Weight Control as a Challenge
Increased health risks and conditions in almost every part of the body are the most dangerous factors that affect overweight people. Some well known examples are metabolic diseases such as diabetes, as well as cardiovascular, orthopedic, gastrointestinal, and respiratory problems. Studies have shown that overweight teenagers often face social and psychological challenges that can have permanent effects. Overweight teens are 17 times more likely than normal weight teens to become overweight or obese adults.
Losing less than just 10% of one’s body weight can yield positive health effects. So, if you or your child weigh 180 lbs., losing just 18 lbs. can have significant physical and emotional benefits. Whether Wellspring New York is a viable option for you or someone in your family, being overweight is something that should be taken very seriously and acted on as soon as possible.
Wellspring recognizes that weight control is an immensely difficult challenge and that many factors combine to frustrate permanent weight loss. Not only do we live in an “obesogenic” society where a sedentary lifestyle and poor food choices are the norm, but we also live in a society that discriminates against those that are overweight.
Overweight young women often face social hardships that others don’t face. Most overweight girls share the experience of being picked on in an athletic setting or feeling discouraged that certain styles of clothes don’t fit them. These experiences can have a significant effect. Wellspring New York has a deep understanding of these issues and has a scientifically based solution to the challenge of weight control.
The Solution: Behavioral Change
Science shows us that the only path to successful long-term weight control is changing one’s lifestyle. Fad diets and restrictive eating plans are not successful in the long run. They simply don’t work. Education, training, and a new set of skills are effective. Wellspring’s clinical program utilizes cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in conjunction with training on a set of specific, scientifically based behaviors to create a new focus on and commitment to becoming a successful long-term weight controller (LTWC).
Clinical Program
Wellspring views long-term weight control as a manageable athletic challenge. In other words, if someone is a serious athlete, she monitors a number of things very closely. An elite athlete probably keeps a log of progress, thinks about the foods she is putting into her body, sets goals, discusses progress and strategies with coaches, and adjusts daily routines and behaviors accordingly. She is probably very focused on her health in order to perform at the highest possible level. Successful weight control requires the same level of focus. The bottom line is that if weight control were easy, we would not be as overweight as we are.
Wellspring New York’s clinical program is the most comprehensive, intensive, simple and sustainable weight loss program ever developed for young women. Wellspring New York participants are trained on a set of behaviors that have been proven to effect and maintain significant weight loss. Self-monitoring, journaling, and goal-setting become habitual for participants, and when integrated with the nutrition and culinary training, success is attainable. The success achieved at Wellspring New York serves as motivation to continue the newly formed habits upon returning home.
Training on the proven set of behaviors is led by each camper’s Behavioral Coach (Masters- or Doctoral- level psychologists or social workers). Behavioral Coaches (BC’s) lead participants along the journey to success while working to overcome any barriers to mastering the behaviors necessary for successful long-term weight control.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) sessions in individual and group settings strengthen this training. Participants learn to apply the knowledge and skills gained to challenges in their own lives. Strategies for returning to the home environment and facing the challenges of continuing weight control are examined. Through this examination, frustration, tolerance and stress management skills that can be applied to all areas of life are sharpened.
CBT helps overweight young women effectively manage their weight and overcome barriers to successful weight control. Participants become self-regulators who can set realistic, achievable goals and stay committed to health and long-term weight control while managing the stress that we all face in daily life.
A group CBT session at Wellspring generally operates as follows:
- Summary of each student’s progress since the last meeting
- Discussion of a CBT/weight control topic such as coping mechanisms
- Dialogue on reading assignment from last meeting
- Goal setting utilizing SMART goals
Individual sessions are similar in that they review achievement but focus on the details of each student’s self-monitoring, barriers to success and short- and long-term goals and how to achieve them.
CBT employs goal-setting, stimulus control decision counseling, relapse prevention training, rational emotive therapy, positive focusing, improving frustration tolerance, and stress management. Some participants adopt these new behaviors easily while others have emotional issues to overcome before they can be entirely successful. (Obese people are 25-44% more likely to suffer from clinical depression than people of a normal weight- Archives of General Psychiatry, July 2006.) CBT is the key to successful long-term weight control, which leads to heightened self-esteem, improved mood and outlook, and an increase in energy level.
Wellspring New York BCs are Masters- or Doctoral-level clinicians under the direct supervision of Daniel Kirschenbaum, Ph.D. A professor at Northwestern University Medical School, Dr. Kirschenbaum is a leading expert on weight control. To read more about his work, click here.
In addition to improvements in overall health and mental well-being, lasting results are achieved at Wellspring. Let Wellspring change your life.
