Perhaps you have seen us on MTV’s “Fat Camp” show and came here to learn more about how we make our weight loss camps fun and healthy. What do we do to get the results we see every year? Here are six things that we do with each child that attends our camps to help them get on the path to successful weight loss.
First, we encourage our campers to keep eating. This may sound counter intuitive, but it really works. By encouraging kids to eat periodically throughout the day, we are able to divide daily caloric intakes up in to smaller pieces and also speed up metabolism rates by giving the body less food to process at one time. Of course, we also make sure that the foods that kids eat here are healthy ones (see below).
Second, we encourage kids to drink a lot of fluids. Adequate hydration is important for everyone, but for people that are trying to lose weigh, having six or more glasses of water every day is even more important. Water helps to suppress your appetite, improves digestion, cleans the body of toxins, and provides energy for physical activities. At our camps, water is always readily available.
Third, children that are trying to lose weight need support from others, which we provide at our camp in numerous forms. Counselors at weight loss camps provide the emotional and spiritual support that many children need when they’re trying to lose weight. When kids have people cheering them on, they are often more successful in their weight loss efforts as it helps them with self-esteem issues, which are common in overweight kids and teens. Although we provide plenty of support for kids and teens at our camps, it is important to note that they need the same kind of support at home after their time here is over.
Next, you have to make losing weight fun! Anyone that has been on strict diet with the goal to lose weight knows how hard that can be. It shouldn’t be surprising that those methods are rarely successful with children. At our weight loss camps, we focus on fun activities for kids to help them be more active, burn more calories, and lose weight. The goal is to teach kids that “exercise” can be fun, not hard and frustrating. We prefer activites like swimming, basketball, hiking, and so on as the foundation for our exercise instead of situps, running, and so on.
Also, it is important that kids and teens learn about healthy diets. At our camps, we take the time to instruct kids about proper nutrition and show them ways to make healthier decisions in their every day eating.
Finally, proper sleep is important to weight loss. Kids need more sleep than adults, especially kids trying to lose weight. Kids that don’t sleep enough also have problems with hormone imbalances, like leptin and ghrelin, which help to control appetite. When they don’t sleep enough, leptin levels remain low and lead to a feeling of not being “full” after eating – which leads to more eating when it isn’t necessary. Further, kids that sleep more have more energy the next day for activities that burn calories, helping them lose more weight.
If you’re struggling with an overweight child and need some help getting the process started, contact us today to sign up for one of our summer weight loss camps.
