What is the WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS program all about?
Is the WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS program effective?
Are weight management programs risk-free?
How will the WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS program benefit my child or teen?
How will the WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS program benefit our family?
Is this just another diet program?
What about exercise?
How does the program work?
How long does it take?
How does the program address underlying factors?
What else is involved?
What if my excess weight is just due to genetic?
Is WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS program appropriate for our family?
Who administers the WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS program?
What is the WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS program all about?
WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS is a fully integrated weight management and fitness program specifically designed for teens and kids ages eight to eighteen. WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS builds on the strength of the family. Our team of expert staff provides weekly support, guidance and direction to help families make easy changes to their lifestyle. Families learn how to work together to modify their unhealthy eating habits, increase their exercise and fitness levels while addressing common underlying personal, environmental, social, cultural and behavioural factors that fuel obesity.
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Is the WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS program effective?
YES. When families participate in this program, significant improvements may been seen in the teens or child's physical and emotional well-being including changes in body weight, enhanced self-esteem, improved exercise habits, better food choices, relief of depression, more comprehensive knowledge of nutrition and fitness, positive views of body image, proficiency in sports, better coping and communication skills to deal with conflict and teasing, as well as happy enjoyable mealtimes. Canadian research has shown that children and teens that participate in a family based (with parents and siblings) weight management program have a better success rate than children and teens in a non-family based program. Moreover, subsequent studies have shown that these children and teens were more successful at maintaining the weight loss over an extended period of time. The benefits of this program are dependent on the family's commitment to and involvement with the program.
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Are weight management programs risk-free?
Weight loss for teens and kids can be harmful. Rapid weight loss, restrictive diets or excessive dieting can result in a number of detrimental effects such as alterations in growth and development, eating disorder-like behaviours or metabolic disturbances that result in weight gain. WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS is safe. This program recommends a gradual, safe and sustainable weight loss of not more than one pound or one half kilo per week or the maintenance of current weight through normal growth and development.
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How will the WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS program benefit my child or teen?
The WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS brings out the best in teens and kids. They learn to live an active and fuller life so that television, computers or other inactive pursuits become less important, to communicate their thoughts, feelings and opinions so that emotional dependence on food is minimized, to feel confident and self-assured so that they can cope with conflict and deal with difficult situations such as teasing, and to feel comfortable with their body shape with so that they are proud of who they are and what they look like.
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How will the WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS program benefit our family?
The WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS program strongly encourages all family members to participate in the program. Family members too realize many of the same benefits that the participants of the program experience.
This program recognizes the importance of identifying and meeting the personal, emotional and social needs of the child or teen, working together with the family and extended family, incorporating a healthy dietary intake plan, regulating the use of media and increasing the amount of physical activity for both the family and the child or teen. All of which supports a more sustainable and significant approach to weight management for the whole family.
Families begin to express the comfort and pleasure of being together and caring for one another in a healthy lifestyle. They adopt the habit of eating well-balanced meals that provide nourishment and energy essential for the busy, active lifestyle that they now live. The weight problem that once gripped and tore at the very fabric of the family is seen not as an insurmountable crisis but as a means to acknowledge the need to reestablish balance to create a healthier, happier family.
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Is this just another diet program?
NO!! Diets typically cause teens and kids to feel deprived, depressed and desperate and, as a consequence, to overeat.
Instead, the WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS program promotes eating lots of healthy, nutritious foods, leaving little room for anything else. Our holistic approach to good nutrition allows us to opt for a “back to basics” approach to food choices. Natural, unrefined, whole foods, full of naturally occurring enzymes that promote good digestion, grown in good quality soil without chemical pesticides or fertilizers, are the ideal food choices for a healthy diet.
These natural food choices, which promote healthy digestion plus the skilled use of supplements, food combining methodology and the development of intuitive eating, all play an important role in the creation of a healthy diet that builds healthy, strong bodies and reduces the risk of disease.
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WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS stresses an overall increase in physical activity that includes endurance, flexibility and strength training. Our goal is to help teens and kids learn to love feeling healthy and fit and to help them to recognize that fitness is an important part of their daily life. Participants develop a more balanced active lifestyle that replaces excessive inactivity, such as, computer time or television viewing. Sports programs, fitness and exercise, programs, hobbies and chores are selected to best suit the teen or child’s personal interest. A huge importance is placed on the enjoyment of these activities since boredom and frustration will set in quickly when an activity is not fun.
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The WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS program combines these four fundamental elements of success (food, fitness, family and foundation) to help teens and kids succeed at achieving a healthy balanced weight.
Food
Eat what you want. Our four basic healthy eating guidelines make it easy for teens and kids to make informed healthy food choices. Teens and kids are shown how to select the best quality of food that is low in sugar, low in fats and low in sodium and that is high in vitamins and minerals while focusing on eating smaller portions. Our program stresses the importance of eating a healthy well-balanced diet, eating when you feel hungry, eating until you feel satisfied and stop eating before you feel full or stuffed to avoid overeating.
