Traditional Weight Loss Camps

Traditional weight loss camps, sometimes called “diet” or “fat” camps, can get campers to lose weight, but they do this without providing campers with the necessary tools to sustain weight loss. That’s why, according to the New York Times, 50%+ of campers keep coming back, year after year. Anyone can lose weight by having limited access to food and greatly increasing activities. Usually these camps also have a session or a few sessions with dietitians and counselors, ostensibly to help them learn how to sustain the weight loss when they return home.

Missing ingredients in diet camps include:

  • Cognitive-behavior therapy: the approach to changing thinking and behavioral patterns that decades of research has shown to produce the best long-term change (e.g., decisional counseling; rational emotive therapy; goal setting; self-monitoring; journaling; problem-solving)
  • Masters or doctoral level therapists, especially trained and supervised for such programs, to administer cognitive-behavior therapy and also to help campers understand, improve, and manage emotional and motivational barriers to success.
  • Any type of therapy that insurance companies will reimburse (like cognitive-behavior therapy) – allowing many families to recoup $1,000 or more of the cost from their health insurance companies.
  • A dietary program at camp that allows campers to control how much they eat at every meal and to learn the basics of nutrition that every weight controller must understand.
  • Systematic evaluations of the results of the program, short-term and long-term.
  • Well-established professionals who design, manage, oversee, and maintain quality control of all aspects of camp (including experts in the treatment of obesity who have published peer-reviewed journal articles and books to back up their claims of expertise).
  • Involvement of families in the program.
  • An aftercare program that encourages campers to use the skills learned at camp over time, with ongoing help by professionals.

If you are considering other weight loss camps, please consider asking some of the following questions:

What was last year’s average weekly weight loss at Camp?

  • What are the camp’s long-term results? What percentage of campers maintain or continue weight loss at home?
  • Who designed the weight loss program? What are their credentials? Is the program design scientifically based?
  • Is counseling or behavior modification offered? By credentialed therapists?
  • If so, do the therapists work full time at the camp during the summer? Does each camper have an individual therapist assigned to him or her? Do therapists continue to work with campers after campers return home?
  • How are families involved?
  • How many campers return each year? Did they regain weight? Will new campers feel left out because of cliques from prior years?
  • How large is the Camp? Is it a manageable size where the Camp Director knows each and every camper?
  • Can we talk to several families of campers who have maintained or continued weight loss from last summer?
  • Does the camp demonstrate improvements in self-esteem and overall well-being?