image sourceTL Huang
In recent videos posted on social media, people can be seen exercising in a large sports hall, standing on lawns to get food from a canteen and sleeping in shared rooms with multiple beds.
But these are videos not of a luxury fitness club, but of a military-style weight loss camp in China. Some call them ‘fat people’s prisons’.
All kinds of snacks are banned here and people are weighed twice a day.
Like the rest of the world, the problem of obesity is intensifying in China. According to Chinese media, there are about 1,000 such campuses running across the country.
Anyone can book a month here for six hundred dollars. During this time, apart from accommodation and food in the camp, he will also be given exercise classes on a daily basis.
Content creator TL Huang shares her experiences from her days at one such camp on her Instagram account ‘Egg Eats’.
Huang told BBC World Service’s ‘What in the World’ that the place felt like a ‘prison’ because he couldn’t leave for 28 days and had to watch his weight every day.
‘Our trainers were watching us all the time, making sure we didn’t sneak junk food.’
She adds that skipping classes or going outside the camp without any valid reason was not allowed.
Although Huang found the method effective, nutritionists worry that such drastic weight loss methods can harm physical and mental health.
Nutritionist Luke Hanna says some camps reportedly set a goal of losing one kilogram a day. According to them, this is much higher than the weight loss limit for adults under medical supervision.
The question arises, how do these camps work and why are they becoming so popular?
‘It’s time for a change’
image sourceTL Huang
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Huang says he was told about these campuses by his mother, who is Chinese.
He says that after traveling alone in China, his health began to deteriorate. Her daily routine was also disturbed and she started eating out a lot.
Hwang says that in the past three years, he had gained about 20 kg, which caused his relatives to make various comments about him. Huang felt that now was the time to ‘make a change’ in his life.
‘I felt like I was being criticized for my fatness but in a way I also felt they were showing their love through their criticism.’
But it turned out to be a ‘cultural shock’ for Camp Huang. According to him, the camp participants developed deep friendships as they were all trying to lose weight.
The day at the camp would start with a weigh-in at 7.30 am. Participants were given four hours of daily exercise, which included exercises such as spin class, trampolining, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), Tabata, a more rigorous form of HIIT, and weight lifting.
For breakfast, they would get four boiled eggs, half a tomato and two slices of cucumber. In one video, Huang is seen talking about her midday meals, which include prawns, steamed vegetables and spreads, or steamed fish, steamed green leafy vegetables and cauliflower.
These meals, he says, ‘would have been as good and balanced as everyday Chinese food.’
Participants had to take a one-hour spin class after dinner, after which they were weighed a second time during the day. After that, they could take a bath and relax.
Huang says it all felt ‘great’ for the first week, but then he realized he would have to stick to the same routine for another three weeks. According to him, chatting with friends over messages helped him keep his spirits up.
She likens the camp to a prison, however, she believes that she has benefited greatly from going there and has managed to lose around six kilograms in 28 days.
‘Disruption to normal development’
image sourceGetty Images
Experts advise to be careful about this.
London-based personal trainer Luke Hanna says the approach of these camps is cause for concern. They point out that when you lose weight, you’re losing muscle tissue along with your fat.
They say that if you follow a rigorous regimen like excessive exercise, it also increases the risk of damaging your muscle tissue.
It becomes even more worrisome, especially when children or young people lose weight in this way.
Thus, their normal development can also be hindered. That is, it can affect how tall they will be in the future or how healthy their bones will be.’
In addition, it can lead to psychological disorders, including eating disorders.
He says that some people actually manage to lose a lot of weight, which makes the method very attractive, but according to Hana, when these people return to their normal lives, most of them quickly gain weight because the method does not address the underlying causes or problems of weight gain.
The UK’s National Health Service recommends a gradual weight loss of one to two pounds, or 0.5 to 1 kilogram.
According to Hana, instead, people should focus on making gradual changes to their habits in their daily lives. Like eating nutritious foods regularly, getting a good amount of protein and exercising for fun and fun rather than punishment.
Huang admitted in a video posted on Instagram after returning from the camp that the hardest part for him was returning home because his body had forgotten how to eat ‘normally’.
A healthy diet should include at least five servings of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis, as well as aim for at least 150 minutes of exercise per week.
Drinking water instead of sugary drinks and cutting back on high-fat and sugary foods can also help.
‘Overweight people face discrimination’
image sourceTL Huang
Wan Qingzhang of the BBC Global China Unit explains that the trend of these weight-loss camps in China flourished in the early 2000s.
It actually started after a TV program that featured various weight loss camps and organizations. Coaches from these shows decided to open their own weight loss camps, but the real boom in the trend came after the rise of social media in the last ten years.
“If you go on Chinese social media, you’ll see a lot of content posted by weight loss camp organizers or clients who have attended those camps,” says Zhang.
According to Zhang, these range from camps with strict discipline to camps where CCTV cameras are installed outside the rooms so that no one can order food from outside.
There are also luxurious and upscale campuses where you can run on a treadmill while enjoying a beautiful lake view, he explains.
The main reason for starting all these camps is the worldwide obesity problem. In nearly two-thirds of countries, more than 50 percent of young people are overweight or considered obese. According to Chinese health officials, about 34 percent of the country’s youth are overweight and 16 percent are obese.
Zhang says there’s also a cultural side to the problem. People who are overweight or underweight are not looked down upon in China, he says. ‘For example if you are overweight, you may face more discrimination in the workplace or in dating.’
Refined carbohydrates found in rice, dumplings and noodles are also a big problem. Another thing is that people around the world now spend their free time on their phones or tablets instead of going out.
Meanwhile, Hwang’s Instagram shows that she is currently in Thailand participating in another 30-day weight loss challenge. There she exercises for two hours every day in the scorching heat.
