Monday 8 September 2008

Weight-loss camps invite families to come along

PAUL SMITHS, N.Y. ? It took Kelsey Galer quadruplet weeks at a weight-loss camp to lose 9 pounds. It took her dad barely three days to start acting like a "dork."

"He wears his pedometer around all the time," aforesaid Galer. "He's just rattling into it with the family shop he went to."


Her weight-loss camp and others ar inviting mummy, dad and siblings to share the camp receive so they can help oneself campers stay motivated when they return home where unhealthy temptations and habits lurk.


For her father, Michael Galer, and 16-year-old sis, Kyla, that meant a three-day family workshop at the conclusion of Kelsey's stay at Wellspring Camp for loretta Young women in New York's Adirondack Mountains.


They got an induction into the 18-year-old's new, fitter lifestyle. Her father found himself doing aerobics and using a stability globe for yoga during the family session. Her sister cheered as Kelsey climbed to the top of a eminent pine corner and flew down a zip-line.


Back home in Canton, Mass., the whole home has been reaping the benefits: her father lost 8 pounds, and like a shot Kyla joins her at the gym. Within years, they were planning healthier grocery lists.


Wellspring is one of several weight-loss camps that add some family participation to the standard menu of exercise and healthy diets. Wellspring's camp in Pinehurst, N.C., and the Pritikin program in Aventura, Fla., offer programs that include family members for the entire camp session.


But all that attention comes at a damage: Roughly $5,000 to $9,000, depending on the camp and duration of stay.


At the Adirondack camp, visiting family members join campers in the mornings for a long walk and at every meal. The rest of the prison term, parents take care classes on cooking, exercise and how to tell on for level-headed food. Siblings can tag along with campers to watch the daily activities.


"That had a big impression on her," Kelsey Galer said of her sister's visit to camp. "She just got a taste of my new modus vivendi. We had spent a lot of time together (before camp), but it was ne'er time like that � being active and eating healthy."


The results of a three-year Wellspring survey of campers suggests that family unit support is beneficial, according to Daniel Kirschenbaum, Wellspring clinical theatre director. The campers who reported having strong family support or secondhand the post-camp program did better at maintaining or continuing to lose weight than those without firm support.


At the Wellspring camp in Pinehurst, N.C., around 60 miles southwest of Raleigh, parents join children between the ages of 5 and 14 for sessions that include sports, personal grooming and a spa.


Therapy is part of both programs to help people realize why they overeat and how to manage strain. Parents teach how to motivate their children to be healthy instead of discouraging them or accentuation bad eubstance image.


Dr. Chris Bolling, world Health Organization heads the weight loss program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, said fat is a family affair.


"You have to poser good behaviour," he said. "We know this for all sorts of behavior in kids. You don't tell kids to do one affair and then do something else ... kids, very promptly, pick up on it when their parents aren't practicing what they're preaching."


The Pritikin Program near Miami offers a family camp that promotes exercise and a diet emphasizing fruits, vegetables, whole grains, seafood, nonfat dairy farm foods, and limited lean meat. Children also convey cooking classes and go on field trips to learn around things like finding salubrious options at the mall.


Priscilla Marquard has taken her triplets � 12-year-olds Caroline, Alex and Audrey � to the Pritikin crime syndicate camp each summer for the past three years. The girls have always been a healthy free weight, but she saw it as an opportunity to reinforce healthy habits as a family.


"You can actually put them in a room full of unhealthy food, somehow they're sledding to find a way to eat healthy," said Marquard, of Orlando


Her girl Audrey concurs: "I loved Oreos, and now I can't even look at that stuff."


Kelsey Galer had tried to lose system of weights before by exercising only without a good deal success. The 5-foot stripling started camp at 170 pounds and lost about 9 pounds in a month. About three weeks after going camp, she had dropped 12 more pounds. She has followed up with the camp, logging her food intake, exercise and weight on-line. She crapper also pass on out to counselors if she necessarily additional help or motivation.


She said the support has helped her stay on track and get ready for college in the fall.


"It would have been a lot harder. I probably would have had a actually hard time sticking to the diet and staying motivated," she said. "It's really safe to know that other people want you to succeed. "




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