FIT! The Urbanite Guide to Getting Healthy and Being Well
Oops. Another year (or is it a decade?) has come and gone, and you’re no closer to being in shape and feeling healthy than you were last year at this time. You meant to join a gym and start a yoga program and bike to work and go for long walks and wake up early and work out … you really did. So what happened? You got busy, or bored, or you re-aggravated that trick knee from college and had to drop the regimen after a week. Or maybe you didn’t even know where to start.
Look around and you will find yourself in good company. Despite a burgeoning fitness industry and ever-more-compelling evidence linking excess weight to a constellation of public health problems, we keep getting bigger and bigger: The average Marylander has put on at least 18 pounds since 1988. The nonprofit United Health Foundation estimates that by 2018 more than half of Maryland residents will be obese, with the projected cost of additional health care to treat increased illness landing north of $7 billion. Kind of makes the cost of gym membership [or a bike] pale in comparison.
...