Right now, as you’re considering the program, it may seem like you’re sending the message that you think your child is overweight. Often, this is what the child thinks. Of course, the message you intend to send is that you care about your child’s health. But she may not see this.

The hardest part is the few weeks or days between the decision and the enrollment. Once your child enrolls, the identification will shift to a very positive one. For at Wellspring Academies, we use what we call the “athletic metaphor” for weight control.

All Wellspring students are “athletes in training” in that they are transforming their bodies in ways that their biology resists. Human biology isn’t designed to run a mile in 4 minutes or throw a fastball at 90 MPH. But through training and perseverance, these feats are common for elite athletes.

In the same way, the human body isn’t designed to lose weight and keep it off. Rather, our biologies were designed tens of thousands of years ago to store fat to survive famine. Biologically, we are all still “hunter-gatherers.” However, biology is not destiny. By mastering the Wellspring program, students can return to a healthy weight and stay there for the rest of their life.