Obesity and ASD

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From what I’ve seen, the weight issue often tends to be on opposite ends of extreme where autism is concerned. I’m 4’11” and 95 lbs and my doctor has told me she’d really like to see my BMI go up to at least 20 or 21 from its current 19.8. All the members of my social skills group are very skinny, but I have met maybe one or two who were overweight. I can’t remember the last time I saw a normal-weight autistic person.

I'm 6' 2" and 165 pounds so would qualify as normal weight, but for most of my life was abnormally skinny. There may be something to the metabolism angle (I'd love to see research on that), but I think sensory issues could also be to blame.

If going outside and being physically active is a sensory burden, autistics will do that on average less than NTs. Furthermore, if like me you have a taste sensitivity, this will affect your eating habits.

I thought autistics were tiny, according to a recent thread.

After spending years on WP I am now convinced that the following traits need to be incorporated into the DSM as "sure signs of autism": being overwieight, being underweight, having a larger than normal head, having a smaller than normal head, having more of a sweet tooth than the average person, having less of sweet tooth than the average person, being large, being small, being an animal whisperer, being absolutely clueless around animals, and …


most important of all...

craving chicken mcnuggets!

Alot of autistic people are double jointed and hypermobile also.

I think some autistics eat as a stim, while others avoid or are uninterested in food. Depends on your sensory profile I think.

Other than that I agree with the poster who said autistics are extreme in any direction. Anything we do we overdo.

I was pencil-thin before I started taking "medication"...than I puffed out like a balloon. Before the meds, I was constantly physically active and I found it hard to hard to eat because I rarely had an appetite. After the meds, I didn't have the desire to run around and play and was constantly hungry. I just needed something to help me sleep but my mom was amendment I had Bipolar Disorder and told the psychiatrist I had "mood swings". I was fifteen and when you're under eighteen, professionals don't listen to you.

So instead of a sleep aid, I got put on a powerful anti-psychotic. It didn't really help me sleep either because I was still tired in the mornings. I was too tired for school but my mom didn't care and forced me to do my schoolwork (I was home-schooled) and would scream at me when I would fall asleep. She was obsessed with the idea you only sleep at night and punished me when she found me sleeping in my bed in the day time. I was too tired to care and could do nothing about it.

I also got super hungry at night and my parents put locks on the cabinets and refrigerator....mostly to keep me out of the cabinets and making noise so they could sleep. They would leave out vegetables and fruit for me but that wasn't enough. I couldn't sleep due to hunger pains. I started eating paper and dry dog kibble to make the hunger pains go away. I also would sallow cotton balls on occasion. Just something to fill my stomach.

I was never morbidly obese, but I'm no runway model either. When I was a kid and super active and not tired and hungry all the time, I was always getting positive comments on my looks. But I would be in a better place right now probably had I not been forced to take all those anti-psychotics at fifteen and was given a proper sleep aid like I originally had asked.

Sorry to hear you were mistreated like that.

My bmi is also 19.8. 5'2" and 108 lbs.