Diet Phone Counseling

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Weight loss counseling or coaching by phone is a relatively new development that's growing in popularity. More diet companies are offering this service either as part of their program at no extra cost, or for an additional fee. You can even get exercise and personal training counseling by phone now, not just nutrition and meal planning help. Counseling in the weight loss field in general has for decades been sub-par. Counselors have been paid low salaries and turnover has been high. It has always been difficult to find that rare combination of background in the three areas so critical to weight loss success--expertise in nutrition, psychology/motivational skills, and exercise physiology. More often than not, weight loss counselors have come from the ranks of customers successful on the company's diet plan, who then went through internal company training (with a heavy emphasis on sales).

Happily, however, in the last 3-5 years, it has improved substantially. Now, you can find degreed healthcare or counseling professionals manning the phones at the call centers, such as: nurses, dietitians, psychologists, psychiatrists, certified fitness counselors, and more. Some of them may work full-time for a weight loss company, while some work part-time. Pay rates can go as high as $20/hr.--the level needed to attract and retain professionals with these higher level skills.

Phone counseling for weight loss seems to be a happy mid-ground between the sometimes impersonal online diet plans and the in-person advice offered via a weight loss center or healthcare professional's office. You speak to a live person, just not face-to-face.

Now dieters can experience the home-based version of the HMR program offered by over 200 medical centers around the country at a lower cost. Staff from these various programs will provide personal weight-loss coaching over the phone. The HMR At Home program is positioned for those dieters who don’t want to enter a formal program or who live far from a center offering the HMR plan. HMR has trained health educators and dietitians to conduct the phone support, along with other healthcare professionals.

After an initial six-week "strong start" weight-loss program, additional four-week weight loss cycles are available. You can then join the company’s maintenance program and work with your coach to practice the skills for managing your weight over the long-term.

This is a highly structured program, available nationwide, consisting of an initial orientation call and a 45 minute facilitated group phone call once a week where 10-12 dieters participate by calling in to a central number. HMR clients send in their data by fax, phone or email (i.e. their exercise for the week, consumption of meal replacements, etc.). The group calls involve a discussion of how the clients fared during the past week, goal setting for the next week, assignments, and a question and answer period. Calls are scheduled during the weekday, after work, or on Saturdays.

This program costs $79 for the initial 6-week session and $49 for each 4-week cycle thereafter. The cost of HMR food and supplements averages $86 per week. The HMR food replaces what one would normally spend on grocery store food.

HMR management reports that they have data proving that the amount of weight lost via the HMR At Home program is equal to the regular HMR program – a surprising finding.

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New Phone Counseling Program

This plan was added the first week of May 2005 and marks a significant and serious entry into the weight loss field for the company. It is available only to Bally members--not the general public. Too bad, it looks very good and represents a step up in terms of truly professional weight loss counseling not usually associated with a health club chain. This is a combination of Web-based tools offered via the members-only website and one-to-one phone counseling with your personal registered dietitian, who helps motivate you and design a customized meal plan. So now, you can lose weight and receive counseling from a degreed professional with in-depth nutrition knowledge (not just a personal trainer with limited nutrition knowledge), and do it from home or your office, as well as at the health club.

Phone counseling is handled via weekly 15-minute sessions, structured when YOU want them. There are a variety of packages offered, depending on how many sessions you think you'll need, starting at a cost of $1 per minute. Phone counseling is available Monday-Friday, from 8 am to 6 pm Pacific time.

Services you get:

This is a 3-phase program personalized to your needs.

- weight loss

- stabilization

- maintenance

- one to one phone counseling with an RD

- weekly weight loss topics

- online access to www.ballynutrition.com (members only)

- unlimited food choices at the calorie level right for you

- weekly emails from your personal RD, recap of last session, preview of next one, strategies for the week

- special offers and discounts on Bally products/services available only to phone counseling members.

Packages & Costs:

1 session, trial package: $20, 4 sessions: $72, 8 sessions (if you have a small amount of weight to lose, for a special event like a wedding): $132, 12 sessions: $180, and 1-year all-inclusive package: $364 ($7 per session).

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One interesting weight loss company based in Florida, Before and After Weight Loss Clinics, uses a small army of independent contractor nutritionists nationwide, to provide in-person and weight loss phone counseling. In their homes, similar to Amway or Mary Kay, they host "Belly Busters Parties."
 

These consultants' clients are taken care of over the phone and then have access to the website and the toll-free numbers. Once a month, the consultant has a cooking class in her home or community center, just like the company has in their Florida clinics.

Don't assume that all of these consultants have a formal nutritionist certification (by the Certified Board for Nutrition Specialties, other other trade groups), or are dietitians. They are not. However, the fact that they do pay a substantial fee and must be trained in person by the company's degreed staff does say something about their quality and integrity.

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Personal Training By Phone

Telephone fitness trainers seem to be the hot new trend lately, in an effort to save weight and fitness-conscious consumers time and money. It seems to work, at least according to a recent Stanford University article entitled: "Telephone-Assisted Counseling for Physical Activity." Researchers conclude that phone counseling is convenient and gives participants greater access to counselors and promotes physical activity for those who may not be responsive to face-to-face training.

There is even an Association of Fitness by Phone Coaches (www.fitnessbyphone.com). 60 new trainers joined the association in the past year, the largest increase in the group's history. Member companies of this group claim to be getting inundated with calls from women aged 35-55 who are too busy, too unmotivated or too frustrated to exercise. (These are also the same women who have made the Curves for Women health club chain one of the fastest growing fitness companies around.)

The service involves one 20-minute phone call per week. This motivational call, combined with the accountability factor and measurable goals, seems to make it all work. Customers must maintain an exercise diary. Clients may also call for in-between session pep talks. Usually, clients wear monitors on their waistbands that record how many calories they burn per day. When they exercise, they wear heart rate monitors. Each week they follow individual exercise goals, record what they've eaten, how many calories they burned per day and what their exercise heart rates were. The day before a scheduled call, clients must fax these records to the coach, who reviews it and develops the next week's strategy.

How much does this fitness phone counseling cost? About $50 per session, according to the company Fitness by Phone^®. Other companies in this emerging market are People Fit USA (www.peoplefitusa.com) and Flexible Fitness, both California-based firms. Most fitness phone coaches offer 12week and 24-week programs that cost about 50% of the cost of an in-person trainer. Companies in the field say that callers who reach their goals commit to weekly consultations for at least three months--one-time callers don't accomplish much.

If you want to check on a trainer's credentials, you can check online at the IDEA Health and Fitness Association website: www.ideafit.com/trainerlocator.asp.