Panama Weight Loss Spa: 7-Day Fitness and Weight Loss Retreat at Playa Bonita

The programme is sold as a week-long stay at Casa Bonita, a condo building inside the Playa Bonita Resort. Everything is bundled: airport pick-up and drop-off, transport to all scheduled activities, accommodation including cleaning fees and taxes, entrance fees for activities, all meals, beverages and snacks, all personal training and group classes, and daily maid service. You are not paying separately for the gym sessions or the food.

Training is the core of it. Every morning at 9am you meet your trainer for a one-on-one weight training session in the gym, then at 10am you do cardio, then at 11am it's water aerobics in the pool. That's three hours of structured activity before lunch, six days a week, with Sunday as the changeover day. The individual weight loss assessment at the start sets what you're working towards.

Afternoons are deliberately lighter. At 1pm you head out — a walking tour of Panama City, or the climb up the steps to see the Panama Canal. At 4pm you're back at the spa for a massage, or the sauna, steam room and therapeutic Jacuzzis. At 5.30pm there's sunset yoga, or a healthy cooking demonstration if you'd rather learn to make what you've been eating. Dinner is at 6.30pm, watching the sun go down.

What separates this from a generic fitness holiday is the food questionnaire. It goes out before you travel and the kitchen works from it, so you're not handed a fixed menu and told to like it. The rooftop is where breakfast, lunch and dinner are served, and there's a gym, pool and spa on site. Evenings are quiet — ping-pong, billiards, or your room.

The operator is Choose Panama, a Panama-focused real estate and rental business that also runs this programme and a concierge service. The programme is not available over the Christmas holidays. It runs Sunday to Sunday.

What's included

- Airport pick-up and drop-off - Transportation to all scheduled activities and events - All accommodation at Casa Bonita, including cleaning fees and taxes - Entrance fees for all scheduled activities - All meals, beverages and snacks - All personal training and group classes - Daily maid service - Individual weight loss assessment - Daily one-on-one personal training sessions with the trainer - Healthy cooking dinner demonstrations - Afternoon tours

What's not included

- International flights - Travel insurance - Personal expenses - Any treatments or services not listed as part of the programme