Losing weight in a boarding-school setting
But some question academy's methods
By Blythe Bernhard
McClatchy/Tribune newspapers
Published December 3, 2006
REEDLEY, Calif. -- Over breakfast of Cheerios and skim milk, Melissa Riggs and her friends debate the value of their chewable chocolate vitamins. At 25 calories and one-half gram of fat, are they really worth it?
The conversation shifts to whether the lemonade needs more sugar substitute and other creative ways to make their food taste better.
"You guys, last night I put cottage cheese in my spaghetti!" one girl says to a chorus of groans. "It tasted like lasagna, I swear!"
Such talk is common at the Academy of the Sierras, the nation's first weight-loss boarding school. It's a temporary home to 80 boys and girls who wage a battle against excess pounds and the pain that put them there.
Students like Melissa, 17, move to the sparsely populated farmland outside Fresno to be isolated from their families, friends and unhealthy triggers. They keep track of each bite, all of which total about 1,300 calories and less than 12 grams of fat each day.
54 pounds in 15 weeks
In 15 weeks, Melissa has lost 54 pounds. At 213, she wants to lose 70 more pounds. She plans to stay through January and then finish her senior year at Woodbridge High in Irvine.
"I want to get healthy, and I'm working really hard," Melissa says after getting up at 6:45 a.m. for the daily 2-mile walk on the dusty roads surrounding the school.
With 1 in 5 American teens considered overweight, a growing segment of the $50 billion weight-loss industry is focused on childhood obesity. While there are dozens of therapeutic boarding schools for behavior problems, the academy is the first devoted to weight loss.
Students must be at least 30 pounds overweight, but most carry an extra 50 to 100 pounds.
The academy costs $5,800 a month. That's about $500 per pound lost each month at the school by the average student, based on the school's weight-loss statistics.
Students take classes in nutrition, cooking and fitness as well as typical high school subjects. They exercise about three hours a day and receive at least four hours a week of individual and group therapy. The average stay is nine months.
"Is this a safer version of the real world? Absolutely," says the school's executive director, Phil Obbard, who previously worked for Slim-Fast and has a history degree from Yale University. "Weight loss is that catalyst for behavioral change and emotional growth. We couldn't do what we do if it weren't in this enclosed, safe environment."
Seeking federal study
Not everyone is sure that temporarily placing kids in artificial surroundings can work in the long run.
The Child Welfare League of America and the American Psychological Association have asked for a federal study of therapeutic boarding schools' methods and effectiveness. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) introduced legislation in April that calls for tighter oversight of the schools nationwide.
Dr. Dan Cooper, a University of California, Irvine, pediatrician who treats obesity, agrees that programs can succeed by controlling physical activity and diet. But Cooper, who is working on a childhood obesity study with the National Institutes of Health, says the bigger challenge comes from outside influences such as family dynamics, lack of exercise options and fast-food marketing.
School officials report that 15 students who stayed for the 2004-05 school year on average maintained their weight loss for at least 10 months after leaving. Longer-term results are expected next year.
"Those kids who leave successfully, with our blessing--we've seen 70 to 90 percent who do well," Obbard says.
The program depends on a strict system that gives students privileges for good behavior.
New students may make two 10-minute calls a week. Physical relationships are banned. Field trips, longer calls and other freedoms are earned as students reach exercise, academic and food-monitoring goals.
Some kids rebel by sneaking in cell phones or walking off the campus. Punishment can include extra chores, temporary isolation from other students or time in a nearby wilderness camp.
Some parents of former academy students bristle at the communication barriers and what they consider health risks. Katie Golichnik of Wisconsin says her 15-year-old daughter was told to drop down to 700 calories a day if she didn't lose more than 1 pound a week.
While some students might eat that little, Obbard says the school doesn't advise it. "Activity is always more important than food restriction," he says.
Golichnik says a school official chastised her for pulling her daughter out after one semester. The girl has continued to lose weight with help from an eating-disorders therapist.
"They had my daughter believing there was no way she could be successful, that nobody can work with teenagers like they can, which obviously wasn't true," Golichnik says.
Some students thrive on the regimen. Dustin Johnson, 18, says his parents told him to go to the academy or they would kick him out of their house. The senior from Connecticut now loves to play sports, something he had given up when his knees buckled under his 325-pound weight. He has lost 44 pounds in five weeks.
"The first thing I said was thank you to my parents," Johnson says. "I know that four months here will change my life."
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Diet, exercise rules
Diet: Students eat three low-fat meals and two snacks each day. They are allowed one serving of "controlled" food at each meal, such as grilled cheese sandwiches or teriyaki chicken, totaling 1,200 calories daily. "Uncontrolled" foods such as fruit, vegetables and fat-free soups may be eaten freely. Sugar substitute, ketchup, hot sauce and salt are unlimited, and diet soda is available at every meal.
Exercise: Every morning and evening students must play a sport, take a walk or work out on machines. The only television available is in the workout room, and students must be using a machine to watch. All students aim to clock at least 10,000 steps, or 5 miles, on their pedometers daily.
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