I’ve tried a lot of diets, and I have a lot of trouble committing and maintaining structure. I eat out every day. I don’t exercise much. I’m having trouble with willpower fasting. Still I think the most “ADHD friendly” way of dieting is likely fasting. It requires little practical restructuring of ones life, just commitment and willpower. Do you all have anything better? Any advice?
I’m pescatarian, mostly vegetarian, and I love to cook but only have the focus to do it a few times a week. My preferred meal plan is to make a giant pot of something once a week, freeze a few servings, and eat the rest. Then I also eat other things I’ve frozen in the past or have on hand. My favored meals are simple things like an apple and peanut butter, tuna salad, oatmeal, rice with vegetables and scrambled eggs, that kind of stuff. I only eat out once a week and do intermittant fasting as well.
I drink a lot of Soylent, 3 bottles on a typical day. I will usually have a solid meal for dinner and a solid breakfast or snack. Before this I used to eat pretty terribly. When I got my first desk job I was eating half of a pizza every day for lunch. I just didn’t have the mental energy to commit to making myself good meals each day.
When I travel I always bring enough Soylent powder to give me at least breakfast and lunch each day. I actually enjoy trying new foods and I will eat pretty much anything that’s a vegetable or grain. But when I’m traveling I’m usually meeting new people or working or at a convention. I frequently don’t have the energy to research new restaurants around me.
I honestly just count calories and take walks. I’m too scatterbrained to do anything fancy beyond that.
This is good practice for anyone really. Using an app or notebook to become conscious of what you eat and some exercise are a fairly surefire way lose weight than just trying to find a food hack of some kind. The all X, or eat only Y, or do Z diets tend to all fail after a while when you start wanting to eat like normal food again. With calorie counting and exercise you can just eat normally while being conscious of your portions.
This of course comes with caveats like try to have a general balanced diet and eat healthy. Its not advisable to like at nothing but junk food and make your numbers. That said you can still eat desserts, and munch on chips, and eat pizza and stuff. Counting just helps keep you from over indulging.
Also as with any diets it’s a slow and steady process so it’s ok if you have a cheat day every week, or slip up every once in a while. You arent a failure and havent ruined all your progress just because you over indulge during a holiday or at a wedding. You just gotta be aware and get back on track as soon as you can.
Also also with any diets where you restrict your eating its good to try to keep a healthy outlook on weight and nutrition as in some cases being overly conscious of consumption can lead to potentially gaining an eating disorder along the way. Calorie counting goes both ways. You dont just limit your intake but you make sure you eat enough every day!
I’ve been doing intermittent fasting for about a year now. Eating only between 12.00 and 20.00.
It’s been working so far, but I really need to fight the urge to have an oversized lunch when noon comes around.
Together with trying to walk or cycle wherever I go, and a weekly gym visit (pilates mostly), I have been slowly losing weight. I thankfully was only several kg overweight to begin with, but it was getting worse.
I could still do with cutting down on snacks though, but that has been a challenge. I subconsciously reach for things around the house that I shouldn’t be eating.
