AS/autism and body weight

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Are people on the spectrum generally heavier than normal, lighter than normal, or is there no connection?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11920999

There's a study about Autism and body weight. It found a connection between Autism and Aspergers and low weight, but suggests this is merely due to hyperactivity.

I weigh 145 and am 5' 11" with a BMI of 20.2, which is normal for my height.

I've seen reports that say medication for Autism can cause considerable weight gain though.

I've seen either one extreme or the other. Strictly speaking, though, it'll depend on the person. I think my weight is fairly average right now.

Thanks for the replies; they helped.

Just calculated my BMI. 20.0 (I weigh 53.8kg and am 1.64m tall).

I used to be quite thin (aside from, after puberty, large breasts, and on psych meds being slightly "overweight", which is actually now known to be the most healthy weight) and am now quite fat. I think I actually overeat much less now than when I was thin. I started turning fat after a period of involuntary starvation, plus my family tends to be fat, and then I got a condition that prevents exercise and gained 50 pounds after that, so I'm now like a size 2x or 3x I think.

I read somewhere (complete guide?) that there was a connection with low body weight. There may have been a suggestion that it was partly due to food texture sensititivies. There was also a suggestion that an unusually high percentage of girls with anorexia had AS.

I was a picky eater when young and thin for most of my life. But in my mid-30s I packed it on and I'm now ~20lbs overweight according to the charts for my height.

My high level of anxiety causes me to have severe stomach problems. In short it is almost impossible for me to gain weight

I used to be skinny as a stick. Eating was a bother.

Then I got older and ended up sitting in front of a computer all the time. I put on 75 pounds.

Then I got diabetes. I obsessed over my diet and lost 50 pounds.

Having trouble with the last 25. But then I would be skinny as a stick again. Maybe that's not so good.

That's interesting.

I used to eat something like 3,000 or more calories a day when I was a young kid. But I was skinny like a stick because I was severely hyperactive.

Now I don't eat much and my BMI is 20. I was in psych ward for the whole of December and part of January and due to being in a secure unit for most of that time on a section 2, I was extremely sedentary (there is no such thing as "leave" on a secure unit and the only outside is a small courtyard) so I put on 3kg. I then lost 1kg when I got out due to loss of appetite. I will probably lose more weight if I don't start eating properly. I do not have an eating disorder, I just have little interest in eating and I have irritable bowel syndrome so I can't eat bulky meals; I tend to eat little and often.

I am very lucky that despite being on two different antipsychotics, one at maximum dose, that I don't get an increased appetite.

I'm one of those overweight aspies. It doesn't bother me. There's more of me to love.

I've always been incredibly underweight.

I had always been thin but happened to weigh more. Then I was heavy during puberty and then lost weight. At age 9-11 I weighed 90 lbs while other kids weighed less. I was tall and skinny so I never cared about the number on the scale then. I am not sure how much I weighed before then.

Now I am at 124, I was down at 122 but gained a couple of pounds. I blame it on breastfeeding (the losing weight part) and it depends on what I eat so my weight changes. Fluctuation they call it. What motivates me to eat is me not wanting to get too skinny I hurt my body. I used to have an eating disorder and now I don't worry about my weight anymore. Me considered having one still, I don't really care anymore. At least I don't starve myself. I still love sweets and always had a sweet tooth but I use self control to not eat a lot of it. I don't even buy it all that much either. I now force myself to eat because I know I need the calories for the milk supply or else I will keep shrinking. I have a hard time with deciding on what to have and also the fact when I feel like eating a certain thing and if I don't have that thing, I don't want to eat at all. But I usually crave sweets and since I don't have any, I don't even want to eat. I decided even if I had any, I can still at least eat something healthy and then have the sweet. Also I do better at remembering to eat too and not being lazy to stop what I am doing just so I can eat. I think it's the breastfeeding that is motivating me to do it. Then after I am done doing it, perhaps I need a new motivation to do it. If you don't eat, you will have weight problems again and you will end up with an eating disorder again to stay thin because your body be in starvation mode. Maybe that was why I was very prone to gaining weight easily before because of my eating disorder so I was stuck at starving myself to stay thin.

Doctors have said I was underweight but I never bought it. Even my husband thought so too and then others say I was at a perfect weight and didn't need to lose anymore. This was back in the days before we were married and before I met my husband. Besides the charts say my weight is is healthy and the BMI says the same too. Anything under 18 is underweight. 18.5-24.9 is healthy. But even the BMI can be inaccurate. I remember measuring 19 at age 15 and I was down to 134 then and I was told by the nutritionist I was supposed to be at 21 because of my activity. 19 is where an athletic would be and I am not an athletic. Mom had to take me to her because I was developing anorexia then because of what happened at school during the health fair and it gave me low self esteem about my body. I got told I had this much weight of body fat on me so I decided I wanted to lose lot of it and have this much of body fat on me so I cut back on food even more so I can burn the fat. Mom decided that was it, she is taking me to her. So I was put back on track and started to eat normal again and I now knew my real body fat and the men at the fair measured it wrong. She was pretty upset about it and wanted to know who were these two guys. Even my mom was upset about it too and complained to my school about it. But she was lucky she was able to fix the issue before I got real anorexia.