I am still having fun, spring cleaning and setting up house, following my arrival back to base camp cottage in Victoria, on Thursday afternoon.
My current project is converting the lower level, storeroom area of the split-level bedroom into an exercise area. 

Three bags full of rubbish to go out, piles of ribbons, arts and crafts supplies and stock for a  downsizing sale to start soon, and 12 hours of physical work including furniture removal as my calorie burn effort for the day, lol, I did my strength training moving a heavy table.

In the cleanup, I found a BMI and WHR or Waist to Hip ration chart, I had made for me in a healthy weight medical assessment a year ago and the BMI put me at obese and the WHI puts me at normal healthy weight.  Two totally different figures and a skin fold test says I could still lose some excess weight but where that weight is, is not going to affect my health.  

 Three different, opinions from three, different tests, by the same-trained assessors.  

They put the least importance on BMI. 

As a swimmer, I have a lot of opportunity to see other women, entering or leaving a swimming pool wearing a costume that allows me to see the huge variation in each of us and I can plainly see that body fat percentage has nothing to do with height and weight. I can see for myself the total inaccuracy of BMI as a means of assessing fat percentage.

What is BMI

BMI was first proposed about 150 years ago as a way to estimate the body fat persentage of a human, using age, weight, height and sex to calculate the figure.  There are at least three different formulas you can use to work this out, none give an accurate assesment.  

The BMI value we can't tell definitely whether the person is thin or fat because it does not have the muscle mass to fatty mass percentage and yes some people's bones are thicker.  If you are assessing your body fat percentage and using BMI you may want to  take into account a number of other parameters along with the BMI.

Waist to Hip Ratio.

• Waist-to-hip ratio: if the coefficient is 0.5 or more this means that a person has too much abdominal fat.  it is assumed that a WHR of 0.7 for women shows that she is has the ideal shape and body fat for good health and fertility. For men the optimal value of WHR is 0.9.

As the formulas for calculating true body fat percentage are too much like mathematics for my liking, lol, I simply strip off and look in the mirror, and decide, 'Yes, I have a little more work to do", or 'Looking good, maintenance time', and I also put my faith in excellent gym trainers interested in fitness and health, not just body image and pushing you to be slim, to advertise their gym or slim program.

lol, I have a feeling, that moving heavy furniture at 64 yeas of age, with my husband of almost 70, after midnight last night, lol, J, had a lot more to do with being an eccentric, personality than achieving my goal of balance in my life, but J, no harm done this morning, J, and I am very happy to have got the hard part out of the way, the rest is just a matter of working through the, sorting, organizing and downsizing.  Nowhere near as much fun though as the radical stuff I got up to last night nor the delight in finding those hip to waist ratio formulas and my peak flow airway monitor, that showed a 20% improvement in my lung capacity, to remind myself, I am ‘doing OK. J 

I plan to create an exercise room in the lower section of our split level bedroom.

Reg is going to bring our caravan TV into our home bedroom and set the Wii Fit Plus, up in the bedroom and I am going to clean out the lower half of the bedroom as my exercise project today and get back to my Biggest Loser, Full body workouts and weight loss yoga I enjoy. 

I will also be getting my Vitamin D levels checked, they are usually low even though I take Vitamin D3 supplements and try to get some sun exposure.  Low Vitamin D levels do affect our ability to lose weight as do other body functions  HCG weight loss Austin  Is a company that believes in testing thyroid function and Vitamin D, and more for people with weight problems; it is worth asking your own doctor foe some of these tests if you have been struggling in trying to loose weight.

I have been home one day and I am already comparing gyms. 

Trying to make up my mind up, if I will be, attending a gym.  

The Best gym is 6 kilometers away, in Shepparton, a 12 k round trip.  pool can get too crowded to enjoy so I started skipping the swimming, I do love the assessments and the workout equipment there.

Little gym closer to home is just over 4 kilometers away I am thinking I could put my joggers on and get a 6 plus kilometer powerwalk or part jog in just going too and from gym. on a good day. Then swim in their smaller but warmer and less crowded pool. 

Their gym, equipment room, ‘sucks; too noisy, old noisy treadmills and blaring music, I would need to wear ear muffs to use that room. 

