Duke Diet and Fitness Center

Duke University Diet & Fitness was a program that is great for all ages and sizes. My personal goals for attending the program was a one week immersion to accomplish the following:
1. Clarity: Leverage the past decades of my diet fads of learning and confirm if they were: 1. Fact, 2. Fiction or 3. Opinion.
2. Baselining: I wanted to baseline my current stats from a weight, BMI, Metabolic Rate
3. Medical Overview: I wanted a complete blood work analysis completed in which all key and leading indicator attributes are captured
4. Nutrition: one on one time with professional nutritionist (s) in which establish a plan and speak very candidly about options and opportunities. The DFC does not try to fit all into the same diet model but offers many scenarios from Low Calorie to Low Carb while ensuring you balance your full nutrition needs.
5. Fitness: One on One time with a certified fitness instructor to discuss goals and challenges with recommendations. In addition, ability to return to the gym with the guidance and instruction of a certified professional to introduce me to programs I haven’t tried in the past such as Pilates and Step Aerobics while establishing a routine that meets my current life personal and work demands
6. Knowledge Gain: participate in formal lectures which discuss key aspects to my knowledge gaps which included vitamins & minerals, nutrition, arthritis, blood work result interpretations, culinary programs, etc…
7. Mental: one on one time a psychologist to understand all aspects of our life and make recommendations and suggestions to increase the opportunity for success. In addition the opportunity to participate in various meditation programs and psych lectures.
What was more appealing was the aspects i didn’t consider. The fact that I would meet many fantastic people from around the world (yes, world) and share great personal stories and learn best demonstrated practices. The opportunity to enjoy great meals throughout the day prepared by a culinary team which shared all recipes of their secrets and meals! A great female masseuse who provided a great deep tissue massage! Most importantly, an environment in which approximately 20+ other individuals were also participating in but the personalization of the staff made me feel like i was their #1 priority at ALL times!
As for accommodations — I recommend the Hilton Garden Inn about 5 mins away! The general manager there was my favorite general manager of all time from Portland Maine. Abbey runs a tight ship!
I look forward to returning next December to refresh the above goals and celebrate my progress!

I needed help losing weight before my knee replacement surgery. The DFC gave me what I wasn’t able to do for myself! Everything I needed to get on track is under one roof! Carefully planned meals, supervised exercise, behavior modification, support, a huge salt-​water pool are just some of the tools I needed. The classes were hugely informative (and I thought I knew all about what I SHOULD be doing)! It was money well spent on my health!

I spent 14 weeks at the DFC in 2013. In addition to the DFC program, Dr. Sha & his staff worked with the Cardiology professionals at Duke Health & the Center For Living to craft a medically supervised intensive cardiac rehab program which ran concurrently with my DFC program.
All aspects of my Duke experience were excellent. I stayed at Trinity Commons & found it to be a well-​run, superb environment for living, getting healthy (gym & resistance pool were top-​notch) & keeping my dog happy (the dog run is a plus in inclement weather). Eddie O’Brien was a great initial contact for Trinity Commons & a supportive alumus/​mentor for the DFC program in general.
The professionals at DFC, Duke Health & CFL were exemplary. Dr. Sha is an incredible source of information & creative diagnostician & problem-​solver. The medical/​psychological/​nutritional/​exercise physiology components all worked synergistically to bring me back to health physically, mentally & emotionally.
The post-​DFC follow-​up via conference calls, optional personal coaching & peer support have helped me to better adjust to the real world challenges that we all face.
Just a word re the food… I found it surprisingly good, and, with one or two notable exceptions, the food service professionals & staff were knowledgeable, accessible & very supportive.
The key to DFC is commitment & consistency. It requires a substantial investment of time, effort & money, but if your health is a priority, I would highly recommend the program.

This program is a great fit for the serious person that needs to lose weight and get fit. They teach you how to do it on your own.
The food is great, the medical facility is first class and they have one of the worlds best and largest medical facilities to back them up at the university hospital.
There is a great place to stay right across the street, Trinity Commons. I throughly enjoyed staying in the condo and it is very convenient.

