Body Language | In Maine, he's transformed into a lean working machine

Philadelphia Inquirer: Those who think I'm a lightweight will be glad to know that I'm now even lighter.

The other day, while toweling off after my shower, I took a look at myself in the mirror. My middle was ripped and shredded. My abs stood out with the clarity of an anatomical chart. I resembled myself as a high school wrestler, circa age 16, after making weight.

Certain I had shed some pounds, I stepped on the scale. I weighed 174. In one week, I had lost 10 pounds. My body fat: a ridiculously low 4.6 percent.

This has happened before. In fact, every time I spend a week in the Maine woods, I come back lighter and leaner.

It's not because I diet. I consume more calories per day up there than I do at home.

It's not because I exercise, at least not formally. In Maine, I don't lift weights. When I was there recently, I ran only twice, and just a couple of miles.

The reason Maine is such a potent fat-burner? Nonstop physical activity.

This, I hope, will give you hope, assailed as you are by all manner of diet schemes and exercise gimmicks. It confirms what I've been preaching all along: functional fitness.

The idea is to incorporate physical activity into your life in a natural, seamless way. The goal is twofold: to achieve a level of fitness that enables you to function; and to get your exercise while performing a function, while accomplishing something. Example: cutting the grass with an old-fashioned push mower.

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