Best gym advantages are lots of classes and pump class three times a week. Small gym advantage is enough classes and one at the same time each day two of them pump, I could get into a routine more easily there.  

Then of course I could walk the river trails at no cost and use my own weights and do my Wii Fit plus, Biggest Loser full body workout and weight loss yoga, at home. 

I will probably take out a 10 visit pass to the local gym and try it out. J. Think that’s the best option at the moment. 

Financial aspects to consider are:- Cost will be about $45. a fortnight, regardless of what gym I choose, for a one year membership and I can take a 6 week holiday from the smaller gym each year and a three month (better because I will use it), holiday from the larger gym and I can cancel my membership before the year is up, with a doctors letter, if I need to, from the larger gym. I had to do that last year, due to carer duties, so that is a huge savings if it is required.  

I have been tying my own jogger shoe laces this way for the past three years and find it gives me a firm  fit.  I was shown how to do this when I bought them.

We are returning home to our summer retreat  with my husband Reg a lot healthier than when we left for this tour, due largly to good shoes and lots of walking. We bought our summer retreat a few years ago, pulled up the grubby mismatched carpet and put down new timber look, cheap laminate flooring, that I love.

Last year I spent $350. on the same brand, different style of show, for my husband who was very unfit having wasted a lot of muscle after a debilitating bout of whooping cough that that then turned into weakness and pain throughout all his joints and muscles. He was in a bad way, and was walking, hunched over and very slow, using a walking stick and only managing short distances.  He did have a fantastic attitude and he put those new shoes on and made every possible effort to improve

I know it sounds funny to say I ‘inspected’, him naked this morning, lol J, but I did, and although he is thin, he has regained some muscle definition on his legs and buttocks where 6 months ago he looked wasted away.   He now wears a pedometer and walks 10,000 steps every day and takes pride in this J.   The difference, between him having slipped into the frail elderly,  as a result of an illness and having stayed there, getting worse as a result of lack of exercise and him regaining, fitness and the joy of life, was positive, mental attitude.

‘Just do it’, even when, it was hard, and a decent pair of well fitting shoes, ‘hang the cost’.  

The greatest wealth we have is our health.

My man turns 70 this month and I have my friend and companion back J due to his determination of spirit and a pair of properly fitted shoes that helped him get walking again. 

 

My 3 R's for Healthy Living, in my 64th Year of Life,
Pledge to Myself and the Man I Love.
Research, Responsibility & Respect.

Maintain my RESEARCH so I have the knowledge of calories, amount and type of fat, refined sugars, chemical additives & portion control in what I am eating.
Know I can still be active despite most injuries or illness and the right form of exercise is good therapy and protective of lifestyle disease. Get and follow, expert advice to maintain and build on our aim to be "Strong Seniors".

I take RESPONSIBILITY for having the right attitude, commitment and RESPONSIBILITY for what goes in our mouths and for ensuring I form healthy habits, get 7 hours sleep each night and do three strength training sessions, three cardio work out sessions and one flexibility training session each week, including stretches in these work outs.  I will ensure I break my sedentary creative work with at least three active sessions each day. I accept the RESPONSIBILITY   of helping Reg stay interested in life so he does not want to sleep too much and enjoys staying active and alert. I understand that being RESPONSIBLE for our health has nothing to do with being motivated, having everything in life ideal or perfect, I Need to maintain a RESPONSIBILITY to care for ourselves, at all times, not just when it is easy or convenient to do so.

& finally I will  RESPECT myself so I can be the best I can be.
I see RESPECT as covering the physical-exercise/nutrition and my emotional/creative needs. Out of respect for my creative needs I am setting a minimum creativity target to achieve 6 days a week.  My creativity can be in any form I choose, eg; painting, gardening, cooking, home decor, sewing, and currently with a commitment to write novels I have set an initial 1,500 creative word count target per day.
I pledge to show the person I love and care for, more  RESPECT. I understand my taking the carer role places him at an emotional disadvantage, I know how I would hate to not feel my ideas are respected, I need to show more respect to others.

I pledge that I will Research for the knowledge, help and strength I need to do these things, take responsibility to follow through and show respect to myself and my man, by doing what I have pledged to do, in this wonderful,  64th year of my life.

Kathy Shell

It is my birthday and I have been spoiltJ. I am wearing