I’ve taken obese Scouts to Philmont at least 3 times, and they typically lose 30 to 50 pounds over two weeks.
It’s life-changing for them.
Most have been coddled by helicopter mamas or ignored by dual-incomers all of their lives.
When they return the next year they are always in better shape and have vastly better attitudes.
I was a Boy Scout in a hardcore backpacking troop. We had a few fat and/or soft kids in the troop. Those of us who made it to the base camp first would double back 2-3 miles to the slowest hikers and carry their packs for them. It's called teamwork.
Did a 60-mile trek over 10 days in the north country of Philmont in 1990 with a 2 crews of 9 boys and 3 adults, each. I was 35 and in very good condition before the trek. Still lost quite a few lbs, but never went hungry. They really had the menu/nutrition science down pat. Upon returning to the real world, colleagues at work were laughing and pointing at my posterior asking, "Where's your ass?"
As others have pointed out over the last 1.5 months, at some point down the pike, BSA will be faced with a "fire sale" for its properties - either the big 4 national high adventure bases and/or local council camps. Others have speculated that some religious denominations (of course, they are all losing membership, too) may be positioned to pick up some of these properties when they become available.
Donald Rumsfeld served on staff at Philmont in the late 1940s, is a Distinguised Eagle Scout, and retired somewhere in north central NM - west of Philmont. Wonder if he could be approached to help OnMyHonor.Net?
The new rules were pretty strict; so much so that for Jamboree, they actually relaxed the rule, so that kids that were obese but not morbidly obese, could attend if they had approval from their physician. My son was working on getting down to the appropriate weight, when he decided going to Jamboree just wasn’t worth it.
Instead, he went with 3 scouts and two adults on a 10-day canoe trip through the backwater lakes of canada, and had a blast.