Healthy Weight Loss Program:
Not Another Diet & Fitness Program

The American female experience with dieting has not been a successful one. Even with the dieting obsession of the past several decades, the prevalence of obesity continues to rise. Along with it also has comes an increase in eating disorders such as compulsive eating and bulimia.

While the search for the "magic cure" for weight management still entices many women to try the next diet "miracle," an increasing percentage of women are becoming convinced that diets don't work.

But while the conclusion that diets don't work is becoming more accepted, the details of what does work remains unclear.

In our 29-year experience working with dieting women, we at Green Mountain At Fox Run have seen firsthand the painful emotional consequences of years of dieting and failure to keep lost weight off. Those consequences include despair, anger, helplessness, hopelessness, lowered self-esteem and, at an extreme, loss of self.

As a result, our program has evolved on certain precepts:

1. Diets don't work. Diets make people fat.
   
2. If you want people to successfully manage their weight, teach them how to eat,
   not how to starve.
   
3. The many roles food plays in our lives are ignored by typical diets; people must
   be allowed to derive pleasure from food and eating.
   
4. People don't have a problem losing weight; the problem is in keeping lost weight
   off.
   
5. If people are taught and given the opportunity to practice new skills, techniques
   and strategies to manage their food, eating and health behaviors, the
   probability for successful long-term weight management is greater.
   
6. Since the damage of dieting includes lowered self-esteem and self-image, provide
   a setting and program that fosters the re-establishment or enhancement of a
   women's sense of self.
   
7. Offer a livable and realistic approach to healthy living that can be incorporated
   into busy lives.
   
8. Get women off the "all-or-nothing" diet tightrope and put them on the plank of
   choice.

In its rural, peaceful setting, Green Mountain At Fox Run provides a residential, healthy weight lossl program where women can escape the stress of daily living and begin to focus on themselves. Free of distractions and guided through sequentially-designed lectures, workshops and counseling sessions, Green Mountain participants begin to develop strategies for dealing with individual difficulties with eating and exercise.

They begin to address their fears and belief systems that block their ability to implement practical information and interfere with their ability to successfully manage weight long-term Green Mountain's residential feature also allows for necessary practice of new behaviors to better ensure their incorporation into the lifestyle. For example, many women -- both thin and overfat -- have negative attitudes about exercise, which generally are a result of negative experiences with it. At Green Mountain, exercise physiologists work with participants to begin to develop a positive attitude about exercise. Starting slowly, participants undertake a gentle yet effective exercise regimen designed to help them experience the pleasure of exercise -- how good it makes them feel.

Green Mountain also fosters realistic attitudes and expectations about weight management. We teach no "tricks" for managing weight such as filling up on "free" foods and beverages; instead, we teach skills for developing a normal* eating pattern. We explore issues surrounding "ideal" weights, rate of weight loss, and measures that go beyond numbers on the scale to gauge success at developing a healthy lifestyle.
Founded 29 years ago, Green Mountain At Fox Run was the first residential healthy weight loss program and lifestyle approach for women in the country. Since its inception, Green Mountain has opposed traditional dieting. It took the lead in teaching women how to eat, not starve, to reach weight and health goals.

*While there is no standard definition of "normal" eating, the concept of flexible eating, which includes overeating and undereating episodes and foods of all calorie levels, provides a frame of reference.

Green Mountain At Fox Run was also one of the first weight loss programs in the country to feature exercise as an integral part of successful weight management for women. An independent study published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders showed that of those participants who responded to a questionnaire, 54% either continued to lose weight or maintained their weight loss five years after leaving Green Mountain.

About Green Mountain at Fox Run
Pioneer in the non-diet approach to health and weight management
Nestled in the shadow of Okemo Mountain in central Vermont on 26 secluded, wooded acres, Green Mountain at Fox Run is this country's first residential healthy weight loss program and lifestyle retreat for women only. Green Mountain is dedicated to helping women get fit, healthy, and happy—and permanently achieve healthy weights without dieting by developing real, lasting solutions. Providing serious alternatives to the fat farm, weight loss camp and boot camps for weight loss, Green Mountain at Fox Run marks its 33rd year helping women feel good again. For more information on Green Mountain at Fox Run and its life-changing program, call (802) 228-8885 or (800) 448-8106, or visit online at www.fitwoman.com.

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©1998, Green Mountain at Fox Run, Ludlow, Vermont.
This information is the property of Green Mountain at Fox Run.
Permission to use single copies for personal, noncommercial use is authorized.

For further media information, contact:
Marsha Hudnall, Program Director
P.O. Box 164, 262 Fox Lane
Ludlow, Vermont 05149
800-448-8106
Marsha_Hudnall@fitwoman.com
For media inquiries only