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The Wellspring Plan:
Complete and Proven Program

Wellspring Hawaii is not a fat camp or weight loss boot camp.

Wellspring is a fitness and weight loss program based on decades of scientific research on what actually works for dramatic weight loss and long-term weight control. Unlike traditional weight loss camps or fat camps, Wellspring has shown and reported its effectiveness year-after-year. The initial weight loss success (average 4.0 lbs of weight loss per week) and long-term results (70% of campers maintain or continue weight loss after camp) have been presented at scientific conferences, published in journals and covered by media organizations around the world.

During and after Wellspring Hawaii, campers follow the Wellspring Plan, a proven approach to weight loss that includes everything that campers and their families need to know in order to create a maintain a healthy lifestyle:

Low-Fat, Low-Density Diet: Campers learn to enjoy a low-fat, low-density diet that is nutritious and delicious. This diet satisfies hunger and is the optimal diet to counteract the biological and environmental factors that contribute to weight gain. Campers learn to cook the same foods they eat at camp, to shop for these foods in grocery stores, and to order these foods in restaurants.

Activity Management: Campers achieve at least 10,000 steps each day through a range of exciting weight loss activities, and also just by “getting our steps in” through walks and hikes.  Many of our campers exceed 20,000 or more steps per day.  The exciting weight loss activities at Wellspring motivate campers to continue this progress at home.

Lifestyle Change: Wellspring employs therapists trained in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to help campers make the changes in diet and activity permanent. This is done through a combination of intensive training on core self-regulatory behaviors proven effective for successful long-term weight control, as well as CBT which reinforces this training.

The CBT sessions also help improve stress management skills, enhance frustration tolerance, and allow campers to work through the issues that might be contributing to the excess weight, such as emotional eating or resorting to food as an unhealthy coping mechanism for when campers are feeling anxious or stressed. Trained Master’s and Doctoral-level therapists called Behavioral Coaches work with each camper in this central part of the Wellspring program. Wellspring Behavioral Coaches are under the supervision of licensed professionals, and are trained by Daniel S. Kirschenbaum, Ph.D., ABPP, a nationally renowned weight loss researcher and professor at Northwestern University Medical School.

Family Involvement: Through working with Behavioral Coaches and the Family Workshops, the entire family learns how to live a healthy lifestyle. Parents learn the best strategies for maximizing support for their new weight controller, in good times, and when their child is struggling.

Continuing Care: When Wellspring Hawaii is over, the success does not end. Campers participate in Wellspring’s ONE YEAR Continuing Care program, providing continued care with the camper’s Behavioral Coach from Wellspring Hawaii, self-monitoring, and communicating with fellow campers, all online.

Every facet of our program-- diet, activities, behavioral therapy, family involvement, and Continuing Care—is based on decades of experience and research on what works for initial and continued weight loss.

Learn more about Obesity Research and Dr. Dan Kirschenbaum »
Wellspring Camps Rated Best Weight Loss Camps by Consumer Digest »