Weight loss Consultant Course

Learn to be a Weight Loss Consultant

Study to be a Weight Loss Consultant by Distance Education

The prevalence of obesity is increasing in all age groups and virtually all populations worldwide.
With this rise in obesity rates has come a wide range of opportunities to develop weight loss services to help clients to lose weight and increase their fitness levels.
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.

Lesson Structure

There are 8 lessons in this course:

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
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
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
Managing the Psychology
- Eating and Emotions
- The Brain and Weight Management
- Managing the Psychology
- Helping People to Make Changes
- Stages og Change Explained -Pre contemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, Maintenance, Relapse
Tools for the Consultant
- Determining Weight Status of Clients
- Administering Weight Checks
- Calculating BMI
- Interpreting BMI
- Setting Targets
- Determining Waiste Measurement
- Health Evaluation
- Nutritional Advice
- Running Supermarket Tours
- Food Labels
Delivering Weight Loss Services
- Individual Consultations
- Features of an Ideal One to One Consultation
- Good Questioning Skills
- Running Group Sessions
- Running Independant 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
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
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 PlanPromotion, Advertising, Networking
- Summary of a Successful Business

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

Explain factors that affect weight in a body.
Determine the scope and nature of the weight loss industry in your region.
Explain the role of physical activity in weight loss and provide practical advice and resources for you to use as a weight loss consultant.
Explain the role of dietary change in weight loss and provide practical advice and resources for you to use as a weight loss consultant.
Explain a variety of ways that psychology can be applied to the control of weight.
Determine weight status of clients
Select and implement and manage the use of different techniques to control weight in clients
Identify a viable weight loss service, and those things that must be done to optimize the chance of ongoing success.
Adapt dietary resources based on needs of an individual or a particular group.
Planning to start a weight management group
Develop a weight management service as a business

When deciding on a weight reduction venture it is important to consider where your interests lie and also how much autonomy you wish to have. Depending on your specific interests you may wish to advise people individually at home or in a clinic environment, or may prefer to offer group meetings where you have complete control over session plans and delivery or alternatively you may wish to join a weight reducing business as an employee or franchise holder.

INDIVIDUAL CONSULTATIONS

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. The first option will clearly have greater start up costs although may prove more profitable in the longer term when you have established a larger client base. The timings of your consultations will also affect the attractiveness of your service to potential weight loss clients. Generally clients will require you to be flexible in terms of their appointment time and date and this can be difficult to juggle. Whilst you may charge more for each individual client the revenue of an hour long weight management group catering for six or more clients will be higher.

GROUP SESSIONS

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.

Image: Andy Newson

$525.00

Shopping Cart: 4 items

Lesson Structure

Aims

Shopping Cart:
4 items