Artslim
 
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I never thought that I would ever get excited when I saw a football ovel and view it as a potential, 400 meter running track for me. 

This is my own prepared plan, for my week one of my twelve week program I am currently working at.
I have put this program togeter to suit me, based loosely on the suggested, Gym or Home or Outdoors exercise schedual in the 12WBT program I am doing. I needed to amend that suggested program to suit my caravaning lifestyle and this is what I have set for myself.



Monday Warmup: 10min power walk Cardio &Abs Full Body Workout

Final Blast: 400m jog/walk (one lap oval) Stretches Hold each stretch for 1min. Keep breathing and try to sink deeper as you exhale.

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Tuesday  Warmup: 10min power walk  Strength Train & Toning Weights.

Final Blast: 400m jog around oval. Stretch

Hold each stretch for 1min.

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Wednesday  Warmup: 30 min power walk Cardio  & Abs Full Body Workout

Final Blast: Do 7 x short jogging efforts (30-60sec or until you need to stop)

Stretches  Hold each stretch for 1min. Keep breathing and try to sink deeper as you exhale.

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Thursday  Strength Train & Toning

Caravan. Weights.          

Outdoors Warmup: 10min power walk

Final Blast: 6 × 15m sprints.

Stretch

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Friday  Outdoors Warmup: 10min power walk, Yoga
This is the day we will be relocating, I will be towing the caravan to the next site. 

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Saturday  Outdoors Warmup: 45min power walk

Cardio & Abs Full body Workout

Final Blast: Do 7 x short jogging efforts (30-60sec or until you need to stop)

Stretch
I May be substituting Sunday's day off to be on Saturday and do my Saturday work out on Sunday as we may be visiting family.  The main thing is there will only be oneday off, from planned exercise in the week, and even that day I will be being active.

As this is week one I feel it is very important not to get behind schedual eraly in the 12 weeks or i may not be able to catch up.


 

 
 
 
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We are heading towards Tarra Valley in the morning leaving Phillip Island where we have stayed at a small caravan park with a solar-heated swimming pool that has been great for me to exercise in twice a day.

This has been the quietest and most layback, Caravan Park I have stayed at.  When we arrived and I went to enter the office, the manager greeted me at the door with a most unusual, ‘what do you want’, question and appeared surprised by my request to want to book in.  That surprised me. They were after all a caravan park.

Then they made a mistake of $35. In our favour, adding the bill up, which though we paid the correct amount. She ran the credit card through on a small yellow plastic receipt printer that frankly looked like a flimsy toy.  When I was in business, they were made of sturdier stuff than that.

Well we were here all through the week, and there has been hardly a person around I‘ve had the luxury of having the pool for myself, and I sure have made the most of it.

I have joined the Michelle Bridges, 12 Week Total Body Transformation and I have been following her Crunch Time cookbook information, which is the way I love to eat ~ healthy, anyhow. I am applying her 3oo to 350 calories a meal  x three meals a day and 100 to 150 calories a snack, x 2 snacks a day, rule and increasing my exercise, going for beach walks every evening and even doing beach jogs beginning with 100 meter jogs on Monday night increasing to a 400 meter jog on Thursday evening.

Tonight Friday, lol, I am actually a little tired from this week of exercise and the giving my all to my jogs.  Next week will be a total change, bushwalking in tree fern gullies, Will that be easier or harder or just different.  Whatever, it will be funJ. .

 
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Medium:pastel, Blue and gold: portrait of Dorothy Sutherland (1908) by Jane Sutherland.
One of the artists whose work I most admire is Jane Sutherland. I have written a full article about her in my ‘A Creatvie Life’, blog, see side bar for link. Check out my artist’s category.

Jane Sutherland 1853-1928 was an artist and art teacher. I have added this profile of a great artist to my healthy living and fitness blog, because it inspires me that this wonderful artist did some of her finest works, after suffering a stroke. She continued to paint, teach and exhibit even as an invalid requiring care. NEVER Give up. :-)
There is greatness in people who also have disability.

