Arlene Normand

I went to Arlene for some time when I was 18, and her diet plan absolutely sparked an eating disorder. Her meal plan was around 1200 calories a day, and I would often cry myself to sleep because I was so hungry.During our first session she lifted my shirt and grabbed my belly to show me where my fat was when in reality I was a completely normal & healthy weight. After some months of restricting and losing insane amounts of weight, I of course started binge eating as I was entering a starvation state, putting on all the weight back on and more.I never got to the unreasonable goal weight she set for me, and it makes me really sad to think that she may still be practicing. Especially when it’s on young girls who trust her as a dietician and don’t know better.

I first saw Arlene in 2009 I was 59 years old and had struggled with my weight all my lifeI had ballooned to 77 kgs at 152 cm. Very fat and uglyI followed her recommendations religiously and dropped 20 kgs in 9 monthsI went from a size 16 to a size 10. I have since maintained my weight around 60 kgs a size 12This is the first time EVER - and I had tried everything for 45 years - that worked !!Arlene Normand has changed my lifeI highly recommend her IF you are serious about dropping weightLike anything - to be successful you have to be committed and follow instructionsArlene is a straight shooter she doesn't beat around the bushShe doesn't molly coddle she is on your case" and when she sees results will give you the most amazing support to maintain the weight lossHer regime is not a diet it's a change in eating habits and exercise and believe me it worksJoss Stewart. Northern Beaches. Sydney. 19 Dec 2017"

I saw Arlene on a weekly basis for a period of time in 2014. Now in 2022, I am still struggling with the psychological damage from that time.I went to Arlene to help me lose weight. Each week when I would come for my appointment, she would spend less than 5 minutes with me, praise me for losing weight or berate me for staying the same weight or gaining weight. She said I 'wasn't fat but we need to make sure I don't become fat'. I became completely terrified to gain weight and obsessed with eating and exercising. I reached the point where after meals, I would weigh myself and depending on that number, I would either throw up, go for a run or both. On the mornings of my appointment with Arlene, I would wake up at 4am to run 10km and this is after not eating or drinking (not even water) anything the day before.My family begged me to stop going to Arlene. I completely changed as a person while seeing her and was ruining relationships. When I finally told her I wasn't coming anymore, she rang me for weeks after to encourage me back under the guise of caring for me and wanting to help me.Every time I think about dieting and weight loss, I become so wound up, anxious and often tearful... and this is 8 years later!I hope this review will stop this from happening to someone else.

Arlene knows her stuff! She is very interested and knowledgeable in her work and wants to help those who are serious about losing weight to gain a happier, healthier lifestyle. I never felt hungry on her suggested eating plan and instead of driving to the bottom of the street for my daily coffee, I now walk there and back - it's that incidental exercise which has also helped me drop the kilos.Now, every time I eat, the various mantras which have been drummed into me over many sessions go through my mind - Put everything on one plate"

She is very tuff but helped me loose a whopping 1 kg

I want to be add this review because I feel that Arlene will not be a good fit for everyone. (She certainly wasn’t for me) I know some people will have great success with Arlene and that is great. They can feel free to write their own review.When I first met Arlene I was surprised at how little she listened and how much she was focused on enforcing her ideas only.She clearly believed that she had a solution so I decided to follow her advice as best as I could even though at no point during the initial consultation did I get any sense that she truly understood my struggle, the exact reason for my weight gain, nor did she seem interested.So, on day one I walked out with a copy of her book lots of lists and some clear instructions such as “Just close your mouth and start walking”.I did not appreciate her berating attitude but I was desperate, so I took the goods and left in the hope that hidden in her book would be some insights that clearly in our initial consultation she did not have time to share.On my return I faced many people sitting in her waiting room for follow consultation which were also rather expensive, I might add.The turn around time for each weight in and follow up consultation was probably as little as 5-10 minutes a person. It really did feel like a factory product line.I went in for many weeks for follow up sessions but I found that Arlene’s approach was impersonal, very restrictive and too inflexible. Each follow up consult was less than 10 minutes long and included a rushed weigh-in a glance at a food diary and some degrading remarks if I was not performing the way that suited her methodology or fixed solution.When I asked her if she could design me a program to lose weight as a vegetarian she said no, and berated me. She expressed rather passionately that it was simply too hard and not possible to lose weight eating a vegetarian diet and pushed me out of the door within a minute or two whilst ushering in her next follow up client.All in all I found her to be rude, arrogant and extremely unhelpful.I do know that I am not the only person who has had this experience and so I have decided to share it in case it helps someone else make an informed chase to help them find the best dietician for them.I wish Arlene no ill will but I am very happy I found someone else who was more suitable to assist me on my health journey instead.I considered my star rating very carefully and I feel that in my case a 1 star rating is appropriate and I am not using this rating to lash out. In fact I waited a while before doing this review so that it would not be done with resentment or upset. I believe my rating reflects fairly what I felt was missing in the type of service that I received.I have no doubt that for some people Arlene’s direct and inflexible approach would work wonders.