Adelaide PT Norman Low banned from offering advice to members of the public

An under-fire Adelaide personal trainer has received a fresh ban from the health complaints commissioner after members of the public reported him. See his diet plan.

An Adelaide personal trainer found to have falsely claimed to be an accredited dietitian has been further banned from providing dietary advice to members of the public.

Norman Low was handed a three-month interim prohibition order on September 8 by the health and community service complaints commissioner (HCSCC), Associate Professor Grant Davies

The order prevents Mr Low from claiming to be an accredited practising dietitian, after the Dietitians Association of Australia confirmed Mr Low has never been a dietitian.

Assoc Prof Davies today said his office had received more complaints from the public about Mr Low’s diet plans, forcing revised terms to Mr Low’s prohibition order.

“These complaints raised further concerns and, in my opinion, a variation on the interim prohibition order is necessary to protect the health and safety of members of the South Australian public,” Assoc Prof Davies said.

Mr Low is now banned from offering dietary advice in any capacity under the same three- month prohibition order.

Assoc Prof Davies would not say how many complaints his office had received and investigations were ongoing.

A woman, who wanted to be referred to as Emma, told The Advertiser she reached out to Mr Low in April for diet advice, and ordered a 12-week meal plan at a cost of $600.

The 35-year-old lost more than 4kg in the first two weeks, but no more weight after that.

“I was saying to him ‘this isn’t working’ and he put me on a completely white meat diet, so I was having prawns for lunch and fish for dinner, just with salad,” Emma said.

When she complained she had lost no further weight, she said Mr Low began to “scramble”, and told her to just eat 150g of yoghurt for a meal, with a scoop of protein powder.

“At that point, I was saying to my partner, ‘I’m starving’, and then I was binge eating because I was so ravenous and didn’t lose any weight,” she said.

“He (Mr Low) had a bit of a go (at me for not losing weight), saying that was the meals that I chose.”

She said Mr Low had told her the daily calorie intake of his plan was 1800, but her own calculations worked out that they were around 1100 calories.

“If you’re going to spend $50 a week you can probably go and see a proper dietitian or nutritionist, and actually get a tailored plan that will last longer than one week,” she said.

Mr Low has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing.

The public can email the HCSCC at [e-mail] or phone on 8226 8666 if they

have any concerns.