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Retail stores across the country overcome with crowds of holiday shoppers are not the only facilities filled to the brim this time of year.
The Recreation Center generally sees a pickup in membership around this time of year, said Gary Tisdale, marketing director for the center. Tisdale did not immediately have specific figures but said patronage traditionally increases beginning at the start of daylight saving time and continues throughout the new year.
Debbie Thomas, a resident of Carbondale, is one exerciser increasing her normal workout. She said the holidays do have an effect on her exercise schedule.
"I overeat, and I have things I don't normally eat, like pie," she said.
The average American consumes 3,000 calories during Thanksgiving dinner, according to the American Council on Exercise.
Thomas said she increases her workouts by exercising more days in a week.
"I usually run two miles and use the Nautilus equipment regularly three times a week, but I've been here four times this week," she said.
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Thomas said she plans to keep the ante up on her workout schedule throughout the holiday season and the end of the year.
Nyssa Midden, a junior at Carbondale High School, said she also would try to exercise more through Jan. 1. She said the holiday season is an encouragement to people to work out more.
"I'm trying to do a little more since I took a break over the last week," she said. "I try to run a little more and stay a little longer."
Midden said she comes to the Recreation Center almost every day after school and hopes to continue doing so through the holiday season.
Despite many individuals' intent to exercise more to keep off holiday weight, Tom Heller said that he is skeptical of their success.
Heller, a senior from Petersburg studying mechanical engineering, said the eating he did over Thanksgiving does not make him want to work out more. He said he thinks there will be an increase of people who use the Recreation Center, but it does not mean they will be successful in keeping the weight off.
"It's like fad dieting every spring," he said. "People come and have their diets and do their thing and act like they're making a difference, but after two weeks they'll get tired of it."
While the facility gets significantly busier around Thanksgiving and when students return in January, a similar increase in activity also comes in the spring, Tisdale said.
Heller said he thinks it takes a change in mindset for people to truly be successful in losing weight or keeping it off.
"My interpretation is that it takes a real epiphany to make a difference," he said.
Genna Ord can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 273 or gord@siu.edu.
