Author: sarah

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to go to a weight maintenance camp, “Nightline” spent most of its January 1st edition looking at an obese mother and son who used a camp to jumpstart their battle against obesity.

Like mother, like son

Collin Robinson, an 11-year-old fifth grader, says he loves double quarter pounders with cheese, and it shows. He’s clinically obese at five foot eight and 249 pounds. Mom Krista, herself 334 pounds, says she knew she had to make a change for both of them, so she spent $7,900 to send them to a two-week long family weight-loss camp in North Carolina.

Wellspring calls the camp a healthy living immersion, rather than a fat camp.

Krista says as a working single mom she doesn’t have time to cook, and constantly eating fast food and unhealthy snacks brought them to this point.

Getting immersed in health

The program calls for taking 10,000 steps a day, and each day at the camp involves a two-mile early morning walk. Other fitness activities help kids get in their 10,000 steps, and family aerobics and other activities help families work out together.

The meals provided at the camp are low in fat, and the goal is to consume no more than 800 calories a day. When “Nightline” checked in the options for lunch were a veggie burger or bison sloppy Joe with a side of beans. Participants can also have an unlimited amount of foods like mushrooms, fruit, nonfat yogurt and low-calorie soups.

They weigh all food to keep a strict count of calories and fat consumed. Collin tried the veggie burger and said he’d actually choose it over a cheeseburger.

Healthy tips for life

Kids also take cooking classes to learn how to make healthy foods themselves like oatmeal and zucchini sticks. Parents get more complicated lessons like baked chicken strips and sweet potato fries.

A field trip to the grocery store helps campers learn how to make healthy substitutions. Collin and Krista find lean meat for burgers and a fat-free brownie mix to satisfy some of their cravings.

Making progress

After a week of activity and healthy eating, Krista lost 10 pounds and Collin dropped 11. The second week Collin lost 5 more and Krista 6 more, a loss of 16 pounds each in two weeks.

Krista said upon leaving the camp that she felt like they would be successful at home, but she was worried about keeping up with it if they slipped back into old routines.

But when they got home, they read the labels and threw out a ton of food they used to enjoy. Five weeks after camp, Collin had lost 27 pounds and said he was now able to do more activities. Krista lost nearly 33 pounds and called her journey “incredible.”

Collin said he enjoys doing yoga on the WiiFit these days, and he’s proud that his mom is more confident and has more energy. Krista says she loves that she hasn’t had a migraine since being at camp.

(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)

From the RSS feed of CalorieLab News (REF3076322B7)

“Nightline” shows off family’s weight loss journey

In the midst of the holiday bustle you might have missed a new TLC reality series called “One Big Happy Family.” The series centers on the Coles family of Indian Trail, NC, a family of four, all of whom weigh more than 300 pounds.

Meet the family

Norris, the dad, his 41 and weighs 340 pounds. He’s a stay-at-home dad who buys items at yard sales and sells them on the Internet to make extra money, and is basically disabled from injuries related to his weight. Mom Tameka, 36, weighs 380 pounds. She works two jobs, as a customer service rep for an insurance company and in a group home for people with developmental disabilities.

She says her biggest obstacle is not having time to exercise, and that she didn’t get really big until after she had her kids.

“Food for me, and for my family, I believe, is comfort,” she said in the first episode of the show. “It makes us feel good.” That statement is accompanied by pictures of the family sharing a meal of fried chicken wings, lasagna smothered in cheese, great slabs of white bread Texas toast and lettuce slathered in ranch dressing.

At age 16, daughter Amber weighs 348 pounds and says it’s hard to see her friends eat whatever they want without gaining weight. She’s a member of the school color guard says her weight makes it hard for her to keep up.

Shane, 14, weighs 308 pounds. “I’m fresh and no one had swagger like mine,” he says. “I’m one-of-a-kind.” He says he has associates rather than friends but it doesn’t matter to him.

Out on the town

The family visits a water park in the first episode of the series, where, as you can imagine, most of the patrons were significantly smaller than them.

Mom says her family members need to be proud of themselves and happy regardless of their size and that she’s going to “strut [her] stuff” regardless of what other people think.

