Help People Fight Obesity 

• Study weight management
•  Learn about the weight management industry and business opportunities as a weight loss consultant

World health authority data has demonstrated that world wide obesity has doubled over the past 30 years affecting over 200 million men in 2008 and nearly 300 million women, while as many as 1.5 billion adults are currently overweight.

Body Mass Index (BMI) is used as a tool for determining the actual risks to an individual of being overweight or obese. This tool is a simple index of weight-for-height (calculated by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by the square of their height in meters (kg/m2) and is used alongside charts to determine their relative health risk. The World Health Authority definition of being overweight as having a BMI greater than or equal to 25 and definition of obesity as having a BMI greater than or equal to 30. For children and teenagers different criteria apply which take into account the differences in body fat between girls and boys as well as differences at various ages.

Unfortunately the explosion of obesity rates has also had a significant impact on health. Raised BMI is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, osteoarthritis as well being associated with certain cancers such as those affecting the breast and colon. As a result of these health effects, overweight and obesity is now the fifth leading risk for deaths worldwide with at least 2.8 million adults dying on an annual basis as a result of being overweight or obese. Sadly the future health of our children will also be affected by rising obesity rates - as many as 43 million children, younger than 5 years of age, were defined as being overweight in 2010, a figure which is rapidly increasing.

When looking at these figures it becomes obvious that something needs to be done  - Are you going to help?

Course Content

This is a 100 hour course. Studies are self paced. You can work fast or slow; as it best suits your lifestyle.  The course is broken up into eight lessons, with each lesson covering the things outlined below.

1. Scope and Nature of Weight Loss 

• Obesity Defined 
• Genetics 
• Diet 
• Exercise 
• Life Events 
• Adolescence 
• Pregnancy 
• Menopause 
• Middle Age 
• Stopping Smoking 
• Weight gain linked to Medication 
• Weight gain following Injury or Illness 
• Scope and Nature of Weight Loss Industry 
• Health Programs 
• Meal Replacement Products 
• Pharmacotherapy 
• Surgery for Weight Loss 

2. Managing Physical Activity

• Role of Physical Activity in Energy Balance 
• Role of Physical Activity Raising Metabolic Rate 
• Bone Mass Maintenance 
• Physical Activity and Mental Health 
• Specific Aspects of Exercise When Overweight 
• Tips to get started with Exercise 
• Types of Exercise and Effectiveness for Weight Loss 
• Cardiovascular Activity 
• Optimum Target Heart Rate for Fat Burning
• Resistance Activities 
• Exercise Progression 
• Recommending Exercise

3. Managing the Diet

• Teaching Portion Control 
• Beginning to Address Portion Control 
• Energy Density 
• Fats and Energy Density 
• Sources of Fats 
• Tips to Reduce Fat 
• Practical Tips Based on Daily Meal Plan 
• Sugar and Weight Reducing 
• General Weight Loss Tips 
• Using Food Diaries 
• Nutrition Resources and Lesson Planning

4. Managing the Psychology

• Eating and Emotions 
• The Brain and Weight Management 
• Managing the Psychology 
• Helping People to Make Changes
• Stages of Change Explained -Pre contemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, Maintenance, Relapse

5. Tools for the Consultant

• Determining Weight Status of Clients 
• Administering Weight Checks 
• Calculating BMI 
• Interpreting BMI 
• Setting Targets 
• Determining Waist Measurement 
• Health Evaluation 
• Nutritional Advice
• Running Supermarket Tours 
• Food Labels

6. Delivering Weight Loss Services

• Individual Consultations
• Features of an Ideal One to One Consultation 
• Good Questioning Skills 
• Running Group Sessions 
• Running Independent Weight Management Group Sessions
• Joining an Established Weight Management Business 
• Potential Barriers to Weight Loss 
• Social Issues and Pressure 
• Time Constraints 
• Lifestyle 
• Physical Limitations 
• Psychological Limitations 
• Age 
• Hormonal Issues

7. Conducting a Weight Loss Consultation

• The Next Step 
• Target Marketing 
• Demand 
• Competition 
• Location 
• PBL Project -A major project where you:
  -Explain the basics of obesity, explain fully the causes, symptoms, and associated health risks.
  -Identify a target market that will benefit from your services.
  -Develop a marketing strategy to attract clients from your target market
  -Identify the nutritional, physical exercise, and psychological contributions to obesity.
  -Identify and convey the importance of addressing all of the above elements in a successful weight loss programme.
  -Present clear, concise and readily understandable guidelines that address appropriate interventions for the clients to take home and follow
  -Develop appropriate assessment tools and strategies to identify and monitor your clients needs.
  -Discuss the challenges for your client to adhere to the programme, and outline strategies to support them.
  -Compare and contrast the dietary, exercise and psychological strategies you have decided to use, with other weight loss strategies you have decided not to use (e.g. surgery, meal replacement drinks, medication)
  -Represent complex health information in a clear, simple format, readily understandable by the individual assuming they have little or no nutritional background

