Lima OH -- We are rapidly approaching the end of March, the end of the first quarter of 2007. Pop quiz: of all those new members you signed up with a January first resolution to lose weight, how many are still coming to the club?
Unfortunately, if you're like most gyms, the number is very low. In fact, mental depression runs high the 3rd week in January because most people failed to meet their resolutions.
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"…fitness clubs, as a whole, are failing to address the overweight market segment…"
Donna Krech, founder and CEO of Thin & Healthy Total Solution,
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Weight loss expert Donna Krech (above) has designed a weight loss program that easily dovetails with health clubs. It's not about food, this program gets to the psychological source of weight gain and prescribes solutions which includes gym exercise.
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According to weight loss expert Donna Krech, founder and CEO of Thin & Healthy Total Solution, fitness clubs, as a whole, are failing to address the overweight market segment. Krech will be addressing this month' IHRSA convention on a related topic, "Life Success for Kids! Strategies for Conquering the Childhood Obesity Epidemic," on March 31st.
Harmony Keynote Address on Weight Loss Programs for Health Clubs
It was just last October that Krech addressed a group of gym owners at the Harmony Fitness Workshop in Houston. She got their attention by stating, "The health club industry in America should be the solution to the obesity problem. Instead, we're the problem", she said, " Our clubs should be where people go to take off those extra pounds and not feel self-conscious."
The data is very sobering, "96% of overweight people actually want to join a club, but current dynamics prevent them from doing so, 40% of weight loss people never exercise… and 100% have lost weight before only to put it back on," Krech revealed in her keynote address.
Adding Weight Loss Programs to Health Clubs Requires a Highbred Approach
Krech believes the solution lies in a highbred approach, that is the coupling of gyms and bona fide weight loss programs. Her message was that, although unintentional, most gyms today are sending a signal that they are prejudiced against fat people. Therefore the majority of the weight-loss crowd will never set foot in a gym. |
Today, many gym owners are recognizing the large opportunities may lie with the weight-loss market. 86% of the US population do not belong to health clubs. Given the fact that 67% of the US population is either overweight or obese. It's clear that fertile grounds for increased memberships lies in the mammoth overweight market.
Krech has designed a weight loss program, called Thin & Healthy Total Solution that quickly and easily dovetails into existing health clubs be they large multipurpose ones, or a small hydraulic circuit gyms. It's a hybrid model where her company could bring the their depth of knowledge about how to market to its service the weight-loss market.
Speaking Their Language
To tap the overweight market requires a new mode of communication. "You have to understand that overweight people are just fed up. They have been on so many "diets" over the years, that they really are just tired. But they really are looking for a way to lose all their weight and keep it off. Keeping it off is why we call it 'The Total Solution'. "
"Overweight people are very sensitive so you must meet them where they emotionally are. The thing that holds back most people from weight loss, is that their motivation gets killed. So that's why we're here to help", says Krech, "It's not about the food, it's about the motivation, once you can find that big 'Why', you can motivate them to lose weight."
Krech is a svelte size 2 dress size, and given her youthful appearance, you would never believe she has a 25-year-old daughter. But she wasn't always that way, which gives her special empathy toward overweight people and what they are feeling. Krech was once a size 12, " I was a pretty big girl. At that point in my life, I was eating out of depression and boredom," she recalled.
In addition to her weight-loss knowledge, Krech is also an expert in fitness. She has been involved in weight loss and health clubs since 1982 in Texas. And was involved with Body Genics Fitness for Women in March, 1991, and then started Thin and Healthy in 1994.
The Thin & Healthy Total Solution program is currently has 150+ locations. There are 32 licenses in health clubs, chiropractic offices and free-standing units.
The program is different from other weight-loss programs, which focused solely on food and support groups. This one encourage clients to take up some form of exercise which is why the coexistence in health clubs makes sense.
The Thin & Healthy Total Solution program has 3 essential parts:
- Healthy Foods Education Plan
- Metabolism Retraining through exercise
- Life Success Motivation
An Invitation To Health Clubs to Add a Weight Loss Program and Another Profit Center Now health clubs can integrate the Thin & Healthy Total Solution weight loss plan rather quickly with little additional investment and no additional space. Cash flow at some locations has increased by $2,000-$8,000 a month. And best of weight loss, is an logical adjunct to the core competency of the health club business.
About the Thin & Healthy Total Solution Weight Loss Program
Learn more about adding weight loss program for your gym. Click on "Our Licensing Programs" on left vertical navigation".
Posted: 03/19/2007
Source: FitCommerce.com
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