Dietitian Lyndi Cohen shares how she overcame binge-eating disorder

Ten years after my first diet, I was morbidly obese and had hit rock bottom. It led to this light bulb moment which helped me finally become happy and healthy.

I was five years old, standing at ballet class wearing a pink leotard and staring in the mirror when I first noticed that my body was bigger than the other girls.

Whereas they had straight-up-and-down bodies, I had a little tummy and thighs that touched.

Six years later I was struggling with body image and I went to see a nutritionist. I was only 11.

Instead of teaching me about healthy eating, she encouraged me to weigh out all my food and put me on a restrictive, calorie-controlled meal plan.

I would come in for weekly sessions where I’d get on the scale – but she pinky promised me I wasn’t on a diet.

Lyndi Cohen has overcome binge-eating disorder.

But that’s when the dieting began – and also the binge eating.

I’d be good all day at school trying to eat as little as possible.

But then I’d come home, check no one was there and hide in the pantry eating as much food as I possibly could.

I would sneak food into my bedroom and hide empty wrappers under the mattress or other places where no one would look.

I’d binge eat anything I could find – breakfast cereal, yoghurt, carrots, apples, peanut butter straight out of the jar, lollies and chocolate.

My binge eating didn’t discriminate between healthy or unhealthy food because it craved what it lacked, which was calories.

Lyndi Cohen, aged 11, when she started dieting.

I’d then use my pocket money to replace the food I’d eaten.

It was an awful cycle – the less I tried to eat, the more intense the binge eating became.

By age 15 I was binge eating multiple times a day.

When you’ve been restricting your food you binge eat – it’s a natural response to your body being starved.

It’s kind of like when you’ve been holding your breath you gasp for air.

And then after the binge, I’d feel so much guilt and anger at myself for having such poor willpower.

I would lie in bed at night, promising I’d be good tomorrow. But the same thing would happen again and again.

By 21 – a decade after my first diet – I was clinically morbidly obese.

I remember I was standing in a change room trying to find something to wear to a friend’s 21st and nothing fit me.

I decided something needed to change.

There, in that clothing store, I booked the first doctor appointment I could find and got in my car and drove straight there.

Lyndi Cohen when she hit rock bottom and was hyper-fixated on trying to lose weight.

Unfortunately he totally misread the situation and told me I had anxiety.

He even encouraged me to try a new diet that his wife was having success with.

I just wanted to yell at him and say “I have tried, I’ve tried so many things for so many years it has led me to hate myself. I can’t just try harder”.

That was my rock bottom – but it also turned out to be my light bulb moment.

It led me to learn about something called intuitive eating.

It’s the idea that you already have your own in-built weight management system: your appetite.

Now Lyndi Cohen uses intuitive eating.

It is far more accurate than any calorie counting meal plan could ever be.

Intuitive eating accounts for the fact some days you burn more energy and other days you don’t.

I started the slow unsubscribing of all the diet rules I’d lived by – things like carbs are fattening or you’re not allowed to have a whole banana.

It was rewiring my brain with healthier thoughts.

The irony is the thing I had striven for, weight loss, ended up becoming a natural result of simply living a healthy life and not hyper-fixating on it.

And she’s comfortable in her own skin.

Over five years I lost 20kg and found what I consider to be my happy weight.

Now it’s chalk and cheese – I have an incredibly healthy relationship with food.

At 35 years of age, I like my body. I treat my body with respect. I do not have to stress about my weight.

Now, I’m free to use that headspace and mental energy to pursue a life I really want.

And I’ve made my career about helping others achieve the same thing.

Lyndi Cohen is a Sydney-based dietitian and nutritionist who is also the author of best-selling book The Nude Nutritionist. She has more than 300,000 followers on her Instagram @nude_nutritionist where she calls out wellness wankery and nutrition nonsense to promote a healthy body image. You can also visit her website www.lyndicohen.com