Weight loss camp for kids-- does it ever work?

[Ragtime Gal]

I only know one person that ever did one of these...it was a friend I had in high school. She came back looking great, but said she was starving the whole time and they used to eat toothpaste because they were so hungry! Also, she gained it all back a year later.

Any comments about today's camps?

Thanks,

Sharon

[not2late]

I think these things will work, but the entire family needs to be involved. If the child loses 40 pounds at one of these camps, it won't do any good if s/he is still eating the same foods at home that contributed to her/his weight problem in the first place.

[ex-barbie-doll]

I think kids lose weight in general at camp... there is so much to do... so many activities.... :yes

kids are anxious to get out of the dining hall and have fun!

when I sent my kids to camp my biggest fear was that they come back skin and bones.... I asked to see their menus for the entire time they were there...

A high quality camp serves nutritious well balanced food...

lower cost ones serve weiners & beans.... mac & cheese.... burgers...

A "lose weight" camp should not make a child starve... they will only gain back the weight... are there any low carb camps available to you?

If not you could tell them your child has some diet restrictions....
just a thought from a mother.... :wave

[pammie]

wow, funny this topic came up. I was just last night talking to a friend, and learned she had gone to such a camp when she was a child.

she said that it was not such a good experience. Mostly because most of the other girls in the camp are so emotionally unbalanced because of issues they are dealing with as being overweight teens and maybe even pressures from home. She said that in the short time she was there, something like 3 girls attempted suicide and another girl tried to kill another camper!

also, she told me the camp she went to was run by weight watchers, or at least used the weight watchers program. they let the children use low calorie fudgescicles as "currency" so basically if you were so inclined you could buy and eat as many of these fugescicles as you wanted.

[BreakfastSurreal]

honestly, would you want to spend $5000-$10,000 on sending your child to a weight loss camp? Kids will FEEL fat if you do that, I know, I was a chubby kid...There are TONS of non weight loss camps (the YMCA camps are the ones I went to) that give kids lots of structure in the way they eat...I remember going to camp, they fed us balanced meals, we did have a camp store once a day where we could buy candy, but thats only if your parents have money for you in your "store account". Most kids actually bought T shirts, and waterbottles, and other cool things, and ended up spending all of their "store money" so they didn't buy candy more than 1 time a week. PLUS regular camps are sooo much cheaper! I went for 2 weeks every summer and I think it cost maybe $400.