UI Health Care specialists will reach out to overweight teens and their families when they offer their next SHAPEDOWN program, an opportunity to maintain weight loss and a healthy weight over the long term.
Interested families need the approval of their teen's physician and must attend an orientation session at 5:30 p.m. January 21 in the Family Care Center Counseling and Health Promotions office at UI Hospitals and Clinics. To sign up, interested families should contact Krista Mace at 319-384-7900.
SHAPEDOWN, an eight-week, comprehensive lifestyle change program designed specifically for adolescents, was offered for the first time at University of Iowa Children's Hospital in 2007.
The first session exceeded expectations. Ten teens, ranging in weight from 148 to 408 pounds, and their families participated. The teenage participants lost an average of 0.8 pounds per week. All families completed the program except for two whose teens dropped out to play basketball.
Teens participating in the SHAPEDOWN program learn how food affects their bodies and health, develop skills to tune-in to food preferences and hunger cues, develop a positive self-image, cope with negative self-talk and peer teasing, increase physical activity, develop strategies for better eating in difficult situations, make lifestyle change as a family, and maintain weight loss and a healthy weight over the long term. Parents receive behavior management, stress reduction, and positive communication strategies.
At the start of the program, the teens are asked to choose a goal:
- Stay the same weight
- Lose one pound per week
"Some teens are not ready to lose weight, or are comfortable with their body the way it is now. For some overweight teens, stopping excessive weight gain is as appropriate as losing weight," says Donna Hemingway, a registered dietitian.
Group leaders set clear expectations at the orientation. Families must be committed to attend all the sessions and to complete their weekly assignments.
Donations from UI Children's Hospital, UI Health Care, Departments of Family Medicine, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry, and Children's Miracle Network made the first session possible and kept the cost to families low. A generous donation from the Iowa City Noon Rotary Club will help keep the family costs low for another session. |
