You may not know it yet but ADHD (or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) can be closely related to your weight. ADHD patients are more likely to be obese or overweight than those who do not have this condition. There is also a higher rate of diabetes in adults with ADHD, which can be explained due to poor choices when it comes to food preferences as impulsivity plays a vital role when it comes to their decision-making.
To help ADHD patients attain their goal in weight observance, here are 5 tips that may help:
- Regular Meals
ADHD medications and staying hyper-attentive on an activity may curtail appetite. However, when hunger finally prevails, you may find yourself feeling ravenous on whatever available food there is within your reach. You may not thing already of calories and healthy preferences due to hunger. Setting an alarm on your phone every 4 hours will remind you to eat.
- Over-eating
As opposed to those who have the endurance not to eat for long periods of time, some ADHD patients are addicted into eating. For instance, they eat sandwiches for breakfast and after an hour, they would eat cupcakes to be followed by a bar of chocolate after several minutes. This could be a product of boredom, stress or anxiety.
In this case, you have to monitor your calories and discipline yourself in a breakfast-lunch-dinner meal schedule. Taking breakfast in the morning also makes a great difference when it comes to losing weight and maintaining the weight loss.
- Mindful Eating
Do not go on an auto-pilot mode while eating as you don’t usually monitor what and how much you eat in this style.
- Regular Exercise
Combine healthy diet with exercise to stay physically fit. Regular exercise also helps in treating or managing your ADHD symptoms so make a schedule for it daily.
- Daily Planner or Diary
A daily planner makes a lot of difference for a person with ADHD since it tackles about taking care of schedule and meeting goals. You can use a diary or planner to monitor your activities, schedules as well as monitor results.