and he didn’t feel the constant need to snack. So I tried it, lost 25 KG over 4 months (healthy loss, I never felt starved, I just had a high starting weight) and gained half of it back from COVID lockdown. FML. Rest came back over the next 3 years of working mostly from home and not having the spine to stick to it again. But when I was doing it, starting day 2 or 3 I did feel sort of… Free. The constant blood sugar rush-crash cycle was no more.
TL;DR: One Meal a Day. It’s awesome. No you won’t feel hungry all day.
Covid legit fucked me over too, lol.
Are you sure it was Covid and not Tengil? ;)
That asshole did this to me because Katla had cravings. That bish.
I hear Jonatan and Karl took care of them so it should all get better now
Well, they got to dip out to Nangilima while I’m still stuck here in the cave, being force-fed tiramisu >:'(
I do omad too and have lost 50 lbs this year and am closing in on my goal weight but have 0 desire to stop omad. I’ll just eat a bigger meal to start maintaining. Nothing really to add other than it’s easy and works.
Honestly I was losing weight crazy fast while eating a huge meal from mcdonalds or burger king twice or thrice a week. The other days I made something filling but with low calorie content (usually fried some frozen veggie mix, chicken fillet and added a bunch of Sriracha to make it less boring - all in all a huge plate of food with around 700-800 kcal)
Use the focus sessions to meal prep and work on portion control. That’s all i got. I’m a wreck as far as a routine or schedule goes lol
Usually what I do is just stop eating/barely eat at all. Keep this up for weeks and weeks and you will lose weight fast. And its easy. Its less work to do this than to workout or change your diet (in a different way). You can also distract yourself so you don’t focus on the hunger that you feel. Give it a shot and lmk
Tbh I also do this. While my body is in ketosis (eg just woke up) it’s way easier to ignore food drive. The second I taste any good though, my body wakes up like “oh its FOOD time now??” and my appetite rages for the rest of the day.
It’s risky to completely abstain for a long time though, because fat is only calories, not nutrient. You’ll end up with a lot of deficiencies the longer you do it.
I recommend eating a proper meal every now and then, or at least do research on fasting and drink lots of water (prevent kidney stones) and take multivitamin supplements. Consider also asking to your doctor about what you’re doing so they can inform you of risks and how to mitigate them
At a minimum electrolytes: magnesium, potassium, sodium
The big danger when fasting is actually getting off the fast. If it’s a prolonged fast there is the risk of refeeding syndrome where the body can mobilize too many electrolytes too quickly.
If someone fasts for more then 5 days they should be under medical supervision when they stop fasting (at least the first time).
The protocol is basically eat a tiny amount of zero carb food for a few meals increasing the amount very slowly and supplementing with electrolytes. Like half a hard boiled egg, then 4 hours later a whole egg, then two, etc
Beat saber VR is great cardio. Ring fit has a nice variety of workouts too.
beat saber is absolutely amazing, i wish my VR didn’t break. i can stick to normal exercise for maybe a week, beat saber filled my brain with so much dopamine each time i played it regularly for months, Rum & Bass in 360 mode my beloved
take all this with a grain of salt
if you don’t need to lose weight immediately for health reasons, focus less on weight loss and more on making healthy habits feel natural
regarding eating, i’d say the following are essential:
- avoid getting hungry
- food should be as tasty as possible. you have to actually like what you’re eating
- no forbidden food. do not try to take anything away from your diet
- absolutely NO strict rules in general. they’re bad enough for neurotypicals, so they’re fatal to us
- introduce healthy food you like. if you can, start with fruits, lots of fruits. fruits are the easiest kind of tasty healthy food
- try to eat on time as much as possible. kind of a corollary of “avoid getting hungry”
- have go-to foods you can eat at each meal/whenever you get hungry without thinking. one of mine is strawberry smoothie
- don’t eat anything you don’t like. it doesn’t matter how healthy it is, if you hate it, it’s bad for you. there’s plenty of healthy food out there
- give a chance to foods you don’t like too much once in a while. maybe you’ll end up liking them eventually, maybe not. just try and you’ll find out
- above all else, make any of these changes incrementally. the point is building solid habits, not having a solid diet from the get go
any of these follow from: eating is one of the most important things in our life; never make yourself feel bad while trying to get healthy.
good luck
It’s easy if you can hyperfocus on something all day and neglect eating.
Wait can other ADHDudes just turn it on like a faucet? For me it’s like an hourly lottery.
Whenever you want to eat junk food, take of your clothes and stand in front of the mirror.
Sir, this is a Wendy’s!
Hm?
A lot of focus on diet in these comments but almost no mention of exercise.
For me, I found the couch to 5K running program for beginners highly engaging. With a running tracker app I could see my progress and really enjoy fixating on the details. If you do decide to get into running here are some tips:
- Really good running shoes are a must. Take your time trying on shoes until you find the right pair. They should feel extremely comfortable in the store, like a pair of bedroom slippers, and there should be no rubbing of parts of your feet/toes while walking around. They’re expensive to buy but much cheaper than any gym membership
- Other nice to haves are good shorts and shirts made of breathable material
- Don’t try to skip ahead on the C25K program. You really do need to take it gradually or you will feel a lot of pain and give up
- Some pain is normal though but eventually it all clears up and starts to feel amazing (as your distances go up)
- If the pain gets worse and worse then slow down or stop. Some level of soreness / fatigue is normal until you’re an experienced runner. Severe pain is not normal and could indicate or lead to injury
- If you’re running out of breath then you’re running too fast. The goal of running is to run, not sprint, which means staying entirely in the aerobic zone. Learning to regulate your pace and your breathing is challenging at first but soon becomes natural
- If you’re overweight then you probably need to go even slower than the C25K program recommends. Spend a lot more time walking than running and be mindful of your joints. You should not be taking big running strides or striking your heels. Try to be very mindful of your joints and if they hurt then slow down or stop. You can lose weight just by walking a lot while improving your diet but trying to force yourself to run while overweight can harm your joints or cause other injuries
So why run at all? Well, besides the obvious exercise and cardiovascular health benefits, running is a lot of fun. It actually feels amazing to be running on a beautiful morning/evening and seeing the world go by at a rapid pace, the wind blowing gently in your hair. Running releases endorphins which feel amazing and give you a “runner’s high”.
Furthermore, the cardio fitness benefits of running extend to everything else in life. You’ll sleep better, you’ll feel better all the time, you’ll develop a slower resting heart rate which allows you to relax much more deeply, and you’ll feel more awake and better able to focus rather than being in a fog for much of the time.
but almost no mention of exercise.
For most people weight is 90% diet and 10% exercise. There is a reason the phrase “You can’t outrun a bad diet” is often used in health contexts. Can it work for some people, sure! However, for most people getting the foundational of health straight first (the food) has the biggest impact.
My best shape as an adult was when I was running 12k 3x a week. I felt amazing. Since then I had a bad ankle sprain (at work, funnily enough, not related to running at all) and haven’t recovered properly enough to get back to running, though I still hope to.
I remember reading once that Michael Phelps would eat something like 12000 calories per day during training. That’s far more than I’ve ever eaten in one day, even at my heaviest. I probably haven’t even eaten half that much in one day.