8. Establishing a Weight Loss Business 

• Starting a New Business 
• Personality and Lifestyle 
• Affordability 
• Industry Knowledge and Experience 
• Starting a Business versus Buying a Franchise 
• Business Plans 
• The Planning Process 
• Marketing 
• The Marketing Plan
• Promotion, Advertising, Networking 
• Summary of a Successful Business

Learn How Exercise, Diet, Genetics and Psychology all Impact Weight

Weight is managed by first of all understanding the factors that affect weight, then managing all of those factors.

Often people try to reduce weight by working on just one factor; but whether it be "exercising more", "eating less", or something else; it is not a good idea to approach weight management from such a narrow perspective.

Diet of course is important

Most people will see weight affected if they eat too much of the wrong thing. Often though, it is not just a matter of how much you eat but also how much you eat.  eg. Research (at Monash university) into the digestibility of sugars) has shown that eliminating the type of sugar eaten, but still eating the same quantity of sugar, can reduce weight in many people. 

The rate at which you eat can also have an impact. We know that food sends a signal to the brain, to say you are not hungry; only when it reaches a certain point in the digestive system. If you eat slow; food may reach that point and communicate with the brain before the meal is over. That makes you want to stop, and eat less.

Physical Activity is always important

Physical activity has been defined as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles requiring energy expenditure. The world health authority has identified physical inactivity as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality causing an estimated 3.2 million deaths per year. Unfortunately, there is a wealth of evidence to suggest that physical activity levels have declined in many countries worldwide.

Physical activity has significant benefits for health, for example reducing the risk of:

• diabetes
• cardiovascular disease
• depression
• certain cancers such as breast cancer and cancer of the colon

Physical activity is also a key determinant of our daily energy expenditure and of our energy balance and weight control. As a weight loss consultant it is therefore inconceivable to advise clients on weight control without also advising them on the benefits of increasing their physical activity.

BENEFITS OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN ANY WEIGHT CONTROL PROGRAM

As we shall discover physical activity offers many advantages to people trying to lose weight.

The role of physical activity in energy balance

Losing weight, gaining weight or maintaining weight depends on the balance of joules taken in to the amount of joules used up through activity. To help clients lose weight it is crucial to teach them how to balance their energy intake from food with their energy output expended through activity. It is the imbalance of these two factors which usually results in the weight they have gained in the first place.

While energy input and output does not need to balance every day, it is the balance of these factors over an extended period of time that makes a difference. Additionally small imbalances can be significant over time. For example, eating just 628 joules (150 calories) more a day than you can burn through physical activity can lead to a weight gain of 2.3 kg in 6 months or 4.5kg over one year. This 628 joules can be provided very easily e.g. one can of coke has approximately 648 joules as does 1 small chocolate biscuit or one small 30g chocolate bar.

When setting weight loss goals with a client, we tend to encourage gradual weight loss of around 0.5 -1 kg each week. Each 500g of fat your body stores represents around 14650 joules of unused energy and losing 0.5kg a week relies on a energy deficit of 14650 joules per week or 2093 joules (500 calories) per day for one week. To achieve this energy deficit a client would have to take in less energy from their diet or do extra exercise with energy expenditure equivalent to 2093 joules per day. Of course the ideal is to combine diet with increased activity.

We shall concentrate more on dietary changes which add up to 2093 joules in later lessons but here we will look specifically at how exercise can contribute to an energy deficit.

Teaching energy expenditure is crucial as studies have consistently found that people frequently overestimate how much energy they expend through physical activity and this can cause them to gain weight as they allow themselves to eat more to account for this deficit.

For example your weight loss clients may be surprised that cycling for 1 hour at 8.05kph (5mph) burns around 728 joules, which is not much more than the chocolate biscuit as previously mentioned.

To show clients the energy expended by different activities you can develop a chart such as in the example below and may like to add specific activities undertaken by group members. Whilst the energy expenditures of some activities may look small, remember also to encourage the idea that exercising regularly will make a difference to long term weight control. Regular exercise has also been shown to help patients adhere to a dietary plan.