Fitness
Teens and kids get active again with our Take the Challenge program that includes cardiovascular, strength and flexibility training. Our fitness program helps teens and kids gradually increasing their fitness level. Each week teens and kids swap their inactive time (watching TV, playing computer or video games, talking on the phone) for fitness time. Our incremental fitness program gradually increases activity levels enabling teens and kids to successfully shed unwanted weight while meeting Health Canada’s or USA physical fitness guidelines.
Family
The family's support and participation plays a vital role in the teen or child's success with weight management. Canadian research has shown programs that are centered on establishing a healthy lifestyle for the entire family and that involve the participation of the whole family, are far more effective than programs that merely hand a child or teen a diet and exercise plan with the expectation that he or she will be able to manage the program independently. That is why, participants and their parents meet with our healthy lifestyle consultant to review the program, address concerns or challenges, track progress, celebrate successes, and create an activity plan to ensure success. The S.W.I.F.T progress and rewards program gives parents an opportunity to acknowledged their family's commitment to the program and recognize their teens or child's accomplishments and successes.
Foundation
Changing the way that we do things may seem like a daunting task but not with the "Building on What You've Learned" program. Families can select from a long list of their own poor lifestyle behaviours and are shown how to substitute these for new healthy lifestyle habits. We make it easy to adapt these new healthy lifestyle habits into the family's daily routine without feeling overwhelmed with food restrictions and drastic behaviour modifications. Our healthy lifestyle nutrition and fitness consultants help families to create a solid foundation of healthy lifestyle habits that enable teens and kids to grow into adulthood devoid of a lifelong struggle with weight problems. The WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS program offers teens, kids and their family's inspiration, motivation, support, guidance and direction to help them succeed and reach their healthy weight goals.
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The WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS fully integrated weight management program runs for twelve weeks. Teens or kids and their parents, meet one-on-one or in a group setting with our WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS healthy lifestyle consultant. Families can continue to work with our healthy lifestyle consultants after the initial twelve weeks until they feel that they have achieved their weight goal.
Teens and Kids love the WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS group sessions. A group setting provides them with an opportunity to meet other teens or kids with similar experiences, everyone works together to support and encourage each other as they strive to reach the goals that they set for themselves. Parents have an opportunity to share their thoughts, feelings, experiences and challenges with other parents. By working together parents gain the support and encouragement that they need to see the program through.
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How does the program address underlying factors?
Obesity is a labyrinth of complex and dynamic factors that are influenced by social, cultural, environmental, behavioural and physiological factors. WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS incorporates into our program a broad range of therapies and techniques to address these underlying factors that contribute to weight gain. Some of the topics covered are: problem solving, open, positive communication, stress management and body image. As well, the program includes discussions on enhancing parenting skills. Together these create the intimacy and safety teens and kids need to curb their excessive appetites for food and inactive pursuits.
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WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS weight management program is designed to facilitate behavioural modification in nutrition, fitness and lifestyle habits; it focuses on understanding the “why” and “what” causes that have contributed to a teen or child being overweight or obese. Holistic methodology, family therapy and a host of other appropriate techniques are also utilized to bring about awareness and change in attitude and behaviour.
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What if my excess weight is just due to genetic?
Research suggests that there may be those of us that are born with genes that may result in greater tendency to gain weight than others. There is really nothing that we can do to "change or influence these genes" we just have to adapt our eating and exercise habits to counter the effects that these genes may have on our ability to maintain a healthy balanced weight. Nevertheless, if there is such a gene that does code for obesity, like other conditions, it doesn't necessarily mean that that person will be overweight or obese; it just suggests that they have a greater susceptibility to weight gain than a person that doesn't have that gene.
On the other hand, it appears that there are other more significant factors that appear to have a greater effect than genetics on whether a teen or child will become overweight or obese. These factors include the type of lifestyle that we lead, the environment that we live in, the emotional and behavioural influences that we are exposed to, the physiological or metabolic disturbances that we are susceptible to, and the social, cultural or religious beliefs that we adhere to.
Despite the fact that there are many things that we can't change about the way that our body works, what we can do is choose to change the way we take care of ourselves. Our goal is to help teens and kids to accept their genetic body build, to avoid the pitfalls of yo-yo dieting, and to develop healthy eating and exercise habits.
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Is WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS appropriate for our family?
WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS caters to a diverse group of individuals. Ethnic, cultural and economic differences are reflected in the program as are a range of family types, such as double or single parent families and blended families.
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Who administers the WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS program?
Only licensed health professionals teach the WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS program. Teams may include a registered nutritionist, homeopath, mental health professional, physician, and exercise specialist. All WEIGHTSAVVY TEENS & KIDS healthy lifestyle consultants, in addition to their own professional training, complete clinical education in child and adolescent obesity from the WeightSavvy education team.
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