Autistic teen with severe eating problem

[RedQueen21]

Hi my 16 year old son is an extremely picky eater he basically only eats chips, crisps and other junk food I've tried for years to get him to eat anything else but he refuses and is willing to starve himself over eating food he doesn't like however he doesn't have any friends so never really goes out to get excersize this along with his bad diet has resulted in him becoming obese he is nearly 17 stone and I'm at my wits end I don't know what to do.

[Verbena37]

Hi redqueen.
Not sure I can help but just wanted to let you know my 13yr old DS has a similar issue but is underweight and suffers from starving himself due to anxiety over food and other thing.

He has always been a very selective eater but his ability to punish me by his not eating (when he is anxious or cross another something not done correctly in his mind) is getting more common.

I’ve been doing a food diary so our ASD support worker can see how his eating is doing. He says he isn’t hungry but I think he confuses anxiety with the feelings of hunger.

He hates strong smells, tastes and textures and won’t eat sitting near people or I feel someone sneezes near him etc.
We let him eat alone which is less stressful and give him plenty of pre-warnings of meal times and a selectively choice over what he eats.

It’s so stressful though. I just don’t know how to increase his diet.
Does your DS like to help cook? Could that help him select a wider choice of foods?

[Sorry10]

Not sure I can help either
I have 14 year old who never stops eating . (I have to hide food) he is not over weight His weight is fine possibly because he doesn’t keep still all day . Honestly tonight I made him a whole pizza salad and a few chips , I wouldn’t be able to eat that much and honestly was looking in cupboard/fridge for more .
Must be a autism thing not sure but I’m not worried till he puts weight on but it’s exhausting watching him like a hawk . I can’t lesve him alone for a second.
Must be hard I’d see your gp or do you have a support worker who can help ?

[Pixel]

Does he go to an SN school or have anyone at school you can talk to? My son was just like this and I was embarrassed about how big he'd got so he started going to school lunches a couple of times a week and his teacher worked wonders. I think a lot of it was the fact that it wasn't just me asking him to try new things so if you can enlist some help it might make a big difference. She used to send me photos of him eating peas as I didn't believe her . He now loves most sorts of fruit and veg, broccoli, green beans the lot and has thankfully lost a lot of weight.
As for the exercise I think you are going to have to make a point of getting outside more as a family if he isn't going with friends. Sometimes we just go to the park and kick a ball around and go on the outdoor gym, or walk to the farm shop (they do low cal fruit lollies which make a good bribe!). Or could you look around for some local clubs or sporting activities to try and get him involved? I know our local leisure centre has lots of inclusive sessions so it's worth asking.

[pennydrew]

This is a known issue and you can get eating disorder specialists. Have you spoken with your GP? What do they say? Have you reached out to NAS for help with who to ask?