Movement

2015 ended with the completion of 1 year in grad school. Can you say 'heck yeah'?! 

After that, I traveled to Dresden, Germany to hang out with my younger brother who's living there, and it got me thinking about city life. If you're like me, a girl in the suburbs, you rarely can walk just about anywhere you need to go. We were averaging at least three miles a day! 

View from the east of Dresden, Germany. We covered maybe half of that on foot! 

There's an Upworthy video on city planning that I saw a while back about smarter designs for cities that hits the nail on the head with problems we face. If you haven't seen it, please stop what you're doing and watch it right meow!  More public transportation access, promotion of walking, and incorporating green space are just some topics the CBC news report covers. These types of things foster movement and community among those living there. It's such a simple yet effective idea, you'd wonder why most American cities haven't thought it important to keep us healthy just by building a common sense environment. 

It really resonated with me that the video calls our surroundings obesogenic. That means, you get fat just by existing in your environment. For us suburban folk, really think about when you had to go for a walk today. Or, maybe when you were out running errands and didn't have time to make yourself a snack to go, what were the food options around you? Were you sitting for most of the day (yes, driving means sitting) or were you walking? Chances are you may have grabbed a drink at Starbucks or some chicken nuggets at Chick-fil-a just to hold you over until you got home. Those calories and sedentary behavior pack on the pounds over time, which is why we wake up one day wondering what the hell happened to our bodies! 

So, do you yourself a favor. Create some movement in your life. It could be just waking up five minutes earlier to do some stretches or calisthenics, going on a quick walk around the corner on your lunch break, taking the stairs instead of elevator, or even just standing up from your work desk to stretch out your hips every half hour. Changing habits is hard so, don't beat yourself up. One thing at a time and soon you'll be on your way to burning up some extra calories!