WEIGHT LOSS CONSULTANT COURSE - BRE307

Weight Loss Consultant Course

With obesity at an all time high, it has been classed as an epidemic. Being a precursor for a host of diseases and illness, it has become a matter of life and death for people to maintain a healthy weight.

You can help!

This course covers everything you need to know about becoming a weight loss consultant. You will learn all about the physical aspects of weight loss, including biology, exercise and diet, as well as the psychology of weight loss (a super important but often overlooked aspect of weight loss).

Importantly, you will also learn a range of practical skills to help you run a successful business.

Weight loss services are designed to help clients lose weight and improve their overall fitness and health. Throughout this course we shall examine how to set up effective weight loss services and provide you with the knowledge and skills to support these services.

COURSE STRUCTURE AND CONTENTS

There are eight lessons, as follows:

Scope and Nature of Weight Loss
Managing Physical Activity
Managing the Diet
Managing Psychology
Tools for the Consultant
Delivering Weight Loss Services
Conducting a Weight Loss Consultation
Establishing a Weight Loss Business

Duration: 100 hours

Do You Provide Individual or Group Consultations?

There are opportunities to work in both, or either.

Individual consultations allow you to cater for the individual needs of a weight loss client. These consultations provide you with more time to evaluate client’s dietary intake and weight loss history, practice behavioural change strategies and provide more tailored dietary advice. Generally you will see clients for one initial consultation which will last for around an hour and then clients will attend for a series of follow up consultations of around 20 minutes to ½ an hour. To see clients individually you may wish to rent a room e.g. in a health or leisure centre or retail outlet either on an ongoing basis or on a more flexible basis. You could also conduct private home consultations either in your own home or where you go to your client’s home.

Group support is an important aspect of long term weight loss success. In fact there is evidence to suggest that people who attend regular weight control groups are more than 3 times as likely to lose weight as those who try to lose weight on their own where groups with weekly meetings have been associated most positively with success. Weight loss support groups offer prospective dieters a solid support system to assist them with weight loss.

Groups can benefit each participant by providing peer support and encouragement as each group member will be going through their own dietary journey either be trying to lose weight or have lost weight and are trying to maintain the weight they lost, thus giving them a personal insight into each others struggle. In this way group participants can encourage group members who are doing well and also listen to those who are having a bad week providing encouragement. Studies have also highlighted that a group environment can also help to reduce some of the stress associated with dieting and weight control. It may be that participants benefit from knowing that they are not alone in experiencing weight problems that helps them to cope better while sharing problems with others can also remove anxiety.

A disadvantage of group weight loss is potential embarrassment about participant’s weight; they may feel shame if they are not doing as well as others, or have a relapse; and some people may feel too shy to participate in a group so they may not get everything they need from the programme. An awareness of these issues will hopefully help the Weight Loss consultant to avoid these problems.

Consultations Start with Assessing Your Client(s)

Most clients attending weight management groups or clinics will expect their weight to be checked. But be sensitive and ensure that clients are given as much privacy as possible when taking measurements.

There are two main methods to determine the risks associated with any excess weight a client may be carrying. The first method looks at their Body Mass Index (BMI) and the second method looks at their waist circumference. Here we will look at both methods in turn:

Administering weight checks

If you are seeing patients on a one to one basis you will most likely check your client’s weight and waist circumference yourself, while you may also wish to undertake these checks in a larger group setting and should be aware that this can be time consuming. For larger groups you could therefore get clients to monitor their own weight and waist measurement teaching them on their first week how to take the relevant measurements.

Basic technique for weight checks/ calculating BMI

Encourage clients to remove their shoes and stand on your chosen weighing scales.
Convert weight to kilograms using an appropriate weight conversion chart
Check height using a height measure (week 1 only) and convert height into meters (where measured in feet and inches) using a conversion chart.
Use a BMI chart or take the weight in kilograms and divide by height in meters squared to reveal a client’s Body Mass Index and record data on a weight record card. Where using a BMI chart draw a line horizontally across the chart at the client’s height and a line vertically up from their weight. Your client’s BMI can be seen at the point where the two lines intersect.

Remember each time you conduct a clinic or group to take a set of scales (preferably the same scales each week) and also weight and height conversion charts as well as a record card for each client. Your weighing scales should be calibrated for accuracy and stable for patients to stand on which excludes some bathroom scales. You should also consider whether your scales are capable of weighing patients in higher weight categories. When using scales ensure that a client does not touch anything in the immediate environment e.g. a door or wall and preferably clients should be encouraged to wear similar clothing each time they are weighed.

Determining your client’s waist measurement

Waist circumference is another important part of a client’s health assessment as research has shown conclusively that it is not only the quantity of body fat that affects our health but also where it is distributed in our bodies. Waist circumference is itself a good indicator of general health and a client’s risk of heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. Generally people who are pear shaped with excess fat on their hips and thighs seem to be at a lower risk of these conditions than those who carry their weight around their abdomen, as their waist gets bigger health risks begin to increase.

Basic technique for measuring waist circumference

Measure your client’s waist measurement in centimeters using a tape measure to measure the point midway between their hips and ribs.
Record waist measurements on a record chart and compare to ideal measurements which are less than 80cm (32 inches) for women and less than 94cm (37 inches) for men. Women have an increased health risk if their waist measurement is 80 cm or more and have a high health risk if this measurement is over 88cm (35 inches), whereas men have an increased health risk if their waist is over 94cm and a high risk if it is over 102cm.

WEIGHT LOSS CONSULTANT COURSE - BRE307