If you are considering developing a weight-loss program for your club, you have probably looked at some of the other plans in your area. There are so many kinds that it is hard to imagine that two-thirds of Americans are still overweight or obese. You would think that anyone would be able to find a place to suit his or her needs — apparently not.
So how can you make your program stand out among all the other options? Well, I am partial to the fact that we are in fitness and health clubs where we can offer more comprehensive services, and bring together the two main components of any weight-loss program — diet and exercise.
An optimal weight-loss approach calls for you to reduce your calories enough that you begin to lose weight, but not so aggressively that you disrupt your fat-loss hormonal balance. Then, add in exercise to support your diet-induced calorie deficit. This creates an even larger deficit while manipulating hormones that allow for faster fat burning.
There are a lot of programs that recommend how to do this, but many don’t have the facilities that we have to actually implement an optimal program. We may not be able to cook and serve the food, but many nationally advertised programs don’t do that either. What we do have is an audience of people that have taken that all-important first step toward better health by exercising.
So in planning for that next step of developing a weight-loss program, it is important to look at how you involve the participants in a multi-faceted plan. I believe it is really essential to create a way for the participant to log their daily efforts. Many studies have already shown that when someone keeps a daily diary of their food intake, they are most likely to be successful in losing weight and maintaining weight-loss over time.
I looked at many programs before developing one of my own, and particularly evaluated the ones that required daily logs. I wanted my program to be comprehensive and have the participants log their food, exercise and even their sleep each day. Now, this does require a lot of discipline, but for those people who are really committed to getting healthier, it is an eye-opening experience.
It generally seems to take about six to eight weeks for the realization to set in that sticking to a plan and following through like many of us would do with any other project in our lives, such as work, really does pay big dividends. Develop your plan around daily logging, whether on paper or digitally, if you want to see your clients truly succeed.
Judith Samuels, M.A. is a certified nutrition and wellness consultant and master personal trainer at Sport&Health Clubs in the Washington D.C. Metro Area. She can be reached via e-mail at judi@judisamuels.com.
