so we're all underweight.

Let me just say this for the record. Autism does not affect your weight. If you eat a lot but don't put on weight, or you don't eat much but can't lose the weight, it's not because you're autistic, it's to do with genes, age and/or lifestyle, or having some sort of illness or physical condition. Same applies to NTs.
It can affect weight if the autistic individual only eats a narrow range of foods due to sensory issues with texture, smell etc., or forgets to eat due to being absorbed by special interests, or simply does not recognise when they are feeling hungry.
That is what I meant. Autistics can be underweight for a reason, not because having autism automatically makes your metabolism faster.
I'm actually overweight for my height and build. Naturally I'm a thin person but I do eat a lot, which has made me put on weight.
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Let me just say this for the record. Autism does not affect your weight. If you eat a lot but don't put on weight, or you don't eat much but can't lose the weight, it's not because you're autistic, it's to do with genes, age and/or lifestyle, or having some sort of illness or physical condition. Same applies to NTs.
It can affect weight if the autistic individual only eats a narrow range of foods due to sensory issues with texture, smell etc., or forgets to eat due to being absorbed by special interests, or simply does not recognise when they are feeling hungry.
Exactly. Autism doesn't affect weight from a physiological standpoint, but it can predispose people to either be overweight or underweight. I'd imagine that percentage-wise, there are more autistic people who are overweight and underweight relative to the general population.
Food aversions can either make someone underweight because they choose not to eat much due to those aversions, or overweight because those aversions are to healthy food, so they eat unhealthy food instead.
Forgetting to eat due to being absorbed in special interests could cause someone to be underweight, where being socially isolated, becoming recluse and feeling lonely might lead someone else to turn to food for comfort.
Lots of autistic people take medications too, and many medications have the side effect of weight gain and/or weight loss.
So I don't think the claim that people on the spectrum are often either overweight or underweight is wrong, but I don't think it has anything to do with metabolism issues or anything like that.
I have always had good appetite. I'm pretty bad at understanding small nuances of taste. Once something tasted awful I made categories of food which might produce this averse effect and avoided those foods like a plague. In fact I trusted more my own categories than my own taste and refused to eat foods that fell into bad category even though I liked them.
I attribute this to my lack of attachment to food and eating, as well as my very selective pallet. Texture is huge for me, and there is a much bigger list of things I can't eat than things I can eat, mostly solely down to the texture and smell of the food.
I can go an entire day and a half without a morsel, mostly just because I dont have much drive to prepare and eat food. If someone unexpectedly presents me with food that I haven't asked for, it annoys me a lot because I can't just eat on command and it makes me feel bad if I waste food people have prepared for me.
I eat dry and bland foods only, with a very select few things that aren't considered "dry and bland". For example, I can sometimes eat pasta with a tomato based sauce as long as there are no chunks in the sauce and that I can overload the pasta with dry Parmesan cheese.
I dont really know what its like to enjoy food properly, so I can't say I wish I was any different as I don't know what I'm missing out on.
Do hunger pains ever bother you? for me they do and I can't just ignore them.
I can feel my stomach being empty but it doesn't bother me much. I can go a while with an empty stomach.
I'm an average weight according to the BMI. My diet's not the best though. My problem is that I use food as a form of stress relief. When I'm stressed, I get an irresistible urge to eat junk food, whether that be pizza, ice cream, chocolate, etc. I also tend to crave junk food when I'm feeling upset about something.
This dependence on junk food is definitely something I want to change. Especially since according to 23andMe, my genes predispose me to weigh 6 percent more on average. It also said I have a 50/50 chance of developing diabetes at some point in my life, which is a sobering thought.
I do at least have one healthy habit, which is getting regular exercise. I started exercising for its mental health benefits, and I can't see myself ever stopping. So hopefully that will help to keep my weight down.
lostonearth35
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I guess I shouldn't exist then, because I'm obese.
I've been obese my whole life, except for when I was in my mid-20's and just started going out walking and exercising a lot, like several hours a day. But then I got sick of living in constant fear of gaining it back and torturing myself every day through exercise. Because exercise *is* torture. A punishment for being overweight.
And I like food. I eat it almost every day. And it's a good thing, because if I didn't I'd, you know, die.

I've been obese my whole life, except for when I was in my mid-20's and just started going out walking and exercising a lot, like several hours a day. But then I got sick of living in constant fear of gaining it back and torturing myself every day through exercise. Because exercise *is* torture. A punishment for being overweight.
And I like food. I eat it almost every day.

Do you think autism caused you to be overweight? or does it run in your family?
I've noticed that since I gained weight, I think about food a lot more. When I was thin, I had other things on my mind. This doesn't bode well for the loss of weight at the moment unfortunately.
Since I've been walking more and more lately, I'm hoping I'll lose a bit. I'll know when I see my doctor next. He has scales, I don't have any at home.
I've noticed that since I gained weight, I think about food a lot more. When I was thin, I had other things on my mind. This doesn't bode well for the loss of weight at the moment unfortunately.
Since I've been walking more and more lately, I'm hoping I'll lose a bit. I'll know when I see my doctor next. He has scales, I don't have any at home.
Yea i'm the same way but I got a bit more depressed in 2017 and thought about food more because that was the main thing that made me happy so it caused me to gain alot of weight

I'm fat because I love and am probably addicted to sugar. Perhaps I'm not autistic after all. I have had discussions with my therapist about food, and think it's likely that my perception of foods is very strong, so flavours are intense and I particularly enjoy sweet foods. My imagination for foods is very strong, and I am very strongly affected by images of food.... and have little impulse control.

Let me just say this for the record. Autism does not affect your weight. If you eat a lot but don't put on weight, or you don't eat much but can't lose the weight, it's not because you're autistic, it's to do with genes, age and/or lifestyle, or having some sort of illness or physical condition. Same applies to NTs.
Or what you are eating. There is lot of food out there that is just empty calories and will make you more hungry so you eat more than your body needs. There has been lawsuits against food industries because of what they put in the food.
Plus there are foods out there that are marked healthy but they are not. Just because it has chicken in it doesn't mean it's healthy or just because it says it has good source of vitamin C.
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graceksjp
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Fun fact: never trust BMI
You can be overweight on BMI, but be healthy (or even too thin!) in real life
You can also be underweight on BMI but actually be healthy weight in real life
And you can be healthy weight, but actually too thin in real life
It has to do more with your body type, and muscle/fat percentage
I had a friend who almost starved to death and noone noticed because they worked out obsessively and had lots of muscle mass so they never were "underweight" according to the scale/bmi.
I agree though. Weight has nothing to do with Autism. Your eating habits might, but not how you naturally lose or gain weight/how fast your metabolism is.
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