The key to winning the War on obesity may be as simple as going outside and enjoying yourself. 

Bryce Edmonds had been a bit beefy since childhood, but he got even bigger during college “for obvious liquid reasons,” as he puts it. He never thought much about his weight until he was 21 and walked into the bathroom of his fraternity house. There, he faced a fit Alpha Tau Omega brother who took in all 238 pounds of him and offered a not-so-standard greeting: “Dude, you look like shit.”

Once alone, Edmonds looked in the mirror. “That’s when the switch went off,” he recalls. “Until the switch goes off—like an alcoholic hitting rock bottom—you don’t realize how much better things can be.”

Sixteen years later, Boulder, Colorado-based Edmonds carries little more than 165 pounds on his 5’11” frame and has built an active lifestyle based on his motto: Make it fun. To slim down, he went vegetarian and started swimming, running, biking and doing yoga. It didn’t take long for him to lose the extra baggage, but keeping it off proved tough when he abandoned his other sports to concentrate solely on yoga. “Even with an almost daily yoga practice—and I’m talking nearly two hours a day—the weight crept back on,” Edmonds says.

Then, a friend suggested signing up for a triathlon. “After the first one,” he says, “I was hooked.” But it wasn’t necessarily a hunger for competition that grabbed him. Instead, it was being dynamic in the outdoors and mixing up the sports. Now, Edmonds actually enjoys maintaining his athletic figure. And if you ask the experts, this strategy of getting off our behinds and into the outdoors for the sheer pleasure of it may be the answer to America’s much publicized obesity epidemic.
Is Big Really Bad?
Americans are known for living large—literally. Over the last decade, obesity rates among US adults have ballooned by more than 60 percent. Two-thirds of adults are now overweight, or have a BMI (body mass index, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters) between 25 and 30. More than 30 percent of those who are overweight are also obese, or have a BMI greater than 30.

It’s hard to say just how bad it is for you to be overweight or obese. In April, respected epidemiologists and statisticians from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute announced that being overweight is not associated with excess mortality. In fact, in their study of mortality, which included obese people and those of normal or thin weight, they specified that 87,000 fewer deaths than expected were linked to being overweight.

But in June, CDC Director Julie L. Gerberding acknowledged that the study could be flawed. When comparing overweight people to those of normal weight, researchers did not exclude people suffering from diseases like cancer and heart disease. These sick people often weigh less as a result of illness or treatment and ultimately may die because of their health problems, but not because of their lean bodies. Also, being plump, per se, may not be a health benefit in and of itself; perhaps access to better health care and medications is helping these heavier individuals live longer. “It is not okay to be overweight,” Gerberding stressed in a press conference. “People need to be fit. They need to have a healthy diet. They need to exercise.”

Bigger folks do have some benefits. “Researchers have speculated that overweight older people have survival advantages,” explains David Williamson, PhD, senior epidemiologist in the Division of Diabetes Translation of the CDC and coauthor of the controversial obesity study. Hauling around extra pounds could increase bone density, for example, which could, in turn, protect against hip fractures, a common occurrence among the elderly. Larger people may also have better nutritional stores. If they become sick, then they can recover quicker. “These factors can protect them against mortality,” notes Williamson.

But being heavy has an unarguable dark side. “With other health outcomes, such as diabetes, being overweight is a higher risk,” says Williamson. His study looked only at death rates, not at how extra weight can trigger other ailments. The government reports that excess poundage can lead to diabetes, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, gallbladder disease, some forms of cancer and more. “That can’t be ignored,” Williamson concedes.

Just Enjoy It
Williamson has a BMI of 28—he describes himself as at the middle of the overweight spectrum—yet he’s not concerned with his bulge. “I’m not convinced that being much thinner causes someone to live longer,” he says. Instead, good health in Williamson’s eyes is less about a number on the scale and more of an equation that takes into account multiple factors, such as weight, physical fitness and family history. Most of all it’s what type of life we lead that really matters. “I do believe a person’s level of activity is associated with longer living,” he says.

