Family Weight Loss Programs For You & Your Kids

Have your children been gaining weight and possibly you too? Many kids today are overweight or obese. There are kids camps and residential programs that have programs for them. Establishing healthy eating and exercise habits probably involves the whole family. Start with you first. Take our Top 60 Diet Quiz to find out which diet programs can help you. Our comprehensive diet analysis examines your lifestyle and dieting preferences, and reviews your needs versus the major health club chains, commercial weight loss clinics like Weight Watchers, LA Weight Loss and Jenny Craig, medical weight loss, healthcare pros, and popular celebrity diets. Then BestDietForMe.com provides you with unbiased, in-depth reports on your matches, complete with detailed reviews of these weight loss programs, to help you choose a diet plan that’s right for you…

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Family Weight Loss Programs

The Problem... 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.

Directors of kid's weight loss camps say that at least 50% of all parents calling for information are in need of some sort of financial aid. Many health insurance companies do not accept weight loss as a treatable disease and in other cases the policies are written in such a fashion that families don’t understand that weight loss is, in fact, covered.

BestDietForMe analysts have tried to help you with the report below, if your children need a diet plan designed especially for them, with your support.

New Programs for Families & Children

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 as of mid-May is 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.

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.

Many of the larger health clubs now offer activities for children including: tumbling and gymnastic programs, yoga, swimming, and soccer.

The Major Kids Weight Loss Camps

Weight loss camps have been in existence as early as the 1970s. Their popularity over the last three years has grown to the degree that demand has outstripped supply. Attendance is at maximum capacity and early reservations are required if a child is to secure a spot.

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

Camp Kingsmont

195 Main St., Great Barrington, MA 01230. 800-854-1377, 413-528-8474. www.campkingsmont.com

New Image Camps

P.O. Box 417
Norwood, NJ 07648
1-800-365-0556

Camp Shane

Summer: 203 Harris Rd Ferndale NY, 12734 (845)-292-2103

Winter: 134 Teatown Rd CROTON-ON-HUDSON 10520 NY (914)-271-4141

www.campshane.com

Camp Shane has been featured on 20/20, MTV, Dr. Phil, Sally Jesse Raphael, CBS, Newsweek, Time magazine, Discovery Health, and many popular programs and magazines. They have been in the business of helping overweight teens for more than 37 years at the same site.

Julian Krinsky Camps & Programs

610 South Henderson Rd., King of Prussia, PA 19406. 866-879-5527/ 610-265-9401

www.jkcp.com

Academy of the Sierras

42675 Road 44, Reedley, CA 93654

1-866-364-0808

After you have read our review on Family Weight Loss Programs - Try our Top 60 Diet Quiz to find out which diet programs are best suited to your needs, and which ones will help you (and your kids) keep the weight off.

*These are real comments left by BestDietForMe.com visitors immediately upon completing our Top 60 Diet Quiz:

“Thank you so much for this service. I can readily see which of the plans will best work for me and intend to start immediately! Thank you again for this great service.”, S.G. - Melbourne, FL

“Thank you for your straight-forward approach. This site just made a difference in my life!”, M.D. - Waukon, Iowa

“This has been very helpful. Your analyses of the different programs are objective and assisted in helping me make the right choices. Thank you!”, C.W. - Fort Washington, MD

“I think this is a wonderful tool you have provided and it helped me make my final decision in the program I am going to use.”, S.W. - Escondido, CA

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The information on this web site is intended for information purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. Before starting any weight loss program, it is recommended that you consult your physician or other health care professional.