The Importance of Excitement in Your Child’s Exercise Routine

March 31, 2010 By Joe Leave a Comment

Getting obese children to lose weight can be tough – children more easily lose interest with the fat-burning activities that adults typically have the self-control and focus to do on a regular basis.  Treadmills, weight machines, and other types of exercise equipment are simply too repetitive to keep the interest of kids and teens these days.

Movies and video games are so fast-paced nowadays that any successful plan for getting your kid to exercise has to bring in the element of fun; there has to be a purpose for the physical activity, some objective in all the huffing and sweating besides just doing something that is healthy.  Most parents simply aren’t able to keep up with their kids’ youthful, energetic cravings for stimulating activity.  A weight loss camp for kids is a great solution for parents who feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of providing their kids with entertaining exercise opportunities.

There is, after all, only so much a parent can do.  Most adults consider themselves lucky if they have time to go for a walk a few times a week.  Getting your children to go on such walks with you is a great start to getting them excited about exercise, but most children crave more – things like walking through the woods and identifying wildlife – and while most parents can do these things occasionally, it is nearly impossible to keep up with a child’s curiosity.

How often are you able to take your kids swimming?  This activity is great exercise, and, even if you are able to go with your kids once a week, they could always benefit from the opportunity to swim more often.

There are other ways you can get your child to engage in calorie-burning activities too.  Think of ways to turn tasks around the house into goal-oriented exercise, assigning chores or paying for help around the house with things like walking the dog.

Any kind of game involving the whole family can be a source of exercise.  Even if there does not appear to be much movement involved in the game, simple activities like talking and laughing are great for your heart.  Consider buying your child a bike if he or she doesn’t already have one.  Bikes make exercise fun by giving your child a sense of freedom with every fat-burning turn of the pedals.

Every child is tempted to laze about in front of the TV when a friend comes over; it is your responsibility to make sure they are physically active.  Take them to the park, the mall, or whatever you think might interest them.

In the end, it is tough to beat the outdoors when it comes to keeping teens and kids active.  Camping, whether at summer weight loss camps or just with the family, provides a lot of physically engaging tasks that must be completed, like building a fire, pitching a tent, collecting wood and kindling, and keeping the campsite clean.

Ultimately, both weight loss camps and family activities use a similar tactic in getting kids to lose weight: group involvement.  Feeling good about yourself and feeling like you belong to a group are essential to your success in trying to lose weight.  Whatever method you choose for getting your kids active, make sure you keep in mind their need for a feeling of involvement.

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Weight Loss Camps: Good For Your Child’s Body and Mind

March 23, 2010 By Joe Leave a Comment

When overweight children go to weight loss camps they are surrounded, usually for the first time, by people who struggle with the same problem.  For most kids, this kind of environment fosters more confident, outgoing behavior, which can be very helpful when trying to focus on the goal of losing weight.  By removing large amounts of pressure, teen weight loss camps can enable your child to accomplish his or her goals.

Having a social network of people who are going through something similar to what you are going through drastically increases your chances for success.  This is why camps are so successful, and why so many kids report satisfaction and increased self esteem after coming home from summer weight loss camps.

The truth about our culture is that unhealthy eating habits are the norm, and teens trying to develop healthier eating habits often have a hard time finding the support they need from their friends or the people they go to school with.  At summer camps, everyone eats the same thing, and your kid will have the chance to form healthy habits that will become second nature by the time the summer is over.

Most parents try to limit what their children eat, but at the same time they have the responsibility of providing their children with discipline.  These days, everyone is pushing positive reinforcement, and there are only so many rewards parents can offer kids for appropriate behavior.  It is hard to find rewards that are more effective than candy, junk food, and time in front of the television.  Every parent uses these things to reward their child occasionally, and therefore it is particularly difficult to reward a child for abstaining from them.

At weight loss camps, the parents are not the ones enforcing a healthy diet, so the child does not consider former systems of reward and punishment to be necessarily related or relevant.  Camp counselors have the benefit of seeming more like an outside perspective than a figure of authority to the child.

When your child is presented with the absence of everything he or she is familiar with, replaced by a new, structured, and accepting environment, he or she will have a much easier time making lifestyle changes and becoming a more confident and outgoing person.  Making friends quickly becomes both necessary and easy.

In addition to making friends, kids attending a weight loss camp have the opportunity to talk to trained counselors who plan the time spent at the camp in a way engineered to best facilitate physical activity, weight loss, and a positive attitude.  Planned, friendly, competitive activities get kids active both physically and socially.

While a summer camp can help your child lose weight and become a healthier person, it is important to keep in mind that when your child comes home, he or she will be like a different person, and it will be important for the rest of the family to adopt new, healthier habits to show their support.

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The Best Teen Weight Loss Camps Focus On Lifestyle Changes

March 16, 2010 By Joe Leave a Comment

Obese teens can turn their lives around at teen weight loss camps.  For teens, the camp focus is on changing their lifestyle.  This is a critical time for kids.   The acceptance of their peers is important to them.   They want to be attractive to the opposite sex.

