Life and Leisure

Summer camp cuts the flab

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-29 08:03

Sixty young people aged between 8 and 22 enrolled at the Ok Slim youth summer camp in Beijing's Shunyi district this year. Only a third of them were from Beijing.

The summer vacation is seen as an ideal time to shed the extra kilos that young people tend to put on studying for the exams that precede it - be it the primary school graduation exam or university entrance exam.

This was the second year Song Xiao, 14, a grade one junior middle school student from Xi'an, Shaanxi province, attended the camp.

Last year, the rigorous exercise routine left him with sore feet and knees, but now Song is very much into camp life.

At the end of six weeks he had managed to shed 11.2 kg. Last year, he lost 5.9 kg.

Song and the other participants at the camp exercise four to five hours a day. The activities include gymnastics, basketball, badminton, table tennis, handball and swimming. They jog about 10 km every other day, as jogging is extremely effective when it comes to losing weight.

"I will keep to the diet and lifestyle, as I really want to maintain my weight," Song says. "The combination of diet and exercise is very effective."

Liu Yang, 13, is a grade one junior middle school student in Beijing. He has managed to reduce his weight from 97 kg to 83 kg.

"When my mom told me about the camp, I was very willing to come as I do want to lose weight," he says.

Getting up at 6:20 am every day, he jogs 800 or 1,200 meters before breakfast. Drill sessions happen at 9 am and 3 pm and there are also slots to fit in summer vacation homework and psychological consultations.

Liu was easily exhausted the first few days, but later he adjusted to the routine. However, he doesn't like the "bland food" served at the camp, which is prepared in keeping with a nutritionists' advice.

"Now I have a much smaller appetite," he says.

Snacks are strictly forbidden in the camp and the low-calorie diet and reduced food intake sometimes leave the kids so hungry that he says they will try to munch on the chrysanthemum and lemon slices, used to make tea, or even lick toothpaste.

Liu's mother Shen Jie is very pleased with her son's weight loss, but complains that the fee of 14,800 yuan ($2,211) is too high.

The high fees meant she delayed sending her son to the camp for a long time, but this year she decided to send him, as he was beginning to grow seriously obese. And, despite the high fees, she intends to send him to summer camp again next year.

China Daily

(China Daily 09/29/2010 page19)