Around 1904, Jane Sutherland suffered a mild stroke, after this, she stopped painting large on location landscapes and adapted to painting small  oils and pastels, of her garden local surroundings and portraits. She needed the care of family members and could work with her paper and a few pastels on her lap, with very limited movement. She had more determination of spirit than freedom of movement.
It was during this time she painted beautiful portraits while very disabled, and little hand movement and continued painting, exhibiting and teaching art, with the assistance of a family member, up until 1911.

Many disabled people live very effective lives and these days are able to maintain a greater degree of independence thanks to mobility products . You can research the sorts of products that might help people maintain mobility despite varying degrees of disability, at mobility compare , and please check out my Kathy-shell.net website to read more about this inspiring artist, Jane Sutherland.
 
Turning Points. 02/21/2010
 
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I have had a few in my life.
Each one beginning, at a low in my life or a point where I felt I was stalling. Lows and stalls are wonderful spring boards to success. Each one kick starting a goal, a strong motivation an action plan that then sparked the daily to do actions that has set me off onto a new positive path that has brought me not only to but beyond the goal I was seeking.

Some of these turning points only seem to be small ones, when I begin them. Some have been start stops, some are start and all go. J. 

My current start in the 12WBT feels so very right , so very perfectly timed for me, here at half way through my own body transformation journey and wanting to work with people who will stimulate me to reach my full physical fitness potential.

I blogged about my turning point from three years ago, in my Life Inspiration blog, 'Bloggers Muse'

I am now ready for the new body transformation in 2010 :-).
Will you be doing a body transformation too?
What was your turning point?

 
 
Goal Setting. 02/20/2010
 
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I wrote out my one-month, three month, six month and twelve month goals last night and how I intended to achieve them. So this morning’s motivational thought for the day, appealed to me

"It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities" - J. K. Rowling

Tips for setting and achieving your goal.

You goal must be something you desire. Drinking 8 glasses of water is an action not a goal unless water was a hard to achieve commodity and you crave drinking 8 glasses.

Please try to find goals that excite you, things you would want to make an effort to achieve.

Would you work hard to achieve something that is easy to do that you do not actually want to do? 

Know what a Goal Is, do not mistake an action for a goal. I love drinking, water. It comes easy. If you do not like drinking it, it might be a part of your action plan but it is a very weak goal. 

This confusion about what a goal is, accounts for why so many people struggle to achieve goals. So it will help you to read up on how to set goals, not from people who are not achieving them, but from the experts.  There are many experts in this field.


Your Goal needs to be specific. Losing weight or running is not a specific goal, How much weight and in what time frame, How far, fast or for how long do you want to be able to run and when do you plan to be able to do this? Be very clear about what it is you want to achieve,

Your goal must be believable to you. Yes I believe I can achieve goal weight. No I do not believe I could ~ or should run a marathon.  I set my 12 months goal to passing my next bone density scan with at the very least no further deterioration and hopefully a drug free, all natural with diet and exercise, improvement in my bone density, I believe this can be achieved.

The Goal must be achievable. I cannot expect to achieve the looks and weight I was at age 21, lol, J, I’ll settle for feeling 21, J ~ when better than that, I’ll be a healthy and fit feeling 21 again J. I have already achieved greater health and fitness than I ever had before in my life. At 63 I am my fitness exceeds anything I knew in my youth.

You must know how you are going to achieve your goal.

You must have an action plan so you can see how it will be, achieved.

You must have a To Do List.  Write in your diary, ahead of time, those actions you will be doing to achieve the goal you set. These are appointments with yourself, appointments you commit and promise yourself that you are not going to break, short of serious emergencies.  If you do not do this step, you know you will falter, you will have times when ‘you can’t be bothered or make excuses that you are too busy, so write those to do list actions into your diary now. If someone wants you to do something else during that time, you cannot ‘you have an appointment’.

The most important appointment you could have. is the one that takes you to your goal, your realistic dream for you.   I am about to keep my appointment with the swimming pool beside me J.

