Fit Kids and TIPPS

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

Purpose:

To assist overweight children and youth in developing a lifestyle makeover that includes healthy eating and physical activity behaviors, while at the same time improving their selfesteem

Target Population:

Fit Kids is a six-week program designed for overweight children, ages 6 to 12, and their families; TIPPs is a 12-week after-school exercise and nutrition program for overweight youth ages 10 to 18 and their families

Program Goals:

Fit Kids

• Create healthy lifestyle changes for everyone in the family
• Use a nondiet approach to eliminate food struggles, increase understanding of nutrition, improve eating habits and patterns, and promote consumption of fruits and vegetables
• Develop increased levels of physical activity
• Decrease amounts of sedentary activities

TIPPs

• Increase daily physical activity
• Decrease sedentary behavior (TV, video and computer games)
• Increase healthy eating behaviors
• Delay for life, if possible, the onset of Type 2 diabetes

Years in Operation:

1996 – present

Results:

Fit Kids - Nearly 700 families have attended the classes (overall class completion rate of 96 percent). Pre- and post-tests (conducted two years apart) of parents and children to assess changes in knowledge and behaviors demonstrated improvement in the following areas: 97 percent report serving fruits/vegetables; 67 percent report increased physical activity in the family; 58 percent have reduced the total amount of "screen time," and; 98 percent offer milk or water with meals and snacks.

TIPPs - Pre- and post-tests are conducted to determine program impacts on lab values,
height, weight, fitness level and eating habits. Outcomes include stabilization of body mass
index, improved lab values, and increased voluntary physical activity: 78 percent decreased/
stabilized body mass index, 61 percent decreased total cholesterol, 61 percent low-density lipoprotein (bad) cholesterol, 54 percent increased high-density lipoprotein (good) cholesterol, and 57 percent normalized or decreased fasting insulin.

Funding:

Participants are required to pay registration fees of $200 per program.

Key Partners:

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta

What Works and Why:

Involvement of parents is critical to the success of these programs. Parents learn about and discuss the importance of family dynamics around eating and nutrition, hunger-fullness regulation, the child's body image, physical activity and the parents as role models, and barriers to change in making family lifestyle improvements.

Structure and Operations:

Fit Kids - There are two instructors for each class, one for parents and one for the kids. At each class, families meet as a group to review nutrition and physical activity goals. The class is then split between parents and kids. Kids follow the same curriculum and receive a 45- minute exercise session. A weekly goal sheet is completed to track behavior changes in five areas: completion of weekly family activity, consumption of fruits and vegetables, amount of "screen time" spent each week, number of family meals served, and number of sweetened beverages served.

TIPPs - Participants begin with baseline lab values, height and weight measurements, fitness testing, and eating habits questionnaires, which are used to develop individualized exercise and nutrition sessions. Youth participate in twice-weekly 45-minute exercise sessions after a fitness assessment with an exercise specialist, learning about benefits of an active lifestyle. Participants engage in balance, flexibility and strength training and aerobic conditioning. Four individual nutrition consultants and two food demonstrations of healthy eating provide guidance to facilitate positive eating behaviors and support active lifestyles. After 12 weeks, lab values, height, weight, fitness level and eating habits are reassessed, and healthy lifestyle goals are redefined.

Barriers to Success:

The small size and scope of the programs limits their ability to reach a large number of children and families. Also, many children who could benefit from the programs may not be able o afford the registration fees.

More Information:

http://www.choa.org/default.aspx?id=3225

Download:

Download this program information in PDF format.