i used to live in austin and, while there are a number of people who exercise regularly, most of the people do not. the problem is that cities like austin only encourage *recreational* exercise and are not set up for walking/biking/etc as a means of transportation. austin is one of the worst examples i can think of as the entire city is spread out between three US and state highways and a single interstate highway (I35).

all of the new growth is along one of these corridors, including all of the housing and business expansion. this requires everyone to drive somewhere to get their errands done. when i lived there, i purposely picked a neighborhood (far west) which was within walking distance of a grocery store, but even then i rarely walked and had to rely on recreational exercise to stay fit. our cities should be built to encourage walking/biking as a means of transportation if we are going to be serious about reducing obesity in the US.