Post Fourth of July

I can't believe I wrote the cleanse instructions last night after being at a chilly, damp fourth of July party yesterday. We sat on a beautiful Adirondack porch all afternoon noshing on salty snacks and picnic fare followed by three scrumptious desserts. I felt like I need to de-tox for the next month.

Today, I started the day off with a brisk walk to the tune of some Motown, Prince and U2 favorites like "We are Family" and "Beautiful Day." It is not a beautiful day here in the Northeast but one can only project positive thoughts and hope. I find that in absence of sunlight that does help lift my spirits sometimes. I prefer sunlight and warmth.

While I was at the spa I had my Body Mass Index (BMI) checked. This is a measure of body fat based on height and weight for adult men and women. The reason its important to know is that muscle mass is as important as weight in determining your fitness and propensity for heart disease or diabetes. For example, someone can weigh only 115 pounds and have a high BMI. If your family has a history of heart disease or diabetes its even more important that you know your BMI and what to do if it is not within a safe range. If you click this link http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/ you will go to a website by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute which has a great little BMI calculator and lots of information on BMI.

So, at the spa they told me my BMI was too high given my family history. I measured about 26% and it should be more in the range of 20-23%. Needless to say, I was stunned. I had been doing pilates and yoga multiple times per week for the last 4 years and walking at least 3-4 times per week, outdoors, winter, spring, summer and fall. That, plus adventure vacations like a biking trip in Italy and hiking in the Snow Canyon in Utah seemed to indicate to me that I was physically fit. And, my weight is pretty normal. In fact, some people who are not wearing glasses or don't look too closely actually say I'm thin.

What had happened is that I was beginning to lose muscle mass (you could argue this is age related but that's no excuse they told me!). I needed to do more cardio exercise, they said, regularly, and increase the pace and intensity of my walks. Yoga and pilates alone weren't going to sustain me. They also recommended a heart monitor which I have not purchased yet. It's a contraption that you velcro around your chest just below your bust and its attached to a band. With this digital wrist band, you can tell how fast you are walking or running and at what rate. Then they gave me a workout plan for the next 6-12 weeks that steadily increases the pace of my walks/runs until I am burning more fat and building more muscle.

I am using the iPod version of this heart monitor. What I mean is that I'm too cheap to buy the heart monitor. Since my iPod shows the minutes of each song, I am timing my walking and running by the song and just going faster and slower every 2-3 minutes. It seems to me this should work, giving me less contraptions to deal with, which in this on-demand, digital, blackberry, cellphone age is the reason I go outdoors for walks in the first place. It also makes me feel less like a bionic woman and more like someone with an actual heart. I will let you know how I do.