Weigh more but feel worse physically

Hello Lilac,

I'm sorry to hear that you're struggling in this way. It's good to hear that you're going to hopefully get some support. You may like to have a look at out pages on eating disorders for people with autism:

https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/mental-health/eating-disorders

I hope this helps,

ChloeMod

I'm only going to the doctor about my dizziness and tiredness, I'm expecting to just have a blood test and my blood pressure checked. I don't have a diagnosis of an eating disorder since the person who diagnosed it, took it back and said they'd got it wrong, it's just my autism cause I don't like changes. 

It's a good idea to get the tiredness and dizziness checked out. Those are quite unspecific symptoms so it could be related to so many things. In terms of the weight, I feel like sometimes too much emphasis is put on that. Yes, it's not good to be very underweight or overweight, but I feel like it is so much more productive to focus on eating well and having  a good relationship with food, good stress management etc- if those things are working well, then it is likely the weight will correct itself. You can gain weight without having good nutrition. It's very likely that the reason that you are not feeling well, doesn't have anything to do with the weight gain! There are many reasons for tiredness and dizziness. 

I have been severely underweight a few times and was desperate to gain weight. Initially, I thought I just had to gain weight at all cost and that would fix everything- but it didn't work. Gaining weight alone is not enough to fix everything. Yes it was good I was no longer dangerously underweight. I didn't go about the weight gain in a good way and it really upset my IBS and digestion and in a way I also felt more ill/ nauseous etc than before. Maybe a bit more energy but not even that sometimes... That made me frustrated. And without meaning too I would just end up slowly slowly unintentionally loosing the weight- this cycled happened several times with me getting more and more fed up and desperate. It's really not very helpful to focus on weight. Now I am going about it very differently. I understand myself better, I now know I am autistic. I am finally realising stress/anxiety are a huge factor when it comes to my digestive issues. I understand that I probably have ARFID and can better see what is happening. Yes I want to gain weight, but I am mainly just working on my stress management and eating more variety, more regularly and in a more balanced way and I can tell the weight is starting to come on too. It is so tempting to just blame the food or eating for everything - wouldn't it be easy if all we had to do was fix our eating eg. eat more/ gain weight and that would fix everything. Or if we could simply blame certain foods for digestive issues and cut those out... but sadly it is usually much more complicated than that. Which is overwhelming but in a way it is also freeing. 

It's a good idea to get the tiredness and dizziness checked out. Those are quite unspecific symptoms so it could be related to so many things. In terms of the weight, I feel like sometimes too much emphasis is put on that. Yes, it's not good to be very underweight or overweight, but I feel like it is so much more productive to focus on eating well and having  a good relationship with food, good stress management etc- if those things are working well, then it is likely the weight will correct itself. You can gain weight without having good nutrition. It's very likely that the reason that you are not feeling well, doesn't have anything to do with the weight gain! There are many reasons for tiredness and dizziness. 

I have been severely underweight a few times and was desperate to gain weight. Initially, I thought I just had to gain weight at all cost and that would fix everything- but it didn't work. Gaining weight alone is not enough to fix everything. Yes it was good I was no longer dangerously underweight. I didn't go about the weight gain in a good way and it really upset my IBS and digestion and in a way I also felt more ill/ nauseous etc than before. Maybe a bit more energy but not even that sometimes... That made me frustrated. And without meaning too I would just end up slowly slowly unintentionally loosing the weight- this cycled happened several times with me getting more and more fed up and desperate. It's really not very helpful to focus on weight. Now I am going about it very differently. I understand myself better, I now know I am autistic. I am finally realising stress/anxiety are a huge factor when it comes to my digestive issues. I understand that I probably have ARFID and can better see what is happening. Yes I want to gain weight, but I am mainly just working on my stress management and eating more variety, more regularly and in a more balanced way and I can tell the weight is starting to come on too. It is so tempting to just blame the food or eating for everything - wouldn't it be easy if all we had to do was fix our eating eg. eat more/ gain weight and that would fix everything. Or if we could simply blame certain foods for digestive issues and cut those out... but sadly it is usually much more complicated than that. Which is overwhelming but in a way it is also freeing.