Tony Alter / Flickr
The 30-day camps strictly control what participants eat and include mandatory exercise classes.
Videos are circulating on social media showing people exercising in a large gym, line up for the meal and sleep in dormitories with several beds.
This new weight loss center is not a luxurious spa, but rather a weight loss military camp in china.
Described by some as “prisons of obese people“, the camps strictly prohibit people from eating between meal times and require two mandatory visits to the scale every day.
According to the Chinese press, there are about a thousand camps of this type throughout the country.
China also suffers from the global obesity crisis. And for $600, you can book a month stay with accommodation, food and daily exercise sessions.
The content creator TL Huang posted his experience on Instagram.
She told the BBC World Service’s What in the World podcast that “she definitely felt like she was in prison.”
Huang did not leave the premises for 28 days and needed to control his weight.
“Our coaches were there to supervise us, to ensure that we do not eat unhealthy food hidden and that we attend all the classes”, he says.
“They didn’t allow us to miss classes or leave the camp without a good reason.”
Huang says the camp, for her, was effective. But nutrition experts warn that extreme methods bring serious physical and psychological risks.
“Some camps would be looking for weight losses of one kilo per day. This far exceeds the limit considered safe, even for adults under medical supervision”, according to nutritionist and personal trainer Luke Hanna, based in London, United Kingdom.
But how do these camps work and why have they become so popular?
“Time to promote change”
Huang says he found out about the camps through his mother, who is Chinese.
The young woman claims she felt “very bad” after traveling alone in China. She lost her routine and I ordered a lot of meals to order. And, in three years, I had gained around 20 kg.
All of this generated comments from her family, which made her feel that “it was time to promote changes”.
“They left me with ashamed of my weight“, remembers Huang. “But at the same time, I imagine they wanted to help me.”
Attending the camp was a “huge culture shock“But she says there was a strong camaraderie among the participants, united by the desire to lose weight together.
Os days started at 7:30 in the morning with weighing.
There were four hours of exercise, with spinning classes (high-intensity sessions on stationary bikes), trampolining, high-intensity interval training (HIIT — strength and resistance training, which combines aerobic and anaerobic exercises), Tabata (a more intense form of HIIT) and weight lifting.
Breakfast could consist of four boiled eggshalf a tomato and two slices of cucumber.
Huang presents his lunch in a video. It was made up of shrimp, steamed vegetables and tofu or steamed fish, celery, steamed vegetables and cauliflower.
The meals were “good, balanced and designed to imitate everyday Chinese food“.
Participants were required to attend a one-hour spinning class after dinner, before the second weigh-in at 7:30 p.m. Then they could shower and rest.
Huang says that the regime, for her, seemed like “a big novelty” in the first week, but then she realized that it was necessary keep it for another three weeks. And messaging her friends helped her move forward.
Even though he describes the facility as being prison-like, Huang believes that the experience was worth it. She lost 6 kg in 28 days.
“It completely reset me and provided the structure I needed,” he says.
“It may harm normal development”
But experts recommend caution. The focus of the camps is especially concerning.
When we lose weight, we lose both muscle mass and fataccording to Luke Hanna.
Therefore, if we use extreme methods, such as excessive exercise, the chances of losing muscle mass increase — which is especially problematic in the case of young people and children.
“It is also possible that this impair normal developmentwhich can affect final height and bone health”, he explains.
Psychological problems could also arise, which significantly increases the risk of developing eating disorders.
“Some people lose a lot of weight, which may seem attractive, but many lose weight. recover quickly when returning to their normal lifefor not having addressed the underlying causes or problems”, highlights Hanna.
The NHS, the United Kingdom’s public health service, recommends gradual weight loss, between 500 g and 1 kg.
Hanna advises people to focus on gradual changes in habits in your daily life, eating nutritious foods regularly, eating enough protein and exercising for pleasure, not as a punishment.
In a later Instagram video, TL Huang comments that the hardest part was returning home, as his body no longer recognized the feeling of eating “normally”.
A healthy diet should include at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day, in addition to 150 minutes of exercise per week.
Drinking water instead of sugary soft drinks and reducing your consumption of foods high in fat and sugar can also bring benefits.
Discrimination
Weight loss camps became popular in China in the early 2000s, when a TV program showed the inner workings of these organizations, according to journalist Wanqing Zhang, from the BBC’s Global China unit.
Coaches from these programs decided to open their own camps. But the real peak came in the last 10 yearswith social networks.
“If you browse Chinese social media, you will find a lot of content published, both by camp organizers and by the participants themselves,” says Zhang.
Camps can range from ordinary and rigorous, like the center where Huang was, to extreme options, like locations with surveillance cameras outside dormitories to prevent people from trying to order food delivery, Zhang explains.
At the other extreme, there are “luxury retreats, where you can run on a treadmill overlooking a beautiful lake”.
The main motivation for the initiative is the increasing increase in obesity around the world.
In about two-thirds of countries, more than 50% of adults are obese or overweight. And Chinese health authorities estimate that 34% of adults in the country are overweight and 16% are obese.
There is also a cultural problem, according to Zhang.
“China is a country with relatively low acceptance and tolerance for weight diversity. This means that if you are overweight, you are probably will suffer greater discrimination at work or in their sentimental relationships.”
The refined carbohydrates present in rice, pasta and traditional gyozas (noodle dumplings that can be stuffed) are a constant problem.
Another issue is that, not only in China, but all over the world, people spend their free time at home using cell phones and tablets instead of going outdoors.
Now, Huang’s Instagram account shows that the young woman is in Thailand, participating in another 30-day weight loss challenge, which includes exercising for two hours a day in extreme heat.
