ADHD and Late Night Eating - Teen Boy

[Anonymous]

My 15 year old son with severe ADHD is out of control with his late night eating. He has gained like 20 pounds since the start of the school year. I know there are those of you who'll say he's on a growth spurt, but I don't think that's it. There's an impulsivity about it. It's impacting his health, and also making food planning and grocery shopping very difficult.

Here are some examples. On Friday night, I ordered pizza for dinner. I also ordered a pasta dish for him to have for lunch on Saturday, because I knew I'd have a busy morning and wouldn't have time to make him lunch. On Friday night, he ate an entire pizza (regular size) plus a few extra slices (I'd bought a second pizza because I knew he'd eat one whole one himself, and I needed a second for the rest of the family) the entire pasta entree I'd ordered for him for lunch the next day (and the pasta entree was big, think the kind of huge container you'd get from a take out pizza place). Then he made a smoothie. Not only is it just too much food, but I have nothing for Saturday lunch for him. Then, last night, I'd prepared some food to use for dinner tonight (for a family of four). I wake up to find out he ate the entire dinner I'd prepared. This has happened before... He eats entire dinners the night before when they're things like hot dogs, pizza, pasta, ravioli, leftover Chinese food, etc. He won't touch things like grilled chicken, cold cuts, dried fruit, bananas, etc... things that are even a little healthy.

He does take a stimulant during the day, so I get it that he's hungry at night, but he's out of control. I don't buy junk anymore (cookies, chips, ice cream, etc.) or he'd eat the whole bag/container in one night. We've tried to keep healthy options in the house for snacking (bananas, fruit, turkey, cheese, roast beef, bagels, yogurt, stuff like that) but he skips over that and goes straight to the stuff like leftover pizza or meals I'm planning on using for the next day. It's also becoming a problem with meal planning and grocery shopping, because I feel like I can't keep food in the house without him eating it late at night.

Help!

[Anonymous]

How is his exercise and sleep schedule?

I would talk to his doctor about adjusting the medication. It is obviously impacting his appetite and hunger levels, to the point of being detrimental to his health.

[Anonymous]

My 16 YO can go all day without eating as well. And when the meds wear off I can not feed him enough.
We try and do a really high protein dinner -
chicken, steak, hamburger

When we do this it cuts down on the carbs. It is more work - but what we need to do right now.

We also do protein bars. They are expensive and sometimes hard to find - but my son prefers the MetRX brand bars.

[Anonymous]

Honestly he sounds like he’s ravenous because he’s a growing teenage boy whose appetite is suppressed during the day. When you’re ravenous of course you’re going to reach for heartier foods like pizza and not a handful of dried fruit or whatever. You sound like you are really controlling about your meal plans and how much you think he “should” be hungry for. You need to adjust what you are doing because he is clearly hungrier than you have been planning for. PP’s suggestion of protein heavy things like steak is good. And you also need to communicate with him if certain foods are supposed to be reserved for something in the future. Just stick a post it on it. He’s not a mind reader. Have some compassion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly he sounds like he’s ravenous because he’s a growing teenage boy whose appetite is suppressed during the day. When you’re ravenous of course you’re going to reach for heartier foods like pizza and not a handful of dried fruit or whatever. You sound like you are really controlling about your meal plans and how much you think he “should” be hungry for. You need to adjust what you are doing because he is clearly hungrier than you have been planning for. PP’s suggestion of protein heavy things like steak is good. And you also need to communicate with him if certain foods are supposed to be reserved for something in the future. Just stick a post it on it. He’s not a mind reader. Have some compassion.

Also, all the things he skips over are cold. All the things he goes for are warm. My kid is the same. You can entice him to eat the bagels/cold cuts/etc if you turn it into something warm and comforting. Like a bagel egg and cheese sandwich with avocado or a chicken quesadilla.

[Anonymous]

he may be legit hungry. teen boys often are - at times mine eat 5 meals a day.
you may want him to see a therapist too. overeating can be coping for emotional struggles

[Anonymous]

My adhd teen was also a huge binge eater. I'm sure you know diet pills and adhd medications are one in the same. You can talk to your psychiatrist about it but the o ly rings you can really do are limit the amount of food that's available, try to get him to fill up on lower calorie foods like salads and popcorn and try to get him to do very rigorous workouts in the evening so he passes out. Melatonin helps too.
I'm sorry. I wish there was more that helps. It's not his fault he can't control it

[Anonymous]

Is he at a healthy weight for his size? If yes, he’s hungry and needs warm food. If not, stop preparing food in advance and just order enough for one meal.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like he's binge eating when his dopamine controls wear off

[Anonymous]

Consider telling him what’s off limits in the fridge (meals you’ve prepped for the next day) and taking devices away if he eats them anyway?

[Anonymous]

Talk to the doctor about adding a no -stimulant med that helps executive function — like Welbutrin - so he will be better able to make non-impulsive choices about food when his daytime meds wear off. A super hungry kid who has not eaten much all day then finds himself ravenous at the same time the meds meant to help executive function wear off is going to binge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like he's binge eating when his dopamine controls wear off

This. It's binge eating. Especially since he's gained 20 lbs in a short amount of time.

Binge eating is tough to get a handle on, even more so with all the factors present - the stimulant wearing off, the real hunger that comes with that, the fact that he's a teen, and that he has ADHD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is he at a healthy weight for his size? If yes, he’s hungry and needs warm food. If not, stop preparing food in advance and just order enough for one meal.

Whoa, please don’t do this. Regardless of what size your son is, it’s possible for him to be hungry and need warm food. Even overweight people are allowed to feel hungry, eat warm food, and not have another human decide for them whether they feel full or not. Good grief.

[Anonymous]

I noticed in your post that you ordered extra pasta because you wouldn't be around to make him lunch.
Is he not able to prepare his own lunch or snacks and that is why he is eating all your prepared food?
Maybe try teaching him some simple cooking skills and see if things improve.

[Anonymous]

My son has ADHD and takes Adderall and is always starving at night when it wears off. He then eats a bunch of crap if there isn't decent stuff for him to choose from.

I (middle aged woman) also have ADHD and take adderall and have to force myself to eat little things during the day even when Im not hungry or else I do the same.

ADHD is wierd. I am the mom and know better, but I don't want to take the time to make healthy food/eat healthy food a lot of the time. Honestly, it is just so many steps sometimes even just to cut a vegetable. It seems so overwhelming sometimes to make food. We eat a lot of prepared Wegmans stuff where I just throw it into the oven because thats all my addled brain can handle most of the time. I tell you this bc I assume that is how your son feels as well.

The only solution that I have is a combination of what others have said: let him know what is off limits and what he can eat, make sure that he has enough of what he wants to eat, and then just accept that teenage boys eat a lot of food.