Williamson does “pretty vigorous” exercise four to five days a week. He thinks he’s in decent shape: “I’m overweight, but I can run an 8-minute mile.” He notes that hiking, running, even gardening, do help control weight. Even better, these outdoor activities, says Williamson, can enrich quality of life and bolster health even if you don’t restrict how much you eat.

Indeed, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005, published by the Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Agriculture, emphasizes that physical activity is just as important as diet for weight management and health. People should exercise 60 minutes on most days to keep their waistlines in check, according to the government. For weight loss, we should do 60–90 minutes of daily activity. According to the Surgeon General, exercise reduces “premature mortality” and helps prevent heart disease, hypertension, colon cancer and diabetes. Moving your body regularly also reduces depression and anxiety, improves mood and makes daily tasks—like climbing that flight of stairs to the office—a little more doable.

The best exercise, of course, is the type you’ll want to do regularly—the kind you’ll actually like. When Edmonds started on the weight-loss path, he certainly wasn’t keen on enrolling in a suffer-fest. “The advice I give to others who want to lose weight is to make it fun,” he says. For example, Edmonds bought a mountain bike and simply started pedaling. His bike rides weren’t part of a training program. Instead, he integrated them into his everyday life, using his bike for “commuting, doing errands, whatever.” His human-powered travels added up to enough exercise to start shedding extra pounds.

Positive vibes
The outdoors has the power to fix more than weight problems. A 10-year study of gallbladder patients by environmental psychologist Dr. Roger Ulrich (who at the time was working at Sweden’s Uppsala University but is currently Director of the Center for Health Systems and Design at Texas A&M University), found that those staying in rooms with views of trees had shorter post-operative stays, took lower painkiller doses and had fewer negative comments than those with windows facing brick walls. “And that’s just looking at the outdoors,” says Tina Vindum, founder of Outdoor Action Fitness in San Francisco. Vindum has discovered what happens when they actually spend time outside.

A former competitive mountain biker and professional skier, Vindum used to train for ski season habitually in the gym. One day more than a decade ago, she hopped on an indoor treadmill. “I was so uninspired,” she says. So she stepped outside, found a running trail, and from that point forward rarely returned to the gym. “The next season, I was rippin’,” she says. Soon after, Vindum started Outdoor Action Fitness, a popular outdoor training program in which participants use trails for running, trees as leverage for squats and boulders for push-ups.

Vindum claims the outdoor environment, with its less predictable terrain and natural beauty, improves mental focus and enhances senses. “If you’re not focused on the trail, you will fall on your face,” she says. Indoors, people wear headphones and tune into programs like CNN. “The news is not good news,” says Vindum. Her outdoor program, by contrast, inspires and engages participants. “Early in the morning, people may come to my class cranky,” she says. “By the end, that mood is turned around because they’re immersed in the outdoors and breathing fresh air.”

Science is starting to prove that Vindum is on the right track. Take the negative ion theory: Negatively charged ions—which are prevalent in the outdoors and hard to come by indoors—make humans more alert and relaxed. In one study, University of Queensland, Australia, researchers found that outdoor runners were less anxious and less depressed than those who used a treadmill.

Beyond the hard science backing the benefits of getting active outside is something less observable and measurable—a sense of accomplishment. The Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) reports that this confidence boost from pursuing and completing significant goals is one of the biggest reasons people go outside to backpack, camp, bike, fish, kayak, ski and climb.

It certainly worked for Edmonds, who is now of healthy body and mind. “You can point to any mountain around here and say, ‘Let’s hike it,’” Edmonds says of the peaks near his Colorado home. “I don’t care what mountain it is—I know I can get to the top.” Being cocksure is one gain. Other plusses, according to the OIA study, include escaping the pressures of everyday life, feeling young and getting to know yourself. “Hiking, an interest in the outdoors—those are wonderful things that enhance quality of life and ultimately improve overall health,” Williamson says.

“I think inside and outside both have their place, but I would rather run on a trail than a treadmill,” Edmonds says. “The sun, the air, the views—all of it is better. It’s the real thing: You, the trail, and when you’re done you’ve accomplished something.”