After an inner tube ride the family enjoys a funnel cake covered in powder sugar while the kids reflect on their relationship with food. Shane says he was eating fried chicken before he had teeth, while Amber called food “my drug” and notes that her parents would give her food to make her feel better.

They wanted to go on a ride that required two people to share a tube but had a weight limit of 400 pounds per tube. People laughed at them; Amber said she just blocked it out, while Shane, who said he isn’t happy with his weight but is comfortable with it, said he’s not self-conscious but he is mad when people laugh.

Facing the truth

The family takes Shane to the doctor because his blood sugar had been high, and though he was supposed to be avoiding sugary sodas they found a can in his room the morning of his appointment. He weighed in at 336 pounds, meaning he gained 28 pounds since his last visit.

The doctor said he’s “on the road to developing diabetes” and needs to lose weight. In particular he needs to cut out sugary drinks and exercise daily. Shane says the whole family needs to make the changes together.

In the following episode, Shane wakes up early to swim laps, but “baby diva” Amber didn’t want to go to color guard practice just because her brother needed exercise. The parents went to practice with her to support her, but it wasn’t pretty.

Mom’s motivation

Mom says she’s going to motivate everyone to get healthier and they’re going to hate her but it will be better for everyone in the long run.

For dinner that night she made turkey burgers and vegetables cooked in the microwave. Dad called it “a hot mess” while Amber said her plate looked “green” and dad said it was “horrible” with no flavor. Shane, on the other hand, said it was great. Mom said it was a good first start in the family as a whole has to change.

Mom and Shane quickly outlined against dad and Amber, with Shane throwing food out while dad and Amber protested.

The truth gets uglier

Tameka goes to the doctor’s office with Norris because his blood pressure has been high. While the doctor lectured him about his weight, he says he was thinking about his favorite burger place, which is next door to the doctor’s office.

After that, the whole family went to the pediatrician’s office, where the family learned the hard truth about the kids’ health.

For Amber’s size, by age 18 she should only be 120 or 130 pounds, with a maximum weight of 180. She says she might have been 180 pounds when she was 11. With a body mass index of 60, she is classified as super obese (higher than morbidly obese). She says hearing that news was “scary” and that she “didn’t know it was that bad.”

The doctor says both kids have to make lifestyle changes in order to save their lives.

Norris says hearing about his kids’ potential health problems “like getting smacked in the face twice” and everyone seems to be scared straight, at least temporarily. They all vow to have each other’s backs in the process of getting healthier, and prove it by going on a walk together.

Amber says she’s worked hard to be “the perfect big girl” and she’s scared about what shall be without that.

The show airs on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. Eastern, with two half-hour episodes each week.

From the RSS feed of CalorieLab News (REF3076322B7)

Fat family tries to change its ways

Restaurants have been having a hard time in this tight economy because fewer people are dining out, they tend to eat less when they do and in some cases food is still pretty expensive after 2008’s big price increases.

But, as “Nightline” recently reported, there are people have made it their business to help restaurateurs pinch pennies, like Kevin Maul.

Think like a cheapskate

He says people who are eating out now are different from diners from a year and a half or two years ago, mostly because they’re spending less money. And in a business where margins are so tight a restaurant has to sell as much as $100 in food just to make $10 in profit, it pays to look at every penny.

Maul is an expert at finding ways for restaurants to save money and make more money from their diners. At a Mexican restaurant, for example, he said two-for-one margarita night needs to be scrapped and the restaurant should try to upsell drinkers with higher-quality ingredients they can also charge more for.

Serving large beverages that customers don’t drink, for instance, may cost a restaurant 25 cents a patron. That doesn’t sound like much, but it represents $2.50 in sales. “A quarter is everything,” he says.

Easy ways to save

He says putting higher-dollar items into place on the menu where people look for can help sell more of that item. Using smaller scoops and making sure food isn’t wasted can also save big money.

At a barbecue restaurant, Maul says the restaurant needs a bigger, well-lit sign, the fryer needs to be set at 350° so the oil lasts longer and bartenders need to measure liquor rather than free-pouring.

He says restaurant can also use bigger ice cubes or cut pricey ingredients like olive oil that customers might not notice but that can help restaurants save a little money on each plate that adds up to big savings.

(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)

From the RSS feed of CalorieLab News (REF3076322B7)

Restaurants learn how to save in lean times