Photo: broma, Flickr

Overweight kids typically face obesity as adults. If you've ever considered a weight-loss camp for your family or child, take a look at Wellspring Camps. Wellspring says it's not a fat, diet or boot camp. Rather, it's a fitness and weight loss camp based upon proven scientific principles. I recently spoke with John Gordan, chief marketing officer at Wellspring, to find out how they make weight loss stick.

That's Fit: What sets Wellspring apart from other weight loss camps?

John: We're a scientific organization. Second of all, we're focused on helping teens and young adults change behaviors for long-term success. Others are focused on food reduction and exercise, we're helping establish healthy habits.

That's Fit: How many keep the post-camp weight off?

John: We do record our results. Initial weight-loss on average is 4 pounds per week. Average camp length is about six weeks, and 70 percent of campers have continued to lose weight or keep it off for six to 12 months post-camp, a study we've repeated with the same results the last four years. We're working with a university right now to do a long-term, large-scale study. The most inspiring thing is how these teens change as individuals. Most of campers have tried an average of four different things before coming to us. They feel like failures. The real inspiration is the physical/emotional changes they make.

That's Fit: Tell me about using cognitive behavior therapy?

John: Masters/doctoral level behavioral coaches help campers through this process. Fundamentally it's goal setting, stress management and frustration tolerance -- basic behaviors we're trying to change. That's applicable to whatever kind of behavior you're trying to change, like going to a party, what kind of food you bring to school lunch, what weight do you want to be.

We teach them to change three basic behaviors: Eat a low fat diet, under 20 grams per day; take 10,000 steps per day; and self-monitor your diet, activity and thoughts for the day. Fat grams are the focus, but in their self-monitoring journals they're definitely counting calories. Calories are a part of it, just not the main goal. If nothing else, remember these three things.

That's Fit: What are the controlled and uncontrolled foods offered at camp?

John: Part of the way we help kids learn how to change behaviors is having controlled and non-controlled foods. At a typical day of camp you're going to get 1,200 calories, 8-12 grams fat per day of controlled foods. Then they have unlimited access to uncontrolled foods [such as] salad bar and fruit bar, foods purposely kind of low in fat. We ask them to write the uncontrolled foods down. We want to expose them to new foods that are good for them, the fruits and vegetables, and exhibit some sort of control over what they eat. There's great teaching available in an controlled/uncontrolled environment. We're changing the taste profile of the foods they're eating.

That's Fit: What do your campers typically do for exercise and other activities from sunrise to sunset?

John: Beyond the daily 10,000 steps, our secondary goal is to expose them to a wide variety of sports, activities and exercises to engage them at camp and keep them doing it at home. They'll get personal training, aerobics, introduction to martial arts, yoga, every traditional sport, kickball, and they do some adventure activities, canoeing, kayaking, rafting, rope courses, rappelling and sometimes horseback riding. Hiking is very common to all camps.

That's Fit: What is the Continuing Care program?

John: All our programs have three-day family workshops at the end of the session, and they learn the program, the scientific nature of it and how to support the child at home. Kids are more likely to be successful if the families are more involved.

It's an ideal environment at camp, but what we want them to do is have a transition plan for home. [It's] a year-long aftercare program, and we closely monitor them for three months after camp. They can receive a refund for their Continuing Care program for their active participation. It's an on-line program for campers and parents, and there they can log food, calories and activities, and maintain communication with their behavioral coach and fellow campers to connect and support one another.

That's Fit: How many campers served since 2004?

John: About 2,500 to 3,000. We serve ages 5 to 24. Our average age is about 16 years old, approximately 60 percent are girls. Wellsprings operates 11 camps, nine in the U.S., one in Vancouver, Canada and one in the U.K. We also have boarding schools for weight loss in North Carolina and California, with a four-month minimum enrollment. Students stay typically a semester at a time.

That's Fit: Do you have any family camps?

John: Eleven is about as young as you get to own your own program. We have one family camp for kids 5 to 15 years, and they come with one or both of their parents. That's specifically geared toward younger kids since parents need to be more of the driver of the program.