MOUNT VERNON — For most of us, the key to solving our problems is in our own two hands. For Mount Vernon resident Olivia Frazee, it’s in her own two feet.
Walking — the simplest and most basic form of exercise. The city of Mount Vernon, with its quiet neighborhoods, beautiful homes and miles of sidewalk, is an ideal venue to stretch one’s own legs without the pounding of jogging.
Frazee has found out that, not only is walking a great way to save on gasoline, it’s an ideal way to lose weight — step-by-step.
“I just walk a certain distance but I go up hills and stuff,” said Frazee, who lives on the north side. “I go up the upgrades and, the more I go up them the more I lose weight. Once I get started, the weight will come off.”
Frazee has lost 50 pounds in two months by using the sidewalks of hilly Mount Vernon as her treadmill. She has lost much more in the past. Currently, her goal is to lose another 40 pounds.
“Some people are skinny and can eat anything but not me anymore,” said Frazee, a graduate of Mount Vernon High School in 1969. “I weighed 115 then, but now I weigh about 150 but I’m 60. I want to get down lower.”
It’s not just exercise for Frazee. She has incorporated this into her lifestyle.
“I just go down to the square and back or down to Interchurch,” said Frazee, who also walks for practical reasons besides exercise. “I get out here and walk to Walmart and Kmart and go down Coshocton Road — go around and make a circle.”
Frazee’s doctor has encouraged her along the way.
“He was the one who told me that, if you have a tendency to be overweight, you’ve got to do something about it,” said Frazee. “If you don’t you will get sugar or you will just be heavy if you don’t want to be heavy. Some people can’t help it, but I don’t like to be heavy. I get short of breath, my cholesterol goes up and my blood pressure. The older I get, the worse it gets.”
