The Wellspring Plan: A Scientific Approach to Fitness and Weight Loss
Wellspring Family Camp is a fitness and weight loss program based on decades of scientific research on what actually works for dramatic weight loss results and long-term weight control. It is not a fad diet, a teen weight loss diet, or a magical pill. And unlike traditional weight loss camps, diet camps, fat camps or boot camps, Wellspring proves its effectiveness every year.
The rapid weight loss at camp (Family Camp guests average 1 – 5 lbs. of weight loss per week) and long-term results (continued weight loss after camp) of Wellspring campers have been presented and praised at scientific conferences, in professional journals, and in the media around the world.
Unlike traditional weight loss camps that bring children into their programs at a young age by themselves, Wellspring knows that young children need the support and guidance of their parents in order to have success not only at camp, but once they return home. This is why Wellspring created Wellspring Family Camp—an opportunity for children and their parent(s) to enjoy a transformative, effective, healthy family vacation.
The Wellspring Plan is based on simple, scientific, and sustainable changes, including:
- Low-Fat, Low-Density Diet: Campers learn to enjoy a nutritious and delicious low-fat, low-density diet that satisfies hunger and counteracts the biological and environmental factors that contribute to weight gain. The diet benefits the entire family because it is very simple, easy to follow, and keeps the control in their hands, rather than requiring parents to be the “food police.” Campers learn to cook the same foods they eat at camp, to shop for these foods in grocery stores, and to order these foods in restaurants.
- Activity Management: Campers attain their goal of at least 10,000 steps each and every day through a range of exciting fitness activities. Many of our campers exceed 20,000 or more steps per day. At Family Camp there are morning walks and hikes, weight training and workouts on gym equipment, traditional sports, and games all designed to encourage and motivate campers to continue this progress at home.
- Behavioral Change—The Wellspring Clinical Program: Wellspring Family Camp has an active clinical therapy component for both parents and children. Parents are trained to better manage their own healthy weight loss, as well as specific techniques for meeting the parenting challenges of their children’s relationship to food and exercise—such as stepping out of the role of being “food police” and better handling the emotional aspects of food in their relationship with children and spouses.
Children are taught the core behaviors necessary for independently achieving and sustaining weight loss. Self-monitoring, journaling, goal-setting and contracting become second nature to campers and are integrated with Wellspring’s nutrition and culinary training. The behavioral change work is conducted under the supervision of Susan Borgman, LCSE, Director of Wellspring Family Camp and Clinical Director of the renowned Wellspring Academy of the Carolinas.
- Continuing Care: Achievement and success in weight loss do not end when camp is over. Families participate in a ONE YEAR Continuing Care program, continuing to work with the Clinical Director from camp, self-monitoring, and communicating with fellow campers online.
Every facet of the Wellspring Family Camp program — diet, activities, behavioral therapy, family involvement, and continuing care — is based on decades of experience and research on what works for initial and sustained weight loss.
As you can see, Wellspring Family Camp is not a traditional weight loss camp, diet camp, boot camp, or fat camp, but rather the most effective option available to help your child return to a healthy weight, and a transformative experience your child will remember and treasure.
Resources for Families
Learn more about Obesity Research and Dr. Dan Kirschenbaum »
Wellspring Camps Rated Best Weight Loss Camps by Consumer Digest »
Clinicians at Wellspring Family Camp have written several articles about family involvement in pediatric weight control. Three of these articles are shown below:
- Power of Social Support
- Persistence Pays Off
- Unsupportive Scenarios that Negatively Impact Weight Controllers
Family Matters: The Remarkable Power of Social Support
Weight control essentially involves mastery over one’s one biology. That is, effective weight controllers must learn to manage their bodies’ biological drives toward maintaining or gaining weight. That biological drive, a powerful opponent, can be managed through eating very little fat, maintaining high levels of activity, and also staying positively focused on long-term goals. Saying that is much easier that doing it.
In the case of children and teenagers, families provide the foundation upon which successful long-term weight control emerges. Families can support the weight controller’s efforts in what they do and say or they can sabotage the efforts. Let’s consider some of the examples of the remarkable power of social support in helping people change. When reviewing this list, imagine what it would be like to for a teenager to attempt to lose weight and develop the appropriate attitude toward problems and other aspects of life without the strong and consistent support of the family.
Good relationships with others, including the provision of information, emotional support, and even material support when necessary, can do many things for people. Most fundamentally, people who get good support from others even live longer lives than those without good connections to other people. A study of 7,000 adults in Alameda County California, for example, showed that people who lacked relationship with others died at a younger age than those who were married, had frequent contact with friends and neighbors, and belonged to social clubs or religious groups. As this and the following studies show, support from others can mitigate the effects of stress:
- Women who had another person with them during labor and childbirth experienced fewer complications than did women who did not have a husband, relative or friend present. The supported group gave birth sooner, was awake more after delivery and played with their babies more than the unsupported group.