 

Have a beautiful and active day. 
 
 
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I have had fun setting up my carvan pantry, fridge and freezer this morning before heading out of the suburbs, to Phillip Island where we set up our caravan site beside a solar heated swimming pool in a lovely bushland setting caravan park.

This is my pantry, fridge freezer basics shopping list.


Shopping List
  • Pantry Essentials
    • Anchovies *is not something I would usually buy but my trainer has asked me to stock this, so I have, while doing her program.
    • Canned beans (e.g. red kidney, chickpeas, butterbeans)
    • Canned tomatoes
    • Canned tuna, salmon, sardines
    • Capers
    • Chilli sauce (low sugar)
    • Cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
    • Couscous
    • Dried beans
    • Dried pasta
    • Fresh tomatoes
    • Dried herbs (e.g. mixed herbs, paprika, dried basil, oregano, cinnamon, cumin, nutmeg)
    • Light soy sauce
    • Low-cal hot chocolate powder (make sure there are no trans-fats)
    • Low GI cereal (eg Special K) *is not something I would usually buy but my trainer has asked me to stock this, so I have, while doing her program.
    • Olive oil spray
    • Olives
    • Oyster sauce (msg free)
    • Pepper grinder full of black pepper
    • Rice (basmati or brown)
    • Rolled oats
    • Seeds (e.g. sesame, pumpkin, sunflower)
    • Sesame oil
    • Stock (cartons or cubes – check the sodium content)
    • Sultanas
    • Tomato paste
    • Tomato-based sauces (no added sugar)
    • Untoasted muesli
    • Vinegar for dressing (balsamic, red wine)
    • Whey protein powder *is not something I would usually buy but my trainer has asked me to stock this, so I have, while doing her program.
      apples
      oranges
      bananas
      Fruit in season.
  • Freezer Essentials
    • Free-range, skinless chicken breasts
    • Fish fillets - not the boxed kind! (e.g. white fish, salmon)
    • Lean red meat (e.g. beef fillets, kangaroo fillets, kanga bangers)
    • Frozen peas
    • Frozen berries
    • Multigrain, rye or soy and linseed bread
      onions
  • Measuring Tools
    • Kitchen scales
    • Measuring cup
    • Measuring spoons
  • Fridge Essentials I won’t go into too much detail here as you will be getting your week one shopping list soon and I don’t want your food to spoil. To give you an idea, apart from fresh fruit and vegetables, you will need:

    • Low-cal cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
    • Low-cal (skim) milk or soy milk – high calcium is best
    • Low-cal yoghurt, no sugar
    • Meat for sandwiches
    • Multigrain or soy and linseed bread
    • Parmesan cheese (strong flavoured so you use less)
       Free range eggs
      cellery,
      carrots.
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I add more variety to this, in my weekly shopping, but these items are usually in my caravan pantry

We have just picked up the caravan from caravan court in Springvale where we have it serviced and had a new wind up TV antenna fitted and where we would get any rv repair. Work we need done, completed.  I was amazed at just how much I was able to stack into this pantry cupboard.

I have bought fresh pots of growing herbs, mint and chives and these travel with us to add extra flavour to our meals.

 
 
 
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Balancing my energy needs, when dining out.

I used to eat whatever is served when I dine out and while I do believe that where weight loss is concerned ‘it isn’t how much you eat, but when (when hungry) and how much (portion control), that counts’, when the food I eat is not nutrition dense and it is loaded in refined carbohydrates, I tend to overeat . It is very hard to portion control when food is laden with unseen fats you are not aware of.

So when my youngest daughter asked me to buy Create a Meal, which was frozen vegetables in a sauce to make the stir fry dinner, I bought that for the family meal but I also bought, plain frozen vegetables to cook in the microwave for me to eat instead.

Create a meal-contained sugar, salt and full fat coconut milk powder, and the thickener, 1422 xanthan gum. None of which I normally choose to eat and I cannot see the point of adding to my diet when I only want the vegetables and can add my own fresh spices or low sodium condiments, if I wanted to spice the vegetables up.

