Hospital or clinic-based outpatient weight loss programs for children and families have demonstrated some effectiveness and some hospitals have waiting lists. But because these weight loss programs are unable to control the child and family environment, behavioral change is often slow and not permanent.
At present, the only weight loss programs that control the child and family environment - the best hope for long-term behavioral change - are summer weight loss camps. These weight loss camps run for 4-8 weeks and typically change diet, portion sizes and increase physical activity. Weight loss is the typical result of weight loss camps.
What characterizes good weight loss camps from bad weight loss camps is not only the quality of the facilities, the food and the staff, but whether the weight loss camp experience leads to long-term behavioral change for the overweight child or overweight teen.
Good weight loss camps direct their entire programs at changing behavior over the long term. Sports, activities, educational and clinical programs are all part of an overall clinical design to teach new behaviors and habits. Cognitive behavioral therapy is likely a core element of the weight loss camp clinical program. Because it is unlikely that a child's behavior will change completely over the course of a summer, let alone one month in the summer, good weight loss camps will provide follow-up or after-care programs, checking in with campers and their families. Exceptional weight loss camps may try to involve families towards the end of the weight loss camp experience in an attempt to change the environment into which the child is returning. Some new weight loss camps are acting as feeders into residential schools, which enroll students for 6 months or longer - a length of time that is likely to allow for substantial behavioral change.
