Obesity and ADHD

Could this be the missing link?

We’ve gone straight into summer. Not hating it.

When I proclaimed the other day that I was done writing about my everlasting weight loss journey, I meant it. I was done going in circles and regurgitating the same old stuff over and over again. Well, I have new information! And I do want to share about it on here because in many ways it does feel like this could be the missing link. 

I am talking about ADHD. Specifically ADHD in relation to obesity. 

If you’re in the online space you’d be forgiven for thinking that everyone has ADHD these days. At first I was quite skeptical, is this another one of those fads? Another label? (I hate labels.) But then people I respect a lot started talking about it and sharing their experiences with neurodivergence and how it was affecting their lives. The more I listened to them the more I began to recognize myself in their words. However, when I did a couple of free online tests, the results were always ambiguous: “you may or may not have ADHD.”

Nonetheless. 

Every post, every meme about ADHD has me nodding along. But I only started paying closer attention this last week, when I caught a passing comment about obesity and ADHD. Over the last few days I’ve gone down a proper rabbit hole, reading studies and articles, and increasingly wondering whether ADHD is a significant contributor to my difficulties with sticking to a sensible weight loss plan?

According to this article ADHD is quite common in obese people because of the effects of reduced executive function, impulsiveness and lower seretonin and dopamin levels. I am wondering whether ADHD has especially manifested itself in my relationship to eating and food, exacerbated by trauma and anxieties?

Here are some ways in which ADHD can contribute to obesity:

1. Reduced executive function makes healthy meal planning harder. I enjoy healthy foods and love the idea of meal plans, but I fail regularly in their execution. That makes sense for an ADHD brain with reduced executive function because it makes planning and time management more difficult.

2. Impulsive eating. Story of my life really. I’m a dream customer for clever food marketers who place snacks in strategic places, I am easily swayed by food visuals and smells. When I grew up I could not walk past a bakery or pastry shop without buying something, which I did as soon as I had pocket money and later when I earned my own money. If I had saved the money I spent on snacks over the decades I would be rich! Impulsiveness is very common in ADHDers and can lead to regular overeating because we’re not able to say ‘no’ to food. This article says it best: “Many individuals with ADHD are on a ‘see food’ diet. If they see it, they eat it.”

3. Poor interoceptive awareness. People with ADHD struggle with mindfulness around their body signals. Physical hunger and satiety cues go unnoticed or are ignored, leading to emotional eating, overeating or skipping meals. The latter often happens because ADHDers can become so hyper-focused (another ADHD trait) on something that they don’t want to interrupt it with eating for instance. Which then results in raging hunger once they are done, and reaching for easy, usually high calorie, fast foods. Boy, this one really hit home as well.

4. Lower dopamine levels lead to overeating. Dopamine is one of several neurotransmitters implicated in ADHD, resulting in a higher need for sensory stimulation. Food, especially high-carb and high-sugar, is an easy and quick way to raise dopamine levels, resulting in overeating on a regular basis. You know the advice that is commonly given to dieters to eat without distractions? Well, I have always loved eating while doing other enjoyable things, such as driving, reading or watching TV. To me that’s never been about distraction but about doubling the pleasure! Dopamine is all about pleasure and this goes a long way in explaining this lifelong behavior.

5. Lack of good sleep. An ADHD brain tends to be overactive and that spills into our night time as well, making it difficult for us to wind down and sleep, and also triggering vidid dreams, both of which I’ve experienced all my life. The correlation between obesity and poor sleep is well documented and this article hits it on the nail: “When our bodies are sleep deprived, our brains release hormones that push us to overeat - particularly unhealthy foods that are high in fat and sugar. Simultaneously, our metabolism drops as our bodies attempt to conserve fat. This is an evolutionary relic of our caveman past - when lack of sleep usually meant famine - but in modern times, it backfires on sleep-deprived ADHD bodies.”

Phew. It is rather a lot to take in but so much of this makes sense. Yesterday I had a long chat with Susannah Conway, a fellow online teacher, who was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. As I shared my own experiences with her she said: “Girl, you’re neurodivergent.” 

Around here, pigs can fly… ;-)

To be honest, a part of me is a little freaked out. The idea that this brain of mine is actually… wired differently… well, that feels all kinds of weird, disturbing and confusing. But it also makes me feel hopeful, precicely because we do talk about ADHD and neurodiversity more openly. And because information and shared experiences are more accessible.

When I told Susannah about my dislike of labels she said that her diagnosis liberated her. No label, no box, just freedom. 

Freedom.

After I stopped writing about my weight loss journey about a month ago, I fell into a deep hole of comfort eating and weight gain. I felt utterly defeated and scared, a dark cave I’ve occupied many times before. But now, for the first time in a long time, I feel real hope. Because if ADHD is what is making this journey so hard for me, then a) it’s not all my fault, and b) I have something concrete to work with. There are things I can do that specifically help people with ADHD. I am not necessarily talking about medication (I hate meds) but strategies and tools designed for ADHDers.

Alas, before I dig deeper into this rabbit hole I decided to seek out a professional where I can do a proper test. I’ve resisted an official diagnosis so far but this feels too big to not be sure. Then I will take it from there. Stay tuned!

Kerstin xo

P.S. I have reached out to a local psychologist but if any of you have any good online resources for testing I’d be interested in those, too!