{"id":56925,"date":"2016-03-30T13:00:17","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T18:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/?p=56925"},"modified":"2016-03-30T13:18:56","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T18:18:56","slug":"wellness-rebels-hilarie-bain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wellness-rebels-hilarie-bain\/","title":{"rendered":"Wellness Rebels: Hilarie Bain"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hilarie

Hilarie Bain, the University of Mississippi’s director of printing and creative services, logs about 14,000 steps during her work day and has taken many measures to stay healthy over the last 12 years.<\/p><\/div>\n

OXFORD, Miss. \u2013 Hilarie Bain rarely stops moving.<\/span><\/p>\n

The University of Mississippi’s director of printing and creative services<\/a> walks all over Sam-Gerard Hall during her workday. She cheerfully meets with colleagues from one end of the building to the other. She takes the stairs as easily as someone stepping over a puddle.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks to a pedometer, she knows that from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., she takes about 14,000 steps \u2013 the equivalent of seven miles each day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She takes seriously the idea that sitting at a desk all day is dangerously unhealthy. Science has confirmed this notion in recent years.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I don’t sit still,” Bain said. “During my breaks, some employees and I go walking. We take 20 minutes to walk around campus because otherwise, I would sit at my desk all day. I don’t want that. It’s not healthy.”<\/span><\/p>\n

She’s never been in better health, but she had to take many steps to get where she is today. It all started 12 years ago when she got engaged to her husband, Kevin Bain, a senior staff photographer with University Communications, who works in the same building.\u00a0During that planning process, she started a nutrition program and has maintained a healthy weight and lifestyle since.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nowadays, the couple’s two children, Sam, 8, and McCord, 4, are the couple’s motivation for staying healthy.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Being an older mom \u2013 I was 35 when I had Sam and 39 when I had McCord \u2013 I wanted to be around,” Bain said. “I want to be healthy and have fun with them and be able to play. That’s the reason.”<\/span><\/p>\n

A busy schedule of work for her and school for the kids really takes a chunk out of quality time she can spend with her husband and children. But she wants the energy to make the most of that time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“I really want to be there when I get home,” Bain said. “After working eight hours a day, going home, cooking dinner and doing homework, I want to have a little bit of time with them. If I don’t exercise and eat right, I am just sitting around. I am quiet and not the mom I want to be and not the wife I want to be.”<\/span><\/p>\n

For her, exercise is the key to feeling well.\u00a0In addition to the impressive number of steps she logs during the workday, Bain tries to go on walks four or five times per week and uses a Fitbit to measure her daily activity levels.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“If I go for a period where I don’t work out, I really can tell a difference in how I feel,” Bain said. “I am just lethargic and get home in the afternoon, and I lie down on the couch and don’t want to interact with the boys.”<\/span><\/p>\n