I was at the Diet and Fitness Center (DFC) for over 6 weeks. I had come to DFC with medical concerns and had been very overweight. DFC helped me to lose a lot of weight. This was really important to me and therefore I think my stay was, overall, a success. DFC is a great program on paper (lots of quality people, good food, not a fad diet place at all), but having spent a pretty long time there, I now feel that the program itself has some serious issues which cannot be ignored. There shortcomings involved the staff, including the Director (Dr. Sha), facilities, and even fellow patients.
DFC patients plan all of their daily meals based on their recommended calorie intake. So, the meals served at DFC are key ingredients in your potential success. Imagine my surprise when I encountered the incompetence of the cafeteria staff who served us our calorie-​controlled DFC meals! There were, routinely, foul-​ups of the portions or the foods we had calculated following DFC protocols. Sometimes food offered on the menu was out-​of-​stock, sometimes the wrong quantities were given, sometimes the cafeteria servers did not know what to do. I pointed out these concerns to the staff but pretty much nothing got fixed. It was distressing.
The gym facilities include a variety of workout machines and a salt-​water pool. The salt-​water was a nice surprise, which I enjoyed. The gym machines (which are heavily used), however were not the most modern or up-​to-​date. I work out at a gym where I live in the midwest and I was surprised to see that several pieces of equipment are more modern than what DFC has. In addition, I had reported a hygiene problem concerning the presence of little black flies in the showers in the mens’ locker room to staff, including to Dr. Sha, but even after several weeks, the flies were still there.
While many DFC patients are serious about losing weight and provide a supportive group atmosphere, others can become a little frustrated and try to undermine other patients’ success. I, unfortunately, encountered this situation more than once. For instance, after I had started to lose significant amounts of weight, other program participants asked me to my face «why» I was at DFC and whether I belonged there. I replied that I had the same reason for being at DFC as they did, namely to develop healthy lifestyle patterns and improve my health.
Many of the staff at DFC are really good, and contribute to a strong program with excellent support for those trying to lose weight. The nutrition department staff, for instance, serve as solid resources for any questions about food and are highly motivated. There are, however, shortcomings at DFC about which people need to be aware.
Housing Tip: DFC does not provide housing, so one has to shop around for housing in Durham. Trinity Commons is right nearby DFC, but you over-​pay for being able to walk to DFC. Other accommodations in Durham offer more things for the same, or lower, price, and also provide daily shuttles to DFC.

A good, medically reviewed program but not for everyone.
First let me say that the staff are very professional and the program is medically sound. Not a fad diet program.
That said, the program may be frustrating for those who are younger, are a bit more physically active already, or not as overweight. The number of exercise classes could be increased to provide more options for those seeking a more challenging or intense work out. There are some good ones (boot camp, cardio circuit etc.) The lectures are helpful-​especially regarding nutrition/​portions/​restaurant meals but if you are there for more then 2 weeks the classes repeat and it would be nice to have a greater number of offerings. Classes geared to the specific needs of younger clients would also be welcome. I found that I had a lot of down time and would have liked more structure. If you are not someone who will say «I have 3 hours of free time-​I guess I should get on the treadmill or go swim some laps» you’ll end up not doing much.
Also-​I understand that it is a temporary situation but sharing the facility with the Duke health and fitness center was annoying at times. For a younger person it gave the impression that you were in an assisted living/​retirement community. Not exactly a high energy vibe.
Food is better then one might expect but there was always a off putting order in the dinning room that reminded me of hospital or other institutional kitchens. I’m not sure how to prevent that (more ventilation?) but it was really bothersome.
Again, the program worked and I did lose lbs while there, and its a program that is realistic for maintaining at home, but if you’re going to spend a lot of money and take time off it would be nice to have a more current and energizing feel. The atmosphere seemed more like a nursing home at times (why are there tables w/​jigsaw puzzles?)The class could be updated and expanded.
Also-​avoid staying at the Trinity Commons. While they are lovely units and conveniently located the manger seemed too aggressive and was uncomfortable to be around.