Australian Dietitian, Lyndi Cohen shares the two worst diet advices she got

Dietitian from Sydney, Lyndi Cohen was into yo yo dieting. She would lose and regain weight. She used multiple diet types for weight loss. And later realized it was not the diet that mattered. But the most important thing was to change her attitude to eating and drinking. And after that, she managed to lose 20 kg over last four years.

Lyndi Cohen shares her weight loss journey

Sydney dietitian, Lyndi Cohen had struggled with her weight since her teens. She took several advices from many dietitians for it. And by the time, she was 21 she had already consulted around four nutritionists and followed around 20 different diets to lose weight. She would lose weight but the problem was on stopping those diets, the excess weight would make a comeback.

But soon she realized that it was not food but her attitude towards it that was important. She changed herself and started healthy eating and exercise. And she says, she has never felt the way she feels now-better. Lyndi has also penned a book with the title Your Weight Is Not The Problem. The book is out for reading already.

The intuitive approach

Lyndi prefers the intuitive approach for eating and exercising. She eats when hungry and ceases eating the moment she feels full. Furthermore, she works out in a way that she loves and likes. She advises women to withhold dieting. Because that will not solve their weight issue. They will put on weight again after giving up dieting. Dieting is not a permanent solution to lose weight and maintain it.

Lyndi is against the innumerable health advices that are floating around on the internet. She feels that these advices make a person feel that health is hard to achieve. And it makes people go to extremes to achieve it. She says that the worst two advices she got during her weight losing battle were:

Intermittent fasting

Low calories dieting

Two worst advices

Lyndi expressed that she was told to fast intermittently when she wanted to shed some extra pounds of fats. She said:

‘Intermittent fasting is socially acceptable starvation,’

She continued:

‘If you can fast intermittently for the rest of your life, then great. But for most of us, it’s completely unsustainable and it’s going to lead to more binge eating.

‘There is so much bad advice that lives on the internet. This is what I refer to as wellness wankery. It either makes health feel too hard or it makes us go to extremes.’

Also, extremely low calories dieting could be harmful. Try to not go below 1200 calories per day for losing weight. She said:

‘We know that 1,200 calories per day is the bare minimum you need to function, it’s what a toddler needs,’

‘Again, this advice is unsustainable and many dieters will try to follow it and not eat much through the day before devouring everything they can find in the pantry at night because they’re just so hungry.’

Also, read Weight loss without dieting: the new trend to remove excess flab!

She advises food variety and carbs as well. She explains:

‘A salad with some lean protein isn’t enough to keep you satisfied all afternoon,’

‘A wholegrain sandwich with some yoghurt and fruit on the side is a good meal. Aim to incorporate balance.’