Word: weightfulness
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...Fedorchalk's weight climbed, her parents feared for her well-being. "We couldn't communicate with her or get her to change her habits," says her mother Michele. Family members decided there was nothing they could do for her at home; she needed professional help. In September, they sent her to Wellspring Academy, a residential weight-loss facility in Reedley, Calif. For families like the Fedorchalks, Wellspring offers a commodity often in short supply: hope. But turning that hope into a long-term remedy for teen obesity isn't easy. (See and listen to an audio slideshow about Wellspring Academy...
...Weight-Loss Boarding School When marathon runner and educator Ryan Craig opened Wellspring Academy in 2004, it was the only residential obesity-treatment center of its kind. (Others existed mostly in clinical settings.) A former board member of the Aspen Education Group - one organization behind those wilderness programs for troubled teens - Craig learned about the staggering U.S. obesity rates and saw an enormous untapped market for a weight-loss school...
Wellspring Academy houses about 75 students in grades 8 through 12, all at various stages of weight loss. Students can enroll at any time and must stay at least four months. They live together in dorms, just like at traditional boarding schools. (See pictures of a public boarding school...
Aside from regular academic classes and sessions with staff therapists, kids participate in simple exercise routines like walking 10,000 steps (5 miles) each day. The school's weight-loss program was designed by Northwestern University Medical Center professor Daniel Kirschenbaum, who used to run a number of clinical obesity programs in Chicago-area hospitals. Students are served three perfectly proportioned meals a day and are asked to note everything they eat in a journal. Calorie and fat counts are displayed on a whiteboard in Wellspring's cafeteria, making it easy for kids to copy them down. The diet, which...
...Easy Answers A program as progressive as wellspring's is bound to have some kinks. Like most other weight-loss programs, Wellspring is not covered by any health insurance plan. Many families find themselves taking out loans to pay the $6,250-per-month tuition. "A lot of parents use their kids' college money," says Craig. Its prohibitively high cost makes the place inaccessible to many Americans who could benefit, especially since the highest obesity rates are found in low-income areas. But Wellspring kids are far from wealthy. Fedorchalk's mother and father, who work at a nursing home...