If you are like millions of Americans that have been incessantly searching for the magic, easy weight-loss secret, then read on.
Edmond has had this covert, clandestine solution for a while. And yes, they have even tried to get the message out, but for some reason not everyone got the message about this miraculous tonic. Or perhaps some people are cognizant of this method but don’t realize it works because the cost is free and it has no side effects.
They are used to paying lots of money to lose weight and dealing with a whole range of side effects.
The answer is simply this: Ride Edmond’s Citylink bus every day.
Since December of last year, I’ve been taking the bus to my job downtown Oklahoma City as a health and wellness coach. I walk about three-fourths of a mile to the bus stop every morning and then about one-fourth mile from the bus to my office.
I do this every day, which equates to walking 10 miles a week. Since walking (or running) a mile burns up 100 calories, I expend an extra 1,000 calories a week. It takes about 3,500 calories to burn up one pound of fat; after 52 weeks, I’ve burned up 52,000 calories – or better yet, put it in fat pounds -- more than 12 pounds are burned up!
That’s 12 pounds a year automatically and I don’t have to sweat it out, starve myself, or take pills that make me jittery, nervous, cranky or subject to death.
There’s another health reason for taking the bus. You don’t have to worry about the ever-increasing traffic that inundates every road through Edmond or the drivers who can’t seem to maintain a decent speed, thus sending your blood pressure into the stratosphere.
You can meet wonderfully interesting people on your way to and from work, engage in a bit of relaxing small talk or simply sleep an extra 30 or so minutes while someone else pleasantly whisks you to your destination.
Ahhh, doesn’t that sound much better than rushing around, jamming on the brakes because of a rubber-necker, getting to your parking garage downtown, paying those monthly parking garage fees and then of course walking through the sometimes scary parking garage? Plus, a short, brisk walk can only make you smile. Try walking and frowning; see if you can do it.
The next reason for riding the bus is what most people think of – saving money.
According to the American Public Transportation Association, “the cost of transportation to and from medical treatment is staggering and growing each year. Medicaid and Medicare services pay nearly $3.5 billion a year to provide transportation to non-emergency medical treatment. In 2000, more than 100 million Medicaid trips were funded at an average cost of $16 per trip.
“More than half of Medicare ambulance trips (as many as 90 percent in rural areas) may be for non-emergencies at a cost that can exceed $500 per trip."
In fact, nearly 4 million children in families with incomes less than $50,000 a year miss crucial doctors’ appointments because they can’t find transportation that fits in their budget. Because Citylink is free, those people who need to get to their doctor in Edmond can find the medical help they need.
Taking the bus helps me financially because I don’t have to pay for gasoline, oil, maintenance on my car or even car washes. If you want to figure out specifically how much money you could be saving by taking the Citylink, log on to:
http://www.publictransportation.com/contact/stories/calculator_08.asp
Just input your car's gasoline mileage, price per gallon of gasoline, number of miles in your round trip commute and the cost of your bus ticket. Since Edmond's Citylink costs riders nothing, you save even more.
You can even calculate your carbon dioxide emissions by logging on to:
http://www.publictransportation.com/calculators/carbon_08.asp
Studies have proven that air pollution exacerbates asthma and can cause lots of health problems in the elderly. Also, taking the bus is much safer than driving a car to work. Annually, there are 190,000 fewer deaths, injuries and accidents than trips by an automobile.
Plus, according to the National Safety Council, riding the bus is nearly 170 times safer than traveling by car.
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