AS/autism and body weight

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Interesting. The few aspies I have met tend to be big, but then most of them tended to be really into conputers in their spare time and work in IT, so sitting in front of a computer constantly may have contributed.
I'm 49kg and 5'2 which is thin apparently. I just forget to eat a lot of the time, when my attention is focused elsewhere. Also eating in company is uncomfortable, as I can't stand the noise people make when they eat.

I've been underweight from early childhood to late adolescence. Then I went on Paxil and gained a little weight. 145 pounds was the most I ever weighed, which for being 5'9" is still not that much. I now weigh in the 130s, which I think for my height and small frame size is about right.

Aspies tend to be fat or skinny. Our distribution probably looks like more flat Gaussian curve.

I'm not obese, but I'm prone to storing fat. I was born with gestational diabetes, so I have to control myself. When I was a child and teen, I was slim. Now my BMI is in the high end.

Body weight seems to be reflective of the Aspergian trait of a tendency toward extremes.

I have always been small frame, 5’5” adult male. The most I ever weighed was 150, which is the upper range of healthy weight for me. I looked a little chubby but not overly so. I have been losing an average of about 5 pounds per year over the last decade.

Two years ago I developed issues with binge eating. I am now about as low as I can get without risking medical problems. My weight fluctuates from about 106-110, which at 5’5” leaves me with a BMI of 17-18. I still have issues with bingeing, mainly because I am bored in my life and a really big meal every few days where I can eat whatever I want is something to look forward to. I will usually consume about 1,000 calories for two days and then binge on the third. I could easily stand to gain a few pounds, but I worry that if I start gaining weight I won’t stop, and I am revolted by fat and the thought of getting fat. A lot of people tell me I am too thin, and with my clothes off I do look a little bony, but not that bad.

I would think that people on the spectrum who cannot live independently would be slightly or significantly overweight, the way you see with those who suffer from cerebral palsy or Down’s syndrome. The few people I have encountered with severe debilitating autism and each was quite overweight.

Many people on here seem to be well-versed in the concept of BMI which would indicate they think about their weight a lot.
At any rate, I have never had “normal” eating habits. Whether it’s a little or a lot I eat only once per day, usually right after I get up.

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Your mother would of had Gestational Diabeties. You yourself would not have experianced that because you were the embryo of the pregnancy. Unless you were pregnant with your mother

Are you a type 1 or type 2 diabetic?

Type 1 you need to inject yourself with Insulin to manage blood sugar

Type 2 you take medication such as Metaformin to lower the insulin resistance of the body



FYI there is a link between aspergers/autism and auto-immune conditions. Type 1 diabeties being one of those auto immune conditions. There does appear to be a correlation between families who have auto immune genetics in their families and the presence of autism/aspergers.

I was a very fat baby, but a very, very skinny child, right up until about the middle of high school (can anyone say "binge eating"?) I am still relatively skinny, but college pounds plus puberty means that I am no longer as skinny as I once was.

Lol, that has given me a very interesting mental image

As a baby I was by no means tiny until I contracted german measles. I lost a lot of weight then (for a small child) and didn't really start putting it back on until middle school. Since then I've always been 10-30lbs overweight, even in the Army I never dropped below 188lbs. I'm 6' and currently about 210lbs

What the hell is everybody on about now? Having AS has got nothing to do with your weight what so ever. I'm about 5 foot 5 tall, and I weight about 8 and a half stone, and my size is about an 8 to a 10. I would have been this figure whether I was born Aspie or not.

I wish people would stop blaming every single feature on their body on the spectrum.

Last edited by Joe90 on 23 Feb 2011, 5:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I have a very normal, healthy body weight. I don't see why people on the spectrum would be heavier or lighter than average.

I think my autism may have something to do with my weight.

I am quite overweight, somewhat into the obese category.

Related to autism:
--I forget to eat until I am very hungry, then eat a great deal
--I don't have the organization ability to remind myself to eat regular meals, or to cook healthy food; most of what I eat is simple and the most complex things tend to be sandwiches or salads.
--Yes, taste is a stim. It's possible for me to keep eating because the food feels/tastes interesting, and not notice I am full.
--I am somewhat undersensitive to both hunger and fullness.

Needless to say, this kind of thing leads to being overweight. I am lucky in that I am also very physically active (walking is also a quasi-stim for me), and I prefer food that most people think of as "healthy" (bread, vegetables, soup, milk, etc.). My doctor has recently done a set of tests on me and says I am very healthy and everything except my weight is well within normal limits. Hopefully my tendency to eat real food and my enjoyment of movement will balance out the extra weight.

BMI is a dumb index. MASS IS GOOD! What should count is body fat percentage. I mean if you let the muscles atrophy, and lose bone mass, your BMI will drop, but you will be in worse health.

I don't forget to eat. I thought that was Dementia.

My English rules
I know a lot about diabetes, I work with people with it. But thanks for explaining. So, my Mom had diabetes during pregnancy, I was born oversized, etc., and now I'm in the group of risk of obesity and diabetes. I don't have diabetes yet, but I realize that my chance for getting it is bigger than average.

Its just something i read, is it wrong?

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/as ... curial.php

Its just something i read, is it wrong?

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/as ... curial.php

I tend to fluctuate between being overweight and being a normal weight. If health and fitness becomes my main interest I turn into a health and fitness nut if its not I live on egg and back sandwiches and ferrero Roche for weeks on end lol.

Plus I always seem to need to be doing something with my mouth...drinking diet cola, biting my nails, eating, talking (usually to myself), chewing on pen lids, smoking etc. I seem to be orally fixated!

To stop oneself over eating or smoking people will always say to 'keep your hands busy'...errrr Well I do, I rub my tickle, do sequin art, cross stitch if that's my main fixation and so on but that does not keep my mouth occupied in the process. I could trying just talking to myself but its wearing my voice box out so...ferrero roche it is then.