Is it impossible to achieve long term weight loss? What if the answer was yes? What if biology, psychology and/or environment were the bad guys, and you were just a helpless victim of these forces? On some level, that would surely be a relief…to know that, no matter what you do, long-term weight loss success is just not going to happen. Stay away from those thoughts and even more if you’re a a fitness retreat.
But it’s not impossible. Sure, the percentage of people who have lost weight, only to regain it, is so overwhelming that it’s sparked studies by some highly-educated scientists, physicians and psychologists, and the results of these studies don’t paint a pretty picture.
That leaves you with some choices:
Stay where you are now, a.k.a. give up.
You can ride the rollercoaster. You can try the latest fad diet…maybe purchase a gym membership and go for a while, until you lose some weight and then stop going because you’ve lost the weight you wanted to lose, only to regain it again.
Or you can be a happy, healthy member of the minority. We know that losing AND KEEPING OFF weight is possible, because we’ve been helping people do this for almost 20 years.
Are we saying that we’re willing to argue with scientific studies performed by Ivy-League-educated scholars? Absolutely not. We love science — our weight loss retreat relies on science to help our clients.
We don’t just herd people into a fat farm with promises of weight loss and long term happiness; we take a holistic, scientific approach that encompasses the key elements to effective long-term weight loss: psychological, exercise and nutrition.
We focus on cognitive behavioral change — if the body is going to change, the mind has to change first.
We perform physiological testing — our comprehensive battery of physiological testing assess the state of your body, allowing us to develop a safe and effective workout plan tailored specifically for you.
We develop a customized meal plan — this means making sure your body is getting the necessary calories, and with the right proportions of macronutrients, to fuel your body safely while maximizing weight loss. And the meals are prepared by chefs who ensure that you will enjoy the food.
We support you after you leave — We don’t just say, “Hey, thanks for coming to our weight loss camp! Good luck! We’ve read the studies. We understand that keeping weight off is more challenging than taking it off, and you’re going to need all the support you can get.
We make it fun — although some of the studies took a rather pessimistic view on the possibility of long-term weight loss, most agreed that if you enjoy the process of losing weight, you are far more likely to succeed. That’s why our coaches and staff make your stay feel more like a weight loss getaway and less like a military-style fat camp.
And we care – the science is important, in fact it’s imperative for success, but we also know that nobody can put a number on someone’s misery…or their happiness…or their desire to change for the good of themselves and the people they love.
So if you want to give up, or keep trying it on your own, that’s your prerogative. But if you want to lose weight, successfully keep it off and not do it in a miserable white-knuckling, have-no-fun, never-eat-good-food-again way, call us or comment on this post and we’ll help you.
We know we can do it, and we know you can, too.
