ADD and weight —- ADD Tip o the Day 312

How many of us with ADD or ADHD have trouble with our weight?  Makes sense, because we tend to be impulsive, lack willpower, have lots of stress and anxiety (and try to eat it away).

Tangent – do we really lack willpower, in the sense of having less than normal,  or does our lack result from the fact that our ADD or ADHD causes us to need more willpower than normal?

Anyway, I must report that, for the moment, I have reached my goal weight, and not the most recent one, which I had adjusted upwards in surrender, but my original goal!  How, you may be asking. New strategies, of course:

1. drink water before lunch

2. substitute wine for scotch – fewer calories

3. alternate bites – usually have several foods per meal; try not to take two bites in a row of same food.  slows me down and I enjoy it more.

4. increased exercise – try to get it in those small open time slots on days I would’ve just skipped it before.

5. minimize bread

6. small lo calorie snacks between meals

7. watch out for the trap- ” well, I —–, so I can——.”  (ex had small breakfast –  have extra desert)

and I try to remember that this is a health and vanity issue, not a moral issue.

Note that this is NOT a DIET!!  Diets do not work, you almost always put on more than you lost.  This is a change in eating pattern.

Worked for me – lost  15 lbs.  This post is an attempt to “lock it in”.  Think how embarrassed I will be if I have to tell you that I gained it all back  over Christmas.

doug   

previous link on ADD or ADHD and weight clik here

bonus link: extremely extensive all encompassing list of ADD or ADHD symptoms from Barkley clikhere

About doug with ADHD

I am a psychiatric physician. I learned I have ADHD at age 64, and then wrote four ADHD books for adults, focusing on strategies for making your life better. I also published a novel, Alma Means Soul. The books are available at amazon.com (soft cover or E book), or smashwords.com (only E books). The prices are as low as they are allowed to be. Managing Your ADHD Your Life Can Be Better; strategies for adults with ADD/ADHD Living Daily With Adult ADD or ADHD: 365 Tips O the Day ( e-book). This is one tip at a time, one page at a time, at your own pace. It's meant to last a year.
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6 Responses to ADD and weight —- ADD Tip o the Day 312

  1. Pingback: Weight Control? Control?? | ADDadultstrategies

  2. Pingback: More ADD ADHD Strategy— ADD Tip O the Day 569 | ADDadultstrategies

  3. mjk says:

    Happy and pleased for you and a lot proud.

    Like

  4. Lisa says:

    Well, in a way impulse control IS willpower, so it would stand to reason that we might have issues with compulsive eating (or any sort of compulsive behavior). I myself have had significant issues with weight my whole life, although so do both of my parents, neither of whom seem to have ADHD.

    Like

    • sure, we’re not the only ones with these problems. in fact, most people have some of the ADD or adhd symptoms some of the time, but we have most of them most of the time, that’s the difference.
      thank you for the comment
      doug

      Like

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