Lyndel Costain on Weight Management
Interview with Lyndel Costain BSc RD Guest Dietitian for
WLR
Lyndel Costain is one of the best known dietitians in the UK.
She has over 20 years experience in helping people to manage
their weight, advises other health professionals and regularly
writes and broadcasts on the subject. Lyndel is a guest
dietitian for WLR and we asked her for her views on weight
management and her opinion of WLR's weight management programme.
“A lot has happened in 20 years. Our environment has changed
greatly – tasty, high calorie food is always in easy reach and
labour-saving devices mean less active lifestyles.
“Food is an
easy way to cope with stress or get a boost when we are
time-pressured by busy lives. At the same time there is constant
pressure to get gorgeous - with the help of endless celebrity or
miracle diets - to fit into our ‘slim is beautiful’ culture.
“Meanwhile the number of people whose weight is at a level where
it’s affecting their health has tripled. Is it really any wonder
we find weight issues such a struggle?!
“When I very first started out as a dietitian in Oz I was
lucky to work with colleagues who focussed on the different
relationships people have with food. I was a huge fan of Susie
Orbach’s ‘Fat is a Feminist Issue’ and read widely on the
psychology of eating. This interest led me into working with
people with eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, as
well as people with chronic or yo-yo dieting patterns.
“As dietitians are trained to be scientists too, I married my
interest in how we think and feel about food and weight with
research relating to the science of weight loss. This included
the evolving understanding of which approaches really can help
people to manage their weight.
“It could have been simple to fall in with the popular view
that ‘dieting makes you fat’ – as it ‘lowers your metabolism’ or
‘makes you feel deprived and depressed’. But the research was
saying otherwise.
“Sure if you go on unrealistic crash diets then
they can knock your confidence and set you on a diet-binge
cycle. But as our environment changed, what wasn’t helping
people was to simply say ‘eat a healthy diet’ or ‘avoid calorie
counting’ or ‘only ever eat when you are hungry’.
“With
convenience food everywhere, more eating out, bigger portion
sizes, a decline in family meals, stress at work and home,
desk-based jobs and less walking – people were finding their
weight was slowly creeping up without even realising it or
obviously eating more.
“They weren’t sure about how much to eat,
what was in the food they ate or when they did or didn’t feel
hungry! This made them feel like a failure when it came to
controlling their weight.
“In the past I too have been cautious
about calorie-counting or very structured eating plans due to
concern they would increase diet obsession. But these
environment changes meant that planning, structure and other
weight management skills were the very things that helped people
cope better with them, and feel in control again.
“Of course, different weight loss approaches suit different
people, but whatever approach is used, keeping a diary or record
of some type, having structure to your meal and activity
pattern, planning ahead, learning what’s in food and getting
support are key elements for success. Taking responsibility and
personally developing eating plans also helps. But all these
skills are not much use unless they are done with consideration
for the whole person, their beliefs, their day to day lives, and
the barriers or problem areas they face.”
WLR's Weight Management Programme
“Research shows that the more structure and support you have
when you try to lose weight, the more likely you are to succeed.
Also, those who self-monitor (keep a diary or record of some
sort of what they are eating and how active they are), are the
ones that do best.
“This is one of the many great things about
WLR. It is set up to address these findings. Food and exercise
diaries, practical articles, recipes, advice from experts, and
those vital message boards can all help. WLR is also realistic.
It doesn’t advocate losing lots of weight quickly, but to aim
for gradual weight loss with achievable targets and goals.
“The
WLR approach can also be very empowering for people who feel
they are doing everything right but still aren’t losing weight.
Discovering for yourself, what you really are eating (and
studies have shown that dietitians also underestimate the
calories they eat), can give confidence-boosting information to
act on, putting you in control.
“WLR is friendly too. I find the tone, information and
message boards make it feel like there’s someone who cares,
always on call.
“Keeping a diary for your own reflection and
having plenty of supportive people to chat to can help people
get back on track quickly if they have a bad day or a bad week.
Overcoming old unhelpful lifestyle habits and establishing new
helpful ones instead is a difficult process for most people with
inevitable ups and downs along the way. These ups and downs are
all a normal part of change, and can be used to learn from
rather than used to beat yourself up with.
“Support systems, like those found at WLR, can really help
people to get their head straight about food and weight. What we
think affects how we feel and in turn the actions we take.
“People who have lost weight and kept it off for a long time say
that belief in the importance of losing weight and in your
abilities to do it is vital. As is staying on top of old
unhelpful thoughts or triggers such as ‘all or nothing’ thinking
or stress/mood eating, or feeling you have to be ‘good’ all the
time.
“These days we do need to stay aware of what we eat and how
active we are to stay healthy in this environment. But if we use
support, really choose what we want to eat, find ways other than
food to comfort ourselves and stay realistic and proud of what
we achieve - no matter how big or small it is - we can enjoy
food, feel good and really take care of ourselves.” |
