Fat Camps: What It Should And Should Not Be

Whenever I hear the words fat camps, I would cringe involuntarily. My brain would then automatically concoct an image of several fat people doing drills in the heat of the midday sun, with sweat in their body, and with little food to keep up their energy. I cringe because I do not fear being in a fat camp. I cringe because I pity the people who had to be in one. I have heard several comments and tirades about the rate of efficiency of a fat camp, so, out of curiosity, I decided to look it up.

My research did not last long. After several readings, I have found out that subjecting an obese person to a fat camp, especially of the adolescent age, is not quite effective. A fat camps aim of effectively losing weight is only for applicable for a short-term goal, not long-term.

A fat camp, as I have learned, employs the use of lesser food intake and more application of strenuous exercising. This is in response to the initial thought that less eating and more active movement can burn the excess fats away, thus leaving you with a slimmer body. Because the body is deprived of energy, participants of fat camps tend to be tired always and suffer a number of afflictions in the body, since it was not used to such vigorous treatment.

In relation to this, participants of a fat camp who knows that he/she will eat less in camp will tend to splurge on food before the camps start, and also, when it ends, when the participant feels that he/she had been starving the whole time spent in camp. Although the food served in a fat camp are nutritious, it should be given in right amounts as to provide the energy needed for a person who has to exercise and to sustain healthy living.

The intake of less food accompanied by vigorous exercising can only prove to be unhealthy. Although fats can be burned through exercise, fats are also burned because of the food that we eat. In biochemistry, there is a saying that goes, Fats burn in the flame of carbohydrates. So, without enough intake of carbohydrate-rich food (which is usually recommended in a fat camp), the burning of fats is not very efficient when you only rely on exercise. The counselors of fat camps should be knowledgeable enough to understand the science behind food and its connection to obesity. Also, the fat camp must also know how to connect their application of diet in the camp as to diet in the real world.

It is also not unusual in a fat camp for a participant to be uncomfortable with himself or herself, as each one brings a different story. Being in a fat camps means meeting people that are, although the same in build and weight, having different personalities. It is possible that even among obese people, discrimination is still persistent, and those who are smaller in weight as to others usually hold popularity. Even in camp, applications in real life are still retained and the camp must be able to correct and connect the two.

A number of rumors have already spread about the ineffectiveness of fat camps, and other camps are slowly reiterating and revising their goals and mission. I just hope that the moderators of a fat camp will be able to learn something from the outcries of the very people they are trying to help.