In a press release dated February 25, 2014, the Centers for Disease Control, or CDC, stated that obesity in children aged two to five years has declined from 14 percent in 2003-2004 to around eight percent in 2011-2012. Statistics for older children and older adults have not changed, they reported. In 2013, the American Medical Association, or AMA, conceded that obesity has now become a disease requiring medical intervention for its prevention and treatment. Even though schools and day care centers have adopted a more nutritious menu and integrated physical activity into children’s days, obesity is still rampant. Even though teens and young adults are reported to buy healthier drinks over sugary sodas, obesity is still epidemic. As with any disease, there is a mind-body-spirit connection to its cause and treatment; but what is the psychology of weight loss? Weight loss camps can help answer this questions and it’s one of the many reasons why weight loss camps are the best way to lose weight.
1) Awareness
One of the first things adult weight loss camps teach is awareness of why attendees eat. Emotional eating from stress, anxiety and depression has its eating habits. Being bombarded with attractive advertising and a host of food shows on TV makes temptation hard to resist. Dining out has come to mean larger portions than previously were served. These conditions make overeating easy. Awareness of the resulting guilt, shame and low self-esteem are met with compassionate counseling. Once an attendee recognizes how s/he got in this condition, s/he will better understand the adult weight camp’s lifestyle change regime. Eating habits, healthier foods and exercise will establish habits that will carry into the future.
Just as there is the dark side of weight loss, there is awareness of good things like progress and reaching a goal. Attendees at weight loss camp for adults are aware of the pounds dropping, they are unhappily aware of each plateau, and they are aware when the scale hits the number they desire. They are, perhaps more to the point, aware of how this good thing can change their feelings, their self-opinion and what they project to other people. Attendees have become aware of the other side of the mind-body-spirit connection.
2) Management
Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is part of the psychology of weight loss, as practiced at weight loss camp for adults. Thoughts and behaviors are the mental portion of a physical problem. They manifest themselves in lack of motivation and discouragement. Cognitive behavior therapy teaches attendees to take responsibility for their actions by journaling. When people see their log of food intake, exercise and weight loss in a week, they learn what behaviors got them to this point and that there are consequences. Attendees will have coaches handy to help them at all times. Attendees learn in individual sessions as well as group therapy sessions how to deal with the underlying causes of overeating.
Attendees will learn skills that will keep the weight off in the future, from identifying the causes of their overeating and from analyzing their consequences. So much of weight loss is about power. The overweight feel powerless against the siren call of food. However, when they learn management of healthy food and exercise, they feel powerful. They now have the knowledge and the power to keep this from occurring again.
3) Education
Healthy lifestyle is more than just words. It’s a course of action, something that must be learned. When attendees of adult weight loss camps notice that their body is getting smaller, they don’t realize how it got that way. They just know they exercised and ate some very good food. Actions have to be learned, like when people learned to walk or drive a car. They will learn how and why their bodies respond to healthy foods. They will learn why and how their bodies use the foods during and after exercise. Then they will learn how to shop for and cook the foods the way that best facilitates use by the body. The exercises they learn will be varied so they won’t get bored and stop working out.
Perhaps the best thing attendees will learn is about themselves. They will understand how their minds and emotions affected their bodies. They will see how responsibility for their actions can turn around their situation. They will find change among people like them and counseling from compassionate advisers. The results will be a stronger individual, able to analyze his/her feelings and their results. From this, attendees can make a plan for the future that rejects negativity and embraces the positive.
4) Support
When those attending a weight loss camp for adults leave, they suddenly leave behind a new way of life. When they get home, they will diligently follow the new directives they’ve learned. But what if their families don’t go along with the lifestyle changes? What if they fall off the wagon, so to speak? Their new-found confidence might be destroyed by other people’s uncaring attitude.
Enter aftercare counseling. Former attendees’ families will attend workshops in which they will learn how to change their lifestyle along with their family member. They will learn how to alleviate the triggers and bad habits that sent their family member to the camp in the first place. They will learn how to emotionally support their family member as well. Former attendees will have access to the camp’s counselors online, complete with online food and exercise logs and analytic tools. There are often forums in which former attendees may talk with the counselors and their peers. This provides a link to the cognitive behavioral therapy they learned at the camp. They can take it with them into their new life, so the bad habits and behaviors of the past remain in the past.
5) Fun
If attendees think weight loss camp for adults includes drill sergeants and rabbit food, think again. There will be volleyball, hiking and biking, swimming and movie night. There will be outrageous food, good company and fun. There will be good friends and a good life among aware people who care and share.
I think #5… FUN! Is spot on! If you can’t weave fun into the DNA of a fitness camp, then basically, people are bound to fall back on old, lethargic habits once they leave (because they won’t have any positive anticipation for fitness-related activities to look forward to in their home/personal life). It’s a bit of a balance though – one of the things that struck me about my fitness camp experience (I went to Fit Farm weight loss camp just outside Nashville) was how they were able to blend ‘fun’ with practical, physical testing,… that way when I left, I not only had a good time but I knew exactly how many more push ups I could do, exactly how much faster I could jog a mile, and exactly how many more sit-ups I could do. The feeling of accomplishment, coupled with great new friendships in a fun, outdoor environment left me feeling like I could conquer the world, even when I got home! And that momentum boost is exactly what I needed to keep up my gym schedule and keep my nutritional train on the right track, so-to-speak! lol. 😉
Thanks Wayne for this beautiful article. I am also facing problem with my weight and going to join a wellness retreat to get rid from this. I found a weight loss retreat on Google its https://whistlerfitnessvacations.com , watched reviews from their guests, this seems good to me. But I have no much idea how to choose the best weight loss retreat. Whistler is a beautiful place; this is one more reason to choose this resort for my fitness vacations.
Be sure to shop around. I’ve heard good things about whistler! 😉 I went to Fit Farm in Nashville and it was really awesome! Food was amazing, campus is nothing short of breathtaking… but there are others out there like LIFE fitness, Unite fitness and Hilton Head Health as well,… depends on just how much medically-oriented help you might need with your weight problem.
4. Support. . .I think you meant to write “they leave behind their OLD way of life…