Making Permanent Lifestyle Changes
Making permanent healthy lifestyle changes is challenging. Wellspring Florida understands the complexities of weight control and the science behind the biological and societal challenges that overweight and obese people face. Aside from living in an “obesogenic society” where oversize portions and sedentary lifestyles are the norm, there are a host of factors that contribute to weight gain.
Risks from Being Overweight
Studies show overweight and obese individuals have a heightened risk of medical issues, including diabetes, coronary heart disease, and many forms of cancers, to name a few. And as you have probably already seen with your child, excess weight often leads to a host of social, emotional and academic issues, as well.
Research shows that even a relatively small level of weight loss (around 10% of body weight) can have a major and lasting impact on health and well-being. To learn more about your child’s weight range and the risk factors associated with being overweight, visit our BMI calculator for ideas on how you can help.
The Solution: Behavioral Change
As you probably know, diets (including fad diets and teen diets) and fitness programs like joining a gym, fitness classes, and working out with a personal trainer may yield temporary improvements, but typically do not provide sustained weight loss results in the long run. That’s why the scientifically based Wellspring clinical program uses cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), dietary management, and physical activity to create a new focus on and commitment to the behaviors necessary to become successful long-term weight controllers.
Clinical Program
While there are many differences between Wellspring Florida and traditional fat camps or weight loss camps, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the most important difference that sets Wellspring Florida apart.
Wellspring views long-term weight control as a manageable athletic challenge. In other words, elite athletes need to consistently stick to certain behaviors. A serious athlete keeps a log of activity, thinks about what to eat, sets goals, discusses progress and strategies with others, and adjusts routines as a result. He or she is very focused on health in order to perform at the highest possible level.
This same level of focus is applicable to weight control. Treating weight management as an athletic challenge that requires training and dedication is essential to Wellspring’s remarkable outcomes. Clearly, if weight control were as simple as going on a diet for a month or two, 2/3 of American adults and 1/3 of American kids would not be overweight or obese.
Wellspring campers are trained on a set of behaviors that have been shown to produce successful long-term weight control. These behaviors include such core self-regulatory behaviors as self-monitoring, journaling, goal-setting, and contracting. In time, these weight-controlling behaviors become lasting habits, and when combined with nutrition and culinary training, success is within reach.
This training is led by each camper’s Behavioral Coach (Masters- or Doctoral- level psychologists or social workers). Wellspring Florida Behavioral Coaches (BC’s) guide each camper along the weight loss journey while working to overcome any barriers to mastering the skills necessary for successful long-term weight control.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) sessions are provided in both individual and group settings for a total of 4 sessions per week. CBT is used to reinforce the training on the self-regulatory behaviors. Campers also learn to apply the knowledge and skills gained to challenges in their own lives, and improve frustration tolerance and stress management skills.
In these ways, CBT helps Wellspring campers manage their weight and overcome any obstacles to long-term success. Campers develop habits of monitoring their food intake, and managing their activity. They learn to set realistic, achievable goals while remaining committed to their health and long-term weight control regardless of what stressors or barriers they may encounter over the course of a day, a week or a school year.
Wellspring Florida group CBT sessions typically include:
- Summary of each camper’s progress since the last meeting
- Discussion of a CBT/weight control topic such as coping mechanisms
- Reading Assignment
- Goal setting and behavioral contracts
Individual sessions focus on the details of each camper’s self-monitoring, and unique barriers to success and short- and long-term goals and how to achieve them.
CBT employs research-based techniques such as goal-setting, rational emotive therapy or RET, improving frustration tolerance, stimulus control decision counseling, positive focusing, stress management, and relapse prevention training. Some campers take to these new behaviors like fish to water, while others must overcome emotional issues before they can be entirely successful. (Obese people are 25-44% more likely to suffer from clinical depression than people of a normal weight- Archives of General Psychiatry, July 2006.) However, for all campers, CBT is the key to long-term success, which in turn leads to improved self-esteem, mood and outlook, more energy and better academic performance.
Wellspring Florida Behavioral Coaches are Masters- or Doctoral-level therapists under the supervision of licensed professionals, and trained by Daniel Kirschenbaum, Ph.D. A professor at Northwestern University Medical School, Dr. Kirschenbaum is a leading expert on weight loss and weight control.
