ADHD DIET HELP

[Namechange666]

I am morbidly obese. I have been waiting 2 years and 6 months for suspected binge eating disorder and have been on the adhd assessment waiting list for a year and 4 months.

I cannot stick to diets at all. I go so lonf then I fail. I am desperate to try private ivf and I'm too fat for anyone to help me. But no one is helping me with my food problems. I am addicted to carbohydrates.

I have tried orlistat before at age 23 and it has left me with ibs so I am so afraid to try anything else.

I don't want surgery. I want to do it myself. Those fat loss injection have a side effect of potential thyroid cancer and it even states it on their site.

I even got referred by my gp to that nhs 10 week help for weight loss and they declined me due to my issues. I wish I hadn't been honest.

Can anyone please give me any advice?

Any practical tips? Especially when I eat when I am emotionally distressed. Please help.

Currently my friend is personal training me but am slacking off in between and have zero motivation.

I would encourage you to go private or save while your waiting to go private for diagnosis then shared care for your medications (check with your gp which providers they are happy to work with) I'm 36 and been on diet after diet spent literally thousands on products, quick fix ideas, gym memberships, food diary's, slimming memberships, toxic diet pills,diet patches, calorie counting then I had my adhd assessment (also private I ended up getting a credit card to pay it as I couldn't wait any longer) I'm now medicated and can actually stick better with a diet I say better I'm still working on the fuck it moments but I'm no longer emotional eating or boredom eating and during my assessment my Dr told me that people with adhd struggle to diet and are 4 times more likely to be overweight due to poor impulse control and because of low levels of dopamine it causes cravings particularly cards and sugar to get a hit of dopamine to function better. I've only been on meds 3 months still in the titration process so getting ro find the right ones and the dose but I can already see my bad habits with food breaking naturally now to work on my seriously bad impulse spending! 😄

Get on meds if you can. I am on dexamphetamine for ADHDand I have stopped binge eating.
I take a break on weekends from the med and the binge eating kicks in again.

There is also A LOT of anecdotal evidence coming out about wegovy, and munjaro is supposed to have less side effects, of the medication having much wider impact than just loosing weight. All sorts of compulsive behaviour is being curbed from binge eating and alcohol consumption, to nail biting and over spending. I am overweight but not obese so would not qualify for these drugs, but for all the other positive side effects I would try it in a heartbeat if i were eligible. It is also helping with anxiety and other comorbid conditions. Research is being conducted to see if it helps prevent Alzheimer's, people with ADHD have higher risk of alzheimers. All something to do with glutamate in the the brain and neurotransmitters, but way too complex for me to understand.

Sorry, i just read you are concerned about thyroid cancer with the injections, to be honest you are putting yourself at very high risk of many other things, including all sorts of cancers and heart disease by being morbidly obese.

I have ADHD, I impulsively eat and when I started meds I was a size 12 and quickly lost 1.5 stone. My sister is morbidly obese and binge eats to cope with an abusive childhood, she is still codependent on her abuser. She has also been diagnosed with ADHD but hasn’t lost a pound as being unable to control her impulses isn't the root cause of why she overeats.

Could you go down the right to choose pathway as you could access an ADHD assessment in as little as three months, then you will be able to quickly assess whether ADHD is the cause of you weight or if it’s something else

You think I don't know that? Hence why I was asking if and how other people had managed to lose weight woth adhd and did anyone have tips or tricks.

The problem is the injection doesn't stop how my brain works. Once I stop that injection, I will probably put it all back on again.

I want to do it myself no surgery or diet aid.

Thanks everyone. I can't really afford the private assessment as of yet. I'm a year and 4 months down on the waiting list.

My friend is personal training me. She's persuaded me to go back to gym. I struggle with busy gyms as I am terrified of people staring at me and judging me.

So I'm going tomorrow.

I was looking for does anyone have food tricks or what you do to distract yourself. It's even worse I'm having a really stressful time and want to binge eat.

