Every time I travel to major cities {London especially} and ditch the car in favor of public transportation or my own two feet {buses, subways, trains, bikes, walking, etc.}, I always clock tons of steps on my pedometer. {Like this winter while walking in Paris, I clocked a solid 29,000 steps in just one day.} Not only do the steps add up, but so does the weight loss. It always baffles me that I can totally enjoy a pastry {or four} for breakfast, and still lose weight on vacations that require me to walk a bit more.
Apparently, I’m not alone, a recent article on treehugger, cited a study that found that in the UK, people who are “‘commuting by public or active transport modes was significantly and independently predictive of lower BMI for both men and women.’ Men who take transit are about seven pounds lighter; women, about 5.5 pound lighter.” It’s actually kind of scary to think that we spend that much time in our cars, sitting on our backsides that it equates to a full 5-7 pound difference. I totally believe it, though. Travelling on public transport requires you to walk to central locations to get to the transportation, and it rarely drops you off right in the parking lot of your destination. Driving my car requires me to walk to my garage, and then a couple hundred feet from the parking lot to the building of my destination.
I personally would LOVE to trade in my car for a solid public transportation system. I can read, knit, etc. while I commute, I get a little fresh air and exercise, and best of all, I can really cut down on my cussing, because other drivers are not my problem :).
Have you noticed you lose weight on vacations where you trade in a car for tennis shoes?
~Mavis
This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.
Free
$0.99
Free
Free
$0.99
