I can already imagine the political spin that will come of a new study from the University of North Carolina Greensboro, which links elevated gas prices to a decrease in the national obesity rate.

"You see, these high gas prices are actually a good thing. They get people moving around more, helping them lose weight," is what I'm sure many politicians (and oil company CEOs) will try to suggest at some point or another. Or maybe I'm just being a bit cynical. In either case, and in all fairness, the fact does remain that when gas prices soar, obesity rates decline.

Not only does the boost in gas prices make people less apt to drive, but it limits their ability to dine out -- which, in many cases, involves consuming calorie, carb, and fat-heavy foods. And it doesn't take an advanced degree in economics to figure out that the opposite of this relationship must also hold true: if gas prices go down, obesity rates climb. Women's Health magazine reports that an analysis of fuel cost and obesity rates between 1979 and 2004 reveals that falling prices at the pump may be to blame for the eight percent spike in obesity rates over the same period.

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Once while having an echocardiogram to test for heart damage from the breast cancer drug Herceptin, my technician asked me if I was a runner. "I do run," I told him, and then asked how he knew. He told me I had a really low resting heart rate, something runners often have. He seemed impressed by my low number. I was flattered.

Many athletes pride themselves on a low resting heart rate. It means they're in good physical shape and their hearts don't need to pump as hard, say the experts from Reader's Digest. Translation: Low heart rate folks have less risk for heart problems. Higher rates mean the heart needs more oxygen, and the cardiovascular system gets stressed.

The best way to reduce your heart rate is to exercise regularly. While working on your fitness, shoot for this healthy resting heart rate range: 55-65 heartbeats per minute.

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If you've ever performed a resistance training workout, you're probably familiar with The Pump. Yup, I'm talking about that tightness and healthy swelling that occurs in your muscles after an intense training session. You know, the best time to look in the mirror and throw up a nice, double-bicep flex. So, this "pump" ... what causes it?

Repeated resistance training causes microscopic tears in muscle fibers. When you're done with a set or an entire workout and finally put down the weights, you release blood that has been backed up by muscle contractions and it is then rushed into the newly-torn muscle. The end result? Like Hanz and Franz famously say, you look pumped up.

Aside from the ego boost resistance training offers, it is also a great way to build lean muscle and burn fat. Providing your not lifting cupcakes and pizza slices at the same time, lifting weights will increase your resting metabolism, causing you to burn more calories while at rest and help to prevent against the storage of fat.

Ever heard of metronomes? We all have one and if we'd like to make our exercise walks a bit more pleasant, we'd be wise to tune into these internal pace-setting mechanisms in our bodies.

When we walk, we pay attention to all sorts of messages sent from outside our bodies -- like beautiful scenery, crosswalk signs, bikes that pass us by, and cars zipping around. But paying attention to what comes from inside our bodies can lead to smoother, more enjoyable walks.

We all have two forms of rhythm -- breathing and heart rate. Let's start with breathing.

We have a natural breathing pattern we may not even be aware of. When we exercise, breathing becomes very important because our bodies need more air to move us long. Next time you go out for a power walk, try to coordinate the rhythm of your steps with the rhythm of your breathing. Breathe in for two steps and breathe out for two steps -- or use whatever count works best for you. Regardless, you'll see what a difference this makes for your walking.

Now for heart rate. When we exert ourselves physically, our hearts pump blood at a faster rate than when we're resting. The harder we work, the faster our hearts pump. Get a sense of your own personal pump as you walk and then try to coordinate this beat with your steps. Coordinating your three rhythms -- steps, breath, and heart beats -- will make you feel a whole better.

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I'm not so sure that I would call it a vacation, per se, but I did recently take a ten day road trip with my husband and new baby to see both our families. We rented a car and went from Brooklyn, New York to Cleveland, Ohio, down to Louisville, Kentucky (my home town), back up to Delphi, Indiana, on to somewhere in Pennsylvania and then back to New York City.

The entire event was mind-boggling. Trying to juggle dealing with an infant, spotty directions, managing an SUV (and gas) and seeing all our friends and family really put a damper on our efforts to exercise.

That said, I did get a few runs in, all of them in Louisville. There is a one mile track all the way around my parents' neighborhood that I ran around over and over and over. It was so repetitive that at one point I forget where I was and thought I'd gone a lot farther than I had; turned out I had just decided to go the other way for a bit of variety. Sheesh.

I knew going into it that it would be difficult to find time--and places--to run on this trip. Since we were spending so much time in a car, which we're not used to doing, we got less time in walking as well. We sat and sat and sat and sat some more. We tried not to eat too poorly but there were times when we had to eat something and the only thing around was fast food joints.

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