I understand they sound like excuses. Which a lot of us with adhd will have heard our whole lives we are making excuses.

But I'm just trying to give an honest picture of how I feel inside. I mask it a lot but I sometimes use food as a means instead of hurting myself as the RSD is just so intense sometimes.

I really didn't want to be medicated but is that my only option?

I quite like who I am a person. I just want to stop being miserable about how I look and my awful eating habits. I learned some bad behaviour around food as I grew up.

Medication is not your only option. Therapy might help.

I did 3 years of therapy and worked through loads of issues, but still couldn't stop binge eating and procrastinating. I had thought these issues were tied into other life drama and resulting low self esteem. That's when the idea that it could be ADHD came up because there was no other reason for this behaviour i couldn't control.

The thing is your poor eating habits if due to ADHD are unlikely to go away, unless replaced with another bad dopamine seeking habit.

The other option if you don't want medication is to learn to accept your whole ADHD self. Accept dopamine seeking eating behaviour is part of a medical condition and have compassion for yourself and don't beat yourself up over it.

But really, if you hate your size so much, and different medications are available, i don't know why you wouldn't try each and every one if one doesn't work out. I tried ritalin, it did nothing. Adderall has helped me and i dont binge eat when i take it. But considering your size and the positive side affects with regards to addictive behaviour being seen in people taking drugs like wegovy, i don't know why you wouldn't try it first.

This might be a bit controversial, and I won't be offended if you think I'm silly, but have you tried turning to other things that can boost dopamine, instead of food?

For example, drinking a coffee or diet coke, finishing your shower with cold water, going for a walk, even playing a game on your phone?

Or combining some of them - for example, a cold shower followed by a cup of coffee while you walk.

I have spent many years trying to get the dopamine I needed from various sources, and food was definitely one of them until I started medication. But I was also very into caffeine and other things that I don't crave much anymore.

There's evidence to suggest that the shock of cold water can boost dopamine up to 200%. It shouldn't be anywhere near freezing, at least at the start, because that can be too much for your heart - just cold enough for that 'uuhhh!!' feeling in comparison to the warm water before.

A 10 or 20 min walk in a park or somewhere rural is a great brain boost too.

https://time.com/6155109/healthier-dopamine-highs/ this has some interesting info in it, although it does warn against relying too much on caffeine and has other suggestions too.

You actually sound just like me. I am currently losing weight but I have been here many times over the years. I have had the occasional binge over the past few months but in the main my eating is under control. The problem is I know that realistically I may not be able to keep this up long term. Nothing worked for me other than waiting for my head to be in the right place and able to focus. I was waiting to start ADHD meds but I have high BP so wasn't able to. I thought they were going to be the wonder drug. Actually I just needed me to be able to get motivated. I have no idea how to make that happen though. I was struggling to walk or stand for any length of time and most basic tasks were not juts difficult because of the ADHD but my weigh too. I knew I had to lose it but I couldn't get myself focused for a long time and then one day it just fell into place.

I'm also going to suggest trying to find a different 'dopamine hit'. Mine used to be exercise but I had to stop due to other health problems and am now obese and struggling to cut down on sugar/carbs. Gut bacteria can also play a big part in obesity and food cravings, so that's something else to consider

In case you do decide to try medication... Elvanse is used for Binge Eating Disorder as well as ADHD, so it might be possible to get this diagnosed privately by a psychiatrist without an ADHD diagnosis being necessary. I was unable to stay on it due to my other aforementioned health problems, but it was amazing for the short time I did take it... I had no cravings at all and didn't spend all day thinking about food like I usually do

I am on atomoxetine, before that elvanse - it's only been a couple of months but one of the fiirst things I noticed was I felt full for the morning after taking the medication and I also lost my sugar craving.
I would say it has returned a bit but the medication definitely helped me lose weight (only about 5 lbs but I wasn't actually trying to lose it).