trying to help my bf gain some weight
hi there! so my boyfriend, whose 21, has autism and ARFID and over the last year he’s lost a lot of weight. i wanna say he was about 180 (he’s 5’10 so he was still very normal weight) and now has gotten down to a low 140. he has high food restriction and his lair of safe foods is pretty specific. but it seems like over the last year he’s eating less and less and i’m really worried for him
im trying to find the best way to help him without making him feel ashamed. i’ve tried to gently bring it up a couple times but he shuts down quickly and it seems like i embarrass him when i do. he gets ashamed of his autism a lot in general over the last 6 months too if im honest. . he has food trauma from his youth, his parents made him literally sleep at the dinner table for not eating and he feels a deep shame about not being able to eat like i do. i reassure him as much as i can i don’t care what he eats i care he’s taken care of and that’s the truth but it’s officially crossed over into a point of real worry.
i posted this on R/Autism too just to see if i could get some other opinions there. i know he needs help from a specialist but we do not have the finical means for that, which i hate, but it’s just the reality. i know his safe foods and i try to make sure he has access to them but i am concerned he’s not eating enough. half of me is too scared of making him feel bad or ashamed but if you have any tricks or advice id really appreciate it !!