Overweight Kids Can Overcome Obstacles to Exercise

Jared Fogle famously lost more than 240 pounds by eating low-fat sandwiches. In his autobiographical book, Jared the Subway Guy, Fogle wrote about how isolated he felt as a teenager who weighed over 400 pounds. All he did was watch television, study, play video games, and eat massive amounts of food. His cool younger brother and others at his school referred to him as Jabba the Hut.

One of Jared's worst ordeals was gym class.

'Absolutely Humiliating'
"The bigger I got, the more I avoided phys ed," he wrote. "I wasn't thrilled to be seen in shorts and a T-shirt. My flesh jiggled, wiggled, and flopped - it was absolutely humiliating."

Every year before the President's Annual Physical Fitness Tests, Jared had nightmares and headaches. Every year his cruel gym teacher would force him to try sets of exercises in front of an audience of laughing girls and jeering boys.

"I scored a perfect zero on every annual fitness test," he wrote. "Not one sit-up. Not one push-up, not one chin-up."

Frustration & Isolation
Jared is not alone in his struggle as an overweight, socially isolated teenager.

Impediments to Exercise
Like Jared Fogle, many overweight children and teens are unable to enjoy physical exercise in public. They never experience the fun of climbing up a pole, hanging from a jungle gym or finishing first in a race. The stigma of being overweight is at its worst when the heavy child tries to exercise in front of his peers, and yet getting enough exercise is half the equation for achieving a healthy weight, along with healthy eating.

Most public schools do not offer special gym classes for overweight children, even though research indicates that gym class and sports are where these children suffer the most ridicule and bullying. "We found that as rates of peer victimization among overweight kids went up, their rates of physical activity went down," reported Dr. Eric Storch of the University of Florida. "Childhood is a time when we form many of our habits that we're going to hold over later. When one has multiple negative experiences that are centered around sports early on, this can often translate into adulthood with decreased involvement [in exercise]."

This is exactly the worst outcome for children who are overweight.

Proving Help, Offering Hope
Summer camps and therapeutic boarding schools for teen weight loss are two of the few places where overweight teens can exercise without embarrassment, often for the first time in their lives. Some children arrive at these weight loss camps so obese that they are limited to participating in very gentle activities such as slow walking or water stepping - but they soon progress to the point where they are able to enjoy weight loss camps' complete programs of hiking, climbing, rafting, and other sports.

For many overweight young people, teen weight loss camps are the places where they discover the joy of movement for the very first time, and take their initial steps toward happier, healthier, and more fulfilling lives.

Another option for teens is the community website Weight Loss Central, which focuses on teens helping other teens stay on track with their eating and exercise.