Weight loss programmes abroad - what do they offer?

Before considering a gastric band or more drastic weight loss surgery such as a gastric bypass, you should make sure that you have tried every other possible route to bring about weight loss. These routes include diet, exercise, psychological and motivational methods. There are both advantages and disadvantages in seeking such treatment abroad.

Diet and nutrition programmes abroad

Diet and nutritional programmes are a long term solution to obesity problems and as such are best undertaken in your home country. Groups such as Weight Watchers in the UK or Slimming World in the US are ideal for providing motivation and support on a weekly basis.

However, for many people, the problem is one of getting started, and here is where weight loss programmes abroad can help. Isolating yourself from all the temptations of home by attending a retreat or health spa in a foreign country can be the habit breaker you need to give you a fresh start. Many countries offer nutrition or diet retreats in warm, ‘feel good’ climates that boost your morale just when you need it. Such retreats can include expert advice on diet and nutrition, as well as a kick start diet such as juices or vegetarian food for the week.

You should research the methods used by these clinics and retreats before signing up, to ensure that they are created or run by doctors and specialists with the correct training and medical or scientific background. Retreats offering the latest ‘detox’ or ‘fad’ diet ideas are usually best avoided in favour of those offering sound, medically and scientifically based nutritional advice.

Exercise programmes as part of weight loss

Exercise is most effective as part of a weight loss programme if it is introduced as a long term lifestyle change, rather than as a quick fix solution. That said, just as a health and wellness spa can kick start diet changes, a boot camp or similar exercise retreat abroad can be an ideal starting point for your new, more active way of life.

Often, exercise programmes abroad bring together a wide range of experts, in subjects such as exercise, yoga and physiotherapy, giving you a broad overview of the changes you could make to your physical routine and how best to make those changes. It can allow you to try out different ways of exercising and strengthening your body and your willpower so that you can approach weight loss more confidently when you get home.

Lifestyle coaching abroad

Many retreats abroad offer lifestyle coaching to improve your confidence and self-esteem. Again, this is often best done away from home, in a totally new environment that is dedicated to your wellbeing. Such retreats will often combine lifestyle coaching with diet and exercise techniques as part of a complete package.

Retreats may also offer psychological techniques, such as neurolinguistic programming (NLP), cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) or hypnosis, to try and establish if there are any emotional or psychological triggers to your poor eating habits. Many people ‘comfort eat’ or ‘stress eat’ to make themselves feel better, and revealing and addressing the underlying issues that cause this can often provide a lasting solution to weight issues.

Advantages of a kick-start weight loss programme abroad

Weight loss programmes abroad bring together a number of people with similar obesity issues in a largely anonymous setting. Unlike a weight loss club in your home town, you will never have to see these people again if you fail, so you have nothing to lose. This can reduce the embarrassment factor that stops many people from joining such programmes.

Weight loss programmes abroad also help to focus the mind on the changes you want to make. Instead of just being a small part of your weekly routine, as a club at home would be, your programme takes over a full week or more of your life, bringing your weight loss issues into the kind of sharp and honest focus they my never achieve at home.

Often, with weight loss programmes abroad, simply having paid for your week, and made the effort to travel, will give you the motivation to try harder to succeed. It is so much harder to say no when you are part of these programmes, than it is when you are sat on your own couch at home.

Keeping up your weight loss at home

Ironically, for some people, the fact that you will never see your fellow course members again can also be a disadvantage of weight loss programmes abroad. If you are someone who knows you make friends easily and will miss out on the ongoing support when you get home, think seriously about attending a local club.

This may overcome the temptation to slip into bad habits and will encourage you to maintain the programme once you return home. It’s quite easy to focus your mind for a short period of time while you are following a short weight loss kick-start programme abroad but that focus can quickly be lost again once you return to the pressures and temptations of home.

The fact that you will need to put aside a reasonable budget to travel abroad for your intense start should be an incentive to carry on – and many people plan another trip within a few months, perhaps a more luxurious spa break to give them a timescale for their weight loss.