My son often comes home with stories about kids teasing him or kids picking on another child during the school day. It was true when I was in school and it's still true today ... kids can be cruel. So I can only imagine how difficult life might be for a child or teenager who's morbidly obese. In addition to obvious health complications it creates, their self-esteem and social life are at risk as well.

Lifestyle habits are difficult to change. If losing weight was easy, then who would be overweight? It takes enormous commitment and a willingness to shake things up and substitute bad habits with healthier behaviors. The Wellspring Academy in a remote area of North Carolina seeks to help students (age 11 or older) lose weight and learn to live healthfully.

Students must be at least 30 pounds overweight to be accepted to the school which has a maximum enrollment of 50 students. One month's tuition costs $6,250; the required minimum length of stay is four months making the minimum investment $25,000. Participants undergo extensive behavior therapy and rapid weight loss. According to Wellspring's president, the average weight loss for students who stay for eight months is 81 pounds. He also states that the first class of 15 students maintained their weight loss for 10 months.

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