Readers on: what is the fitness lifestyle? What happens when M & F HERS editors and readers go to dinner? A discussion about what fitness is, how geography changes that definition and how they see the rest of the nation

Muscle & Fitness/Hers, Sept-Oct, 2003

M & F HERS: How did you get started in fitness?

Diana Hoffman: I started lifting weights when a friend introduced me to the gym when I was 38. I went in and I could barely lift a bar. I've been doing it for five years now.

Jan Love: I started when I was in high school. Playing and competing in tennis, I knew I needed to get stronger, so I got into lifting weights and running. That's when I got the bug and just continued.

Stacy Taylor: As far back as elementary school, I've just been a really big competitor, sportswise. I always ran track and played basketball. I'm addicted to the adrenaline and the competitive edge.

Violet Williams: I used to run track in high school. [I still run a little, but] I do mostly strength training.

Annika Johansson-Ford: I started [working out] after [having] two kids. Then I realized it's time to do something--or else! So, it's been about five years. Otherwise, I wasn't very active--normal kid stuff, but I wasn't in any particular sport growing up.

M & F HERS: What is the fitness lifestyle? What do you want out of fitness and what role does fitness play in your life?

Jan: I was thinking about this the other day--the difference between fitness and health. I think a healthy lifestyle means more to me than a fitness lifestyle because I think you can be fit athletically, but not healthy. For me, at my age, I'm thinking more long-term, longevity. I want to be healthy and fit. I don't want to overtrain. I'm going to learn all the things I can to not overtrain, how to be healthy at my age, about hormonal [changes], what vitamins are good for me, versus someone who's 20. So, I see fitness in a healthy way--always moving, being flexible, having good circulation, doing cardio.

Stacy: For me, personally, they're all intertwined. Fitness for me is feeling good, of course with the benefit of looking good in your two-piece. All those things are intertwined: feeling pretty and being active, being able to keep up and play with your kids, to do things like that.

Diana: Fitness for me is growth.

Violet: When I go back home to my boys and nobody knows that I'm their mom [and they say], "This is my girlfriend."

Jan: That's the best compliment you can get!

Violet: [laughing] Yes.

Annika: I agree with you that as I'm getting older, too, with the hormonal changes and everything, I want to stay healthy as long as possible. I see my grandmother and she has all types of problems. She has aches and she gets really tired, but she was never overweight. She was very lean, but has so many problems. It's just because when she was an athlete, they didn't have all these things that they have now. Being really fit and trim, staying healthy--it goes hand in hand.

M & F HERS: Do you think (especially if you've lived in other places) that living in Los Angeles influences how you view being physically active?

Everyone: Yes!

Jan: I lived for a year in Illinois and getting a job as a trainer was like: "You mean, you want me to pay you to train me?" That was number one. Number two, there were gyms there, but they were, like, five years behind here. But people still went to the gym and did aerobics. They're just more laid-back. It's not as important. They'd like to be fit, but I think we're fanatical about it. It's like, "Where's the happy medium?"

Stacy: I grew up in Oklahoma where I had chicken-fried steak and mashed potatoes for every meal. When I moved out here my diet changed. Instead of creamy dressing, we'd use vinegar and olive oil or something like that. Diet is a huge part of living in Southern California.

Diana: In the past three years I've moved from Southern California to Washington state then to New York. And then last summer I drove cross-country by myself back to L.A. I used to weigh 175 pounds, so I should have some tolerance for people who are too big, but I was horrified--especially on my cross-country trip--at the general condition of Americans. Just really morbidly obese.

M & F HERS: Do you know any women who are perfectly accepting of their bodies?

Michelle Basta Boubion, Exercise Editor: I look in the mirror and I say to myself, "You know what? I've seen worse. I like what's going on." There are good days and bad days, but generally speaking, honestly, I like the way I look.

Jan: That's good, but I think the older that I've gotten, I've felt much better about myself. I'm more accepting now--I know what I can do and what I can't do.

Michelle: You don't want to spend every minute of every day hating yourself, and obsessing over what you're going to eat and when you're going to exercise. I work out a lot, and I eat very carefully 80% of the time. I always measure myself on the A-B-C scale--I'm like a B. For exercise, I think: B, B plus; the way I eat: B, B plus. I'm not an A, because I think what it would take to be there is over the top. But I don't want to obsess about the way I look all the time, because then I make myself miserable.

Annika: I see myself as a B also.

Jan: I think it's really important to stress that you have a life, and that's a gift. And to live it the best way you can--if you have a family, you've got to spend time with your family. You have to put it all together in a balance.