There was no reason for Jennifer Morton to move to Utah, except one: It was the place she lost 40 pounds.
In 2009, Morton was working 90-hour weeks as the director of learning at a large company outside Louisville, Kentucky. She travelled 80 per cent of the time, and her weight shot up. Panicked and exhausted, she quit her job and checked into Fitness Ridge (now called Movara Fitness Resort), a weight-loss and fitness retreat in southern Utah.
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She ended up staying a month. "All of a sudden, I was in a place where everybody was like me," said Morton, 40. "It felt like home."
Five weeks later, it really was: She packed up her belongings and settled into a house less than a mile from the resort in the town of St George. Not long after, she began teaching classes at Movara on emotional eating and food addiction, guiding clients through their own body battles.
"It just made sense to do this," Morton said. The low cost of living was appealing, as was the natural beauty. But most importantly, she could continue the healthy lifestyle she had embraced.
"At the resort, the way you feel about who you are is so important to protect that you're willing to stay in that environment to make sure it sticks," said Morton, who began doing triathlons after her stay. "If you find your best self somewhere, you definitely don't want to leave it."
People like Morton are adopting a model familiar to those fighting substance abuse, who are often encouraged to change their environments and relationships post-rehab in order to "stay clean." (Minnesota, for example, is half-jokingly referred to as "Minnesober" because of the large number of rehab centres there and the many people in various stages of recovery, who often remain in the state after treatment.)
"Addiction is a lifelong problem that people have to deal with, and it's the same with weight," said William Yancy, director of the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, NC "Even if they reach their goal, it's something they need help and support with." "It speaks to the power of the proverbial 'toxic food environment,'" said David Sarwer, director of the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Temple University's College of Public Health. "When we're in our normal day-to-day routines, and those routines have become second nature to us, there are countless negative influences on our eating habits and sedentary behaviour that contributes to weight gain." Relocating, he said, offers an opportunity to create new habits. "In these cases, people have the opportunity to make a significant commitment to health and well-being to live in a geographical location that promotes health," he said.
From 2007 to 2012, Marjorie S Fine went twice a year to the Duke diet and fitness programme. She would lose about 30 pounds during her two-month stay, and regain half when she returned home to Miami. "I would chip away at the weight, but never really be anywhere near 99 per cent successful," said Fine, 69.
Late in 2015, she and her husband moved full-time to Durham (once called the "diet capital of the world" because of the number of weight-loss facilities there). She exercises and eats lunch at Structure House, a residential programme in town, six days a week, and attends individual therapy and weekly Overeaters Anonymous meetings there.
"As with any other addiction, you have to work on it on a daily basis," said Fine, who has now lost 65 pounds and hopes to lose another 40.
"It's very important to have that shared experience and problem solve together," said Catherine J Metzgar of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the lead author of a study that found social support and being accountable to others helped some women lose and maintain weight loss.
©2016 The New York Times News Service
