ADHD

looks down

...

badly?

Grab a no or low calorie drink to sip on instead. Water, flavored water, or something carbonated. Plan snacks like carrots or celery, pickles, or seeds or nuts or grapes etc. And yeah, gum, mints, suckers or cigarettes.

Try telling yourself things you can have instead of things you can’t. Then keep those things in arms reach. And try to always start with water. I even drink water with a splash of vinegar and salt bc the salt sparks your dopamine. But of course be wary of overindulging in salt.

As for meals have something that signals the end of the meal for you. Some people wait to drink until they’re done eating. Smokers light a cigarette. Maybe a hard candy or gum so you know you’ve completed the meal at least for you?

Intermittent fasting, 16 hours of fasting, 8 hours eating period. It simplifies the problem to "am I allowed to eat right now or not".

by being poor and not able to afford a lot of food

Somebody once recommended pumpkin seeds as a snack to me. Not because they are especially healthy or something like that, but because they are really annoying to peel. Yes, I could eat them unpeeled, but the entire point of the idea is to make the snacking just a bit less rewarding. I tried it. Worked for maybe a week or so before I stopped. But it had a much more interesting long term effect: it got me used to unsalted nuts as viable snacks. Of course I immediately fell back into my old habits after the pumpkin seed experiment, but from then on I made sure to always buy a pack or two of unsalted nuts or seeds or dried fruits together with my other snacks. And at some point I managed to figure out the one rule that worked for me, and had the biggest impact long term: only buy new snacks once I've fully run out of old ones. And maan, that bag of wallnuts/peanuts/pumpkin seeds/dried apples could last for a long time. In turn I also started snacking on stuff that I didn't really consider a snack before. Like, I'm bored, and the only snack in my cupboard is a bag of wall nuts - so I'd make myself a cucumber salad instead (which is just cucumber and soy sauce. Maybe some olive oil if I'm feeling fancy) . I didn't really stop snacking. And the amount I am eating hasn't really gone down either. But what I'm eating has become a lot less fatty and sugary in general. It took me about five years of very slowly changing the ratio of sweet snacks to healthy snacks, and by now I basically never have more than one single pack of cookies, chips or chocolate at home (which is gone within a day, but it'll take about a week before I buy another one). At social events I find myself constantly eating whatever is on the table. But all in all, my weight is very slowly, but consistently, going down, and I am feeling better about myself in general.

Tldr: buy a bag of unpeeled pumpkin seeds, and force yourself to peel each one of them before eating it. See where the journey takes you.

The only thing that solved that for me was finally getting medicated. A lot of adhd meds curb appetite. So that plus the extra executive function makes it a lot easier

Being too poor for food.

The most useful thing has been grocery shopping. If you don't have calorie dense foods at hand then you won't eat them. Sure you can mindlessly eat an apple or two, but you will probably be full by that point. Also 2 apples is way less calories than any junk food.

Want stimulus when watching a movie, sit down with a big bowl of broccoli. Even if you eat all of it, that's like 100 calories.

Vyvanse is also used to treat binge eating disorder. However once it's past dinner and it's ineffective, all bets are off.

I tried exercise, but I end up running at 10PM, coming home, and eating even more. A year later you're the same weight and your knees hurt.

I found it's worse when I'm cold, so turn the heater up, I guess?

Try doing something with your hands. Instead of watching movies, play a video game.

Being short of money pretty much covers it for me. Yeah sure I could whip up some sustenance but I'm not "that" hungry. Where if there was a dirty nachos pile with hot dog pieces I could make appear from the local 7-11 for 2 bucks .. .HELL yes.

Embrace being on your phone while watching a movie. (If you’re not at a theater)

Movies aren’t enough stimuli for me either. So I just scroll a bit during boring parts.

Don’t buy snacks and leave them in the house unless they’re healthy. Some nuts. Baby carrots. Fruit.

Find fun sparkling water drinks to sip

Ive been doing One Meal A Day, for quite a while, although when food is around I tend to snack. The biggest strat for OMAD for me is just not having food in sight, and if I do have a snack I try to stick to peanuts or frozen fruits. During the summer ice works too

I drink alcohol instead.

I am not a good role model.

I fast. I do 24* hour fasts 5 days a week (only eat dinner), a 36 hour fast (I don't eat on Thursdays). Friday I eat twice, breakfast and dinner.

Works for me, but most people say there is no way they could do it.

Stock healthy food. Almonds, carrots, apples, bananas, grapes, plums/peaches/nectarines etc

It took a couple of months, but I had to get into the habit of writing down everything I ate. So each meal, each snack, etc. The first month was the hardest, but after that month I was solid on meals and working on snacks, and then around the end of the second month I was making decisions to not eat so I wouldn't need to write it down.

Sadly I lost the habit during covid because it felt successful enough that it trailed off. Put the weight right back on and I'm trying to get back to it again, but damn it's hard!

I make up for it on those days where I ate 3 grapes all day because I couldn't be bothered with cooking or even going somewhere.

I don't think snacking and overeating have to go hand in hand. You can snack without overeating - if you know you're a big snacker, try having smaller portions at meal time to compensate for it.

Replace snacking with drinking water or chewing on ice cubes. It's the same stimuli, and it's healthy.

Celery sticks/carrot sticks are good, healthy and give you something to bite into that isn't ice. 1 carrot gives you probably 20 carrot sticks, which would probably get you through a movie. And I wouldn't be concerned about 1 carrots worth of extra calories a day.

Or a charcuterie board, not as healthy as above but at least it's not full of sugar. Having some crackers with hummus, and some cornichons is a relatively healthy snack, maybe some cherry tomatoes and prosciutto, and a little bit of cheese to go with it although that's getting into meal territory - but I found that if I'm having a charcuterie board for dinner, you can drag it out, eat it over a couple hours, slowing down your intake and satisfying your craving for snacking without it being in addition to a meal - it is the meal.

Gum helps keep me from snacking between meals.

A couple of people mentioned sparkling water, and I want to join the train.

I got an off-brand sodastream. That and some Aarke flavor drops (https://aarke.us/collections/flavor-drops), and I have an infinite supply of la croix-esq bubble water.

I keep 2 bottles of (fridge-filtered) tap water in the fridge at all times and when I get the "I'm bored and don't know what else I want" pangs, I go there first.

I also generally try drinking more water, especially at the start of a meal, to push back against the tendency to over eat.

Finally there's the "just buy healthier snacks" but I struggle with that one the most

Ive been doing One Meal A Day, for quite a while, although when food is around I tend to snack. The biggest strat for OMAD for me is just not having food in sight, and if I do have a snack I try to stick to peanuts or frozen fruits. During the summer ice works too

Amphetamines and cigarettes

I relate a lot with the second thing. Happens mostly when I speak or because I see the other people eating and I feel I need to eat faster to be able to intersct with them.

Not speaking, eating alone, listening to music/news, help.

The being shown food is a difficult thing though. Taking water sometimes removed my hunger in those cases (as most times is just that).

Have you tried being more stimulated?

Try building something. I'm putting together a bike right now, in between office work and dad duties. My fitbit is screaming about my cardio load and I forget to eat.