It is hard to be an overweight teenager.   For teens who are overweight, the years that should be carefree and fun are often torture.   Too often, obese teens are exposed to cruel comments from family members as well as school mates.  They are teased and stared at and the high school experience for them is not one they want to remember.  Overweight teens don’t accept their excess pounds as normal as they may have done as a child.  Boys with weight problems are the last picked for sports teams and get used to sitting the bench.  They are often shy around girls and become the best friend rather than the boy friend.

The approach at weight loss camps for teens is on changing not only the teen’s weight but also their entire lifestyle and outlook.  Teens who have avoided school dances due to embarrassment about their size find themselves dancing without being self conscious.  At camp they change their diet and learn how to make food choices when they leave camp.   Information about nutrition and calories is combined with facts about fast food and common snacks and the low-nutrition, high-calorie problems they present for the teens.

Counselors at weight loss camps for teens understand the teenage mind – which is something parents find hard to do.  Teens are encouraged to contribute ideas and to make choices.   Returning home from weight loss camp, many teens have a different outlook on life.   They understand what led to their weight problems in the first place and have acquired tools to help them continue to lose weight and gain confidence long after “fat camp” is over.

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Children Build Self Confidence at Weight Loss Camp

March 10, 2010 By Joe Leave a Comment

Parents of obese children well know the pain of watching their child struggle to do things like participate in sports.  Parents who were overweight through their own childhood know the taunts and teasing their children endure.  Weight loss camps for kids may not have been an option when the parent was a child.

Times have changed and the problem of overweight kids is being recognized for the health hazards it presents.  Weight loss camps can help overweight children learn to make better food choices and also set them on a path of increased physical activity that will benefit them for a lifetime.

In our society, we’ve migrated to a different way of eating.   This is often due to busy schedules in homes where two parents work full time.  It is easy to pick up pizza or hamburgers or fried chicken on the way home from work.   Soft drinks are staples in most refrigerators and snack foods such as chips and cookies are regular fare rather than the treats they were for previous generations.

Overweight children suffer more health problems due to their weight and to the lack of activity that weight causes.  And, children aren’t long term planners.   They live in the present and cannot be counted on to eat less because they are told to.  Parents often have tried to limit the food intake and know how difficult it can be to deny a child his favorite snack foods.  The only way to even attempt to put a child on a diet is for the entire family to change regular eating habits.   Even then, determined kids will snack every chance they get.

When you register your child at a weight loss camps for kids, you are not giving a punishment.   You are giving your child a chance to start on a path to a happier life where he is not ridiculed or bullied.

Some people still call these resident facilities fat camps but they aren’t – they offer children a place to be with others who have similar circumstances.   This allows the child to let his personality shine as he is accepted as he is without judgment.  Your child will eat the same healthy diet provided to all the campers.  The activities are designed to be fun and increase exercise without the children realizing it.  After two weeks or a month or more at a resident weight loss camp, the child you bring home will be happier, healthier and more comfortable in his own skin.  What greater gift could you offer a child?

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Weight Loss Camps and Positive Peer Pressure

March 3, 2010 By Joe Leave a Comment

Children may be resistant when a parent first proposes they attend a weight loss camp.  If parents are lucky, this will only happen the first time as one of the first things that the child notices when they get to camp is that they are surrounded by peers.

In a camp atmosphere where all the kids are overweight, the children lose the hesitant approach they use in their daily life.  Unfortunately, a large percentage of overweight kids don’t know how they will be received in most situations and have learned to be cautious.

These kids are sometimes accustomed to being stared at in public and teased in school.  They hear whispers when they walk by a group of kids.   Overweight boys, for example, get used to being the last person picked for a game during exercise periods at school.  Some adapt by using humor; others will become bullies themselves.

Overweight girls can be deeply hurt by comments about their size and often become loners or find another overweight girl to befriend.  Nothing hurts a parent more than seeing their child unhappy, but many times parents don’t know what they can do to help.  Often, well-meaning parents encourage their children to make friends or to date without realizing the damaged self image their child suffers due to their weight problems.

When teens attend what is commonly called “fat camp” (click to see why our camp is NOT a fat camp) they quickly notice they are no longer “different”.   For the first time in their life many kids are able to let their personality shine without worrying about calling attention to themselves.

Because all the teens have the same weight issue, the element of judging others based on appearance no longer applies.  Following the example set by camp counselors, teens support each other and encourage.  They counsel a friends and provide positive reinforcement for each other.

The most effective “therapy” at weight loss camps for kids may be the other kids at the camp.  Friendships are formed and kids are free to share stories with those who have had the same experiences.

For children who are the only overweight person in their family, the experience of time spent with other similar kids is priceless.   The lone overweight child is often exposed to ridicule from his own siblings who don’t understand his weight problems.  At camp, children blossom when they are encouraged and join a group of kids who encourage each other.   This brings out the best in each child and helps improve their self confidence and give them a new sense of worth and self image.

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