- Social support helped men who lost their jobs. Men with good support reported fewer illnesses and less depression than men who did not have adequate support from others following the loss of their jobs.
- Support by parents and hospital staff helped children adjust more effectively to surgery.
- Recovery from heart attacks was improved when people had spouses, friends and relatives around them.
Athletes rely on social support to help them when their training goes poorly or if they have a less than stellar performance. Coaches know this very well and the best coaches know how to help, especially when an athlete struggles with performance or training issues. Weight controllers, in a very similar vein, struggle sometimes to stay focused, manage every situation effectively, and maintain the consistency of their positive optimistic attitudes toward their programs. If your family can support and nurture the weight controller, particularly during difficult challenges or struggles with the process or the outcomes, your weight controller has a much better chance of long-term success.
Family Matters: Nurturing Persistence for Success in Weight Control
Persistence
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
- Calvin Coolidge, 1932
Persistence, as described in this wonderful little poem, can lead to remarkable improvements in many areas of life. From sport performance to academia to career advancement, persistence holds the key to long-term success. Weight control is another arena that benefits remarkably from a persistent attitude. No one succeeds in weight control in a straight line, losing all excess weight and maintaining it perfectly over time. Weight loss slows down inevitably due to many factors. Weight gain can occur rapidly, even without major deviations from a strict regimen. When weight controllers learn to manage these frustrations with a doggedly persistent attitude, then they have an excellent chance of success.
Families involved in Healthy Living Academy’s programs (Academy of the Sierras year round boarding school, Wellspring Camps summer programs) frequently ask about nurturing an adaptive persistent attitude toward weight control in their overweight children. Some people seem born to persist; that is, some children are very goal-oriented from the time they were toddlers. Others search for direction with much less vigor. However, in all cases, nurturance of such an approach can occur through modeling, family-wide goal setting, and consistent positive reinforcement based on actual accomplishments. The following list of suggestions highlight some of the best ways of nurturing persistence that parents can use.
General Attitude
- Be positive. Convey to your child that even though it is very difficult to control weight, you believe he or she can do it. This attitude will boost his or her self-confidence while acknowledging the difficulties. Avoid negative comments, criticism and coercion. These are unhelpful and demoralizing and will create negative feelings between you and your child. This, in turn, could cause him or her to eat more—not less—and thwart the likelihood of success in the long run.
- Be reinforcing. Acknowledge your child’s accomplishments. Compliments, attention, encouragement and tangible reinforcement (like little gifts) can help him or her stay motivated and adhere to the plan.
- Be realistic. Weight control requires tremendous effort and skill to overcome strong biological forces. People who are trying to lose weight must adopt eating and exercise patterns that are much more stringent than normal. Don’t expect your child to be perfect, or even close to perfect. Occasional slips of overeating, inactivity, weight gain and failure to adhere to plans will occur. Help your child learn from these experiences rather than dwell on them as “failures.”
- Communicate. If your child is a relatively independent teenager, occasionally inquire about his or her progress. Ask him or her how you can help, thereby complimenting your teen’s individual efforts. Be open to discussing the challenges of weight control and to assist in solving problems.
Managing Food
- Increase the amount of nutritious, low-fat foods available to your child.
- Do NOT encourage your child to eat foods that he or she is trying to avoid (for example, refrain from saying, “Let’s go out for ice cream,” or “Oh, come on, a little bit isn’t going to hurt you.”).
- Prepare food for you child in a low-fat way. Encourage experimentation and adventure.
- Adopt appropriate eating habits, for example: not eating when full, eating appropriate portions, eating in a slow, deliberate fashion, eating regularly or on a schedule, limiting snacking and limiting the number of eating situations. You may not have a weight problem, but better eating habits may improve your health and will support your child’s efforts.
- Plan activities with your child that do not revolve around food (for example, sporting events, concerts, games).
- When you take your child to a restaurant, select places that make low-fat/low-sugar eating as pleasant as possible.
Promoting Exercise
- Plan activities with your child that involve exercise (for example, walking, hiking, sports).
- Exercise with your child. You will reap the same physical benefits as your partner.
- Support and encourage your child’s individual efforts to exercise.
- Model an active lifestyle. This could involve becoming a more avid sports participant (e.g., tennis, golf), a regular health club user, using exercise equipment at home regularly, or just someone who seeks out, rather than avoids, movement. For example, when you have a choice about walking up a couple of flights of stairs rather than using an escalator, walk the stairs.
- Use a pedometer yourself. Target 10,000 steps and consider posting your numbers and your child’s numbers on a calendar on the refrigerator.
- Create a reward system that reinforces monitoring of activity and achieving physical goals (like running a mile in less than 9 minutes).
Family Matters III: Common Unsupportive Scenarios
Former heroin addicts who also smoked cigarettes routinely report that quitting cigarettes was much more difficult than quitting heroin. Among the factors that make quitting cigarette smoking especially difficult is the fact that many people who smoke live with other smokers. Studies of efforts to quit smoking show that family members who attempt to quit while their spouses continue to smoke almost never succeed.
Weight control works in a similar way. When children and adolescents lose weight in a program outside of the home, if they don’t return to an incredibly supportive environment, they have little chance of success in the long run. Let’s consider three very common scenarios involving families of adolescent weight controllers. In every case, you’ll see that the families described seemed well-meaning and eager to support their weight controllers. Unfortunately, they didn’t take that support to the ideal level. When reviewing these six scenarios, look for the messages that underlie or describe the behavior of the family.
Unsupportive Family Scenario # 1: “I Can Eat Just One!”
Joe, a 15 year old weight controller, had succeeded in losing 20 pounds at one of the Wellspring Camps. When he returned home, he noticed that his family had made some changes in the foods available in the house, but not all problematic foods were eliminated. His parents explained that his older brother Steve, whom everyone described as skinny, really loved potato chips and a few other high fat items that they believed should remain available to him in the home.
One day Joe returned home from school and found Steve munching away from a large bag of their favorite brand of high-fat potato chips. Joe commented to Steve, “It’s incredibly hard for me to watch you eating those great potato chips.” Steve replied, “Well, you just have to demonstrate that the commercial was wrong.” Joe responded, “What commercial?” Steve reminded him, “I bet you can’t eat just one. You could just eat one and prove that commercial wrong.”
Message One to weight controller: You should be able to eat very limited quantities of high fat foods.
Message Two to weight controller: We’re not willing to go all the way to make this environment maximally supportive of your efforts.
Unsupportive Family Scenario #2: “I Just Love Their Cheesecake.”
Sarah, a successful weight controller at the Academy of the Sierras, came home to a warmly supportive and excited family. They congratulated their remarkable daughter in every possible way. They even threw her a very low fat party as a welcome home present. One evening the family went out to dinner together at a local upscale restaurant. When the server came over to ask if there was any interest in dessert, the family hemmed and hawed a bit before reluctantly agreeing to view the motorized dessert cart. On several trays of this elaborate dessert cart appeared many extremely high fat but very appealing looking delicacies. Sarah’s mom spoke up first and said, “Oh, I just love that blueberry cheesecake of yours! I’ll take a slice of that.” Other family members followed suit. Sarah was left with the difficult challenge of selecting the sorbet or berries in the face of much more powerful gustatory temptations.
Message One to weight controller: It is perfectly okay (normal) to eat very high fat foods occasionally (including a 72 fat gram slice of cheesecake).
Message Two to weight controller: Exceptions can be made to the usual low fat eating program, at least in restaurants.
Unsupportive Family Scenario Number Three: “It’s Okay To Drive”
Alisa’s family often joined her in walks after she returned from a successful summer at Wellspring Camps. Most of them wore pedometers, as did Alisa, to track the number of steps they walked each day. One day in the early fall when it was particularly warm, the family decided to go to a local café for breakfast. Before camp began, the family would routinely drive the mile or so to this favorite eatery. After camp, however, the family routinely walked to such destinations. On this particularly warm day, Alisa tried getting the family to walk to the café as usual for breakfast. Her father, however, exclaimed, “Oh come on Alisa, it’s way too hot out there.”
Message One to weight controller: The weather can be used as an effective excuse for avoiding activity.
Message Two to weight controller: We’re only willing to take this effort to a degree, not all the way.
Discussion of Unsupportive Scenarios
These scenarios might have struck you as illustrations of rather normal limits of support from generally very cooperative and concerned families. After all, who could blame the father for his unwillingness to walk on a hot morning? What’s so bad about having an occasional dessert at a great restaurant? How can all family members be expected to minimize all consumption of high fat foods just because one family member has this problem?
Unfortunately, weight control is a very demanding taskmaster. Success requires the development of a healthy obsession that families can nurture into maximum effectiveness when they take it all the way. That means they learn to love foods that really work for weight controllers, like sorbet and berries, baked chips and pretzels, and pizza made with fat free cheese. Millions of people enjoy these foods and the enjoyment increases with the awareness that these goodies serve constructive rather than destructive roles for the weight controllers in the family. Family members can also model strong commitments to move, and to value movement above temporary discomforts from the weather.
Families can expect perfection from themselves when making these major changes in lifestyles. Yet, the goals can remain crystal clear and efforts to reach the highest levels of support will be rewarded with healthier and happier weight controllers in their midst.
