Diet and Autism (formerly the 'My Diet Hell' thread)

I attended an ASD advice session a couple of weeks ago and, amongst other questions, I was asked if I obsessed over anything (it was put more gently than this, of course). I'm often a bit slow to realise obvious things, so I couldn't come up with an instructive answer.

Hours later, it dawned on me that I'm needlessly over-concerned with losing weight. I am 5-foot-9 and exactly 11-stone which, as far as I'm aware, isn't over-weight anyway; so why the obsession? It perhaps doesn't help that I'm truly terrible at everything from basic mathematics to understanding weighing-scales in an ordinary fashion (I frequently think of '11-stone' as '11 o'clock', and can't get out of the rut of thinking that mistaken way). Obviously, this obsession features the usual calorie-counting routines and fretting about the *enormous* calorific legacy of adding a single sweetener to a cup of coffee. All this is difficult to explain because, like most people, I defiantly tell myself that I don't care what others think of me or my appearance...while secretly worrying about what others think of me or my appearance...and vice versa.

Anybody else have this or similar problems?

Parents
  • Not feeling very manly at the moment, for I have been laid low by some kind of dynamite & itching powder-flavoured chocolate disguised as a 'cherry flavour' sweet in a box of chocs. I felt compelled to eat an entire layer, despite not being hungry & virtually all of them tasting the same bar the so-called cherry culprit. Now I am like a crap version of Apocalypse Now's Colonel Kurtz, lying forlorn in his hut while beads of sweat emerge from his forehead.

    *continues moaning*

  • I can definitely relate to feeling compelled to finish a certain amount or to finish a plate/portion etc. I think part of it also stems with routine... and needing to do things in the same way as a previous time and also it just feels incomplete to leave something behind... for me this is complicated by the fact that I have a lot of digestive issues so finishing everything is not always a great idea but at the same time I am also trying to gain weight so that technically more food would be a win- that plus lots of other issues around food just makes it super complicated....

Reply
  • I can definitely relate to feeling compelled to finish a certain amount or to finish a plate/portion etc. I think part of it also stems with routine... and needing to do things in the same way as a previous time and also it just feels incomplete to leave something behind... for me this is complicated by the fact that I have a lot of digestive issues so finishing everything is not always a great idea but at the same time I am also trying to gain weight so that technically more food would be a win- that plus lots of other issues around food just makes it super complicated....

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