In the United States more children than ever are overweight or obese. Since 1980, the number of overweight kids in America has tripled--16% of children and teens between age 6 and 19 are now overweight, according to the centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In physicians' offices, there's scant time to teach youngsters about losing weight, and nutrition counseling and weight loss sessions usually are not reimbursed by health insurance.

Taking on these new behaviors requires a tremendous amount of effort, practice and discipline. Youths especially may have a difficult time accessing the type of foods that will help them lose weight and eat a healthy diet as they may very well live with overweight adults in charge of the cooking.

Most commercial weight loss programs will not accept people under 13 years of age (even then only with a physician’s approval), so this has become an underserved market niche. Do the top weight loss programs serve overweight kids as well?

Kids' residential weight loss camps have been around since the 1970s, and they will undoubtedly increase in number the next several years, but there are also some new programs being tested, in Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Orlando, Florida. One program is by Weight Watchers^® and the other was developed by All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg.

The Weight Watchers^® program being tested recently iis called Family First. The company was persuaded to start it by a Tampa, FL pediatrician who lobbied for more than a year to convince Weight Watchers^® to develop the program in partnership with Pediatric Health Care Alliance in Tampa. The KidShapers program, by All Children's Hospital is experimenting with methods to help pediatricians find the time to address obesity. In this program a pediatrician typically sees patients for at least 6 individual sessions, using a kit developed by All Children's, that includes incentives for kids like pedometers. Parents pay $30 to start and co-pays for the office visits. The doctor teaches kids what they need to eat and how much. They also cover exercise. To be effective, say participating doctors, the whole family must participate.

BestDietForMe.com finds that Health clubs have also seen a dramatic rise in memberships purchased for children. According to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, gym memberships for children under the age of 18 increased 29% to 4.5 million for the five years ended in 2003.

Following are the major kids weight loss camps in the United States:

Camp Kingsmont, Great Barrington, MA (800-854-1377, 413-528-8474)

New Image Camps, Norwood, NJ (800-365-0556)

Camp Shane, Summer, Ferndale NY  (845-292-2103)  Winter, CROTON-ON-HUDSON, NY  (914-271-4141)

Julian Krinsky Camps & Programs, King of Prussia, PA  (866-879-5527/ 610-265-9401)

Academy of the Sierras, Reedley, CA  (866-364-0808).

Compare the top 60 diet programs now  to find out which type of diet plan is right for you. Then find out if they have a special program to help your overweight child. If not, consider one of the weight loss camps listed above.