The family also had white rice as the meal base. Since I have been portion control aware, I have cut my rice servings from a former copious, one and a half cups to a more realistic for my energy needs, half a cup and I try to eat the most energy dense, whole grain rice, not the polished white rice, so I skipped the rice part of the meal.

Therefore, my own selection of the meal consisted of grilled chicken breast and the crisp micro waved vegetables and I ate it with chopsticks while the family, who are all slim and can afford to eat the extra calories, ate their white rice, sauce coated vegetables and the chicken.

The calorie difference would have been 500 calories. There was 800 calories in the adult serves for the cooked for the family meal and my similar but just the nutrition dense food version of the meal, was only 300 and it was very satisfying.

It was not too conspicuous, a thing to do, to arrive before dinner, bringing my own vegetables for the meal. It was not difficult to heat my vegetables on the side in the microwave, (in fact Reg did this for me while I was blogging J ),  I took my chicken before it was mixed into the sauce mixture and I really enjoyed my dinner, and knowing I was sticking within my energy needs, for the day and not exceeding them.

My youngest daughter is a naturally active person, she walks and rides a bike, works hard, and even takes time to exercise on top if this by using her Wii fit plus. She encourages, healthy activity in her family, her and her husband walk the dog for an hour when he comes home from work most nights and her meals are mostly nutritious.

 I am not as active all day, as she is, so I have a lower energy requirement.  Blogging does not burn up the energy in half a bowl of rice, easily. J.  I felt really pleased, when I woke this morning, knowing I have tidied up this one last, slack eating area in my life, finding a good way to get around, eating out at other people’s homes and not overeating, over consuming energy, in the process.

Here is the convenient one serve size pack of mixed frozen vegetables that I found convenient to bring to the meal, for myself, photographed, on the sink beside the Kohler faucets.

 
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I am 'on tour', so I had my Polar watch that I ordered through my Michelle, Bridges, 12 Week, Body, Transformation, membership discount, sent ahead to my youngest daughter’s home which I have just arrived at. .It was here, waiting for me

Because. I am dyslectic and my husband has frontal lobe brain degeneration, neither of us can work out how to set up these complex function digital heart rate monitor and exercise session, calorie counting, watches. Therefore, I took it to Rebel Sports Store, told them I have been a good customer in the past and asked for help to set my new watch up. They did a total set up for me and showed me how to use it. :-).

The watch had been pre set to a 165 suggested top pulse rate and as I am 63 and lol, did not want to have to get life insurance quote. and upgrades before I worked out, I had the gentleman who was helping me at Rebel Sport reprogram my Polar watch to show 130 as my top recommended pulse rate as I do have regurgitating heart valves, lung scaring and I am sixty three. None of those three reasons are excuses not to exercise but they are examples of why you do need to have a medical check up before exercising and you should find out what your recommended top pulse rate is, and make sure you do not exceed this.  I am all for becoming fitter, not skinnier at any cost.

Here is a link to the suggested Heart Rate Training Zones, if you know your resting heart rate and your suggested top heart rate.

I think this wanting to be fitter, not just skinnier, is why I love the title of the 12 week body transformation. J, the emphasis is on a healthy transformation, not a weight loss, the difference is clear in my mind as I do not want to lose muscle and bone density in order to increase the results on the scales.

 

Top marks to Rebel Sports store, for customer service over and above usual and for a fast service from Polar.

Rebel Sports was very impressed with my FT4, they felt it was better looking that the FT4 they have in the stores, (so do I :-) ) and they said it was the best choice for me, than my origina, more expencive and complex function, Polar, Sports watch as this one was eary to view the training and calories achieved, but was not going to be too complicated for me to be able to use. 
 
 
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As you may have read I have joined the Michelle, Bridges, 12WBT and I am very excited about my fitness plans for 2010, never mind just 12 weeks. I am not waiting until the begining of the 12 weeks not seeing the end of it as the stop, I'm living my life NOW, and loving it. :-) and I am going to 'lap up', all the extra motivation having a professionally managed sensible on line program and forum, can bring me.

I am not knocking the free forums I have been on, it is just that I want, MORE, lol, :-), I am always 'hungry', for expert knowledge and professional motivation. While I LOVE, helping motivate others, I do not want t be the most motivated to exercise or eat healthy person on a forum that I go to for support. It does not help me. I know Michelle is streets ahead of me in the fitness motivation. :-), it is her career and she is one of the best.  This decision feels SO RIGHT for ME :-).

I went into the Forum at 12WBT this morning and first thing I checked out was the Polar Heart rate Monitor post. I have a $25. Cheap one, I bought at Aldi, try as I can, I cannot set it to count calories, and it isnpt warterproof. I want to set myself a target of calories to burn in a work out, and then ...go for it, I also wanted a watch warterproof to 50 meters to allow for swimming and snorkling. 

I took advantage immediately of the 20% discount on the Polar Heart Rate Monitor Watch.

Training with a HR monitor is a fantastic way to accurately track how many calories you have burnt each session as well as see what your heart rate is doing. TBL contestants often wear a HR monitor all day, every day.

I bought this one. F4

For disappearing calories

For you who want to get a fitter body by knowing how many calories you have burned. The small and simple F4 gives you accurate information and motivates you to reach your targets.

  • See how many calories you have burned
  • Get interference-free data with coded heart rate transmission
  • Helps you keep the intensity you want
Price $127.20
I have posted my day's fitness activities and travel update on my 'gone bush blog'.
 
 
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Hi I am Kathy, gray-nomad, ` Highways of Australia'. 

I thought I would introduce myself, I travel, with my best friend and husband Reg, spending summer in Victoria, Mid Year, Northern Australia, mid season, in transit.
- I am a carer, writer and artist. my Creative Life Blog, is at http://www.kathy-shell.net
As this is my fitness blog, I wanted to share here that, - I am dong the Michelle Bridges, 12 Week, Body transformation, (2WBT), because I trust Michelle Bridges not to do crank diets.  I am for whole foods and good nutrition, so I believe in her healthy, food, portion controlled, and attitude and as I am in the lower half of my downsizing journey, I know I will benefit by having a trainer, to account to. I know I shaved 200 calories off, my eating today, after reading the Michelle Bridges books last night. I also got up and exercised in the morning instead of sitting around drinking coffee to wake up. I did not want to do this but I want what doing it will give me. This is what I believe joining this program, will do for me, it will, make me go that extra distance.

- I was very ill up until three years ago, in need of a heart lung transplant as the result of a lifetime, of respiratory illness a stroke and a PE.  I never had that operation, refusing it based on my age, I felt the young should be cared for first and I had had a great life. I now do not need such an operation.  I also needed a lot of joint pain relief , my feet had been broken and my right leg crushed, it was hard to walk and very painful. I frequently fell injuring my knees. I was 'a mess.  I wanted to be the one to care for my husband. I made a commitment to become well. I have succeeded. :-) and also kept my man a lot fitter than any predictions. I believe in Positive Mental Attitude, good nutrition and move it or lose it, even in illness, where it is possible and I have seen some amazing recoveries as a result.

I set out to live. I needed to be carer for my husband and I was not going to make the distance if I did not do something about it, so I began a self set, fitness program of exercise. (When I began I had pain just standing on my feet, let alone moving and was out of breath walking 100 yards), when I began my joyful journey back to health, on 28th January, 2017.          

-          As a writer, I have shared aspects of this journey in my blogs. This helped motivate me too, writing about my journey.
Now I need a professional to help take me to the finish line :-) to my goal weigh, and that is why I have joined the 12WBT, to go the extra distance.

-           I have made huge strides in fitness and weight reduction; I still need to go further in weight reduction and must not take my regained health and fitness for granted.

I am dyslectic. Please excuse my typos.

I have osteoporosis so I will not have the waist of a young woman, nor will BMI be right for me, as my spine has shrunk so make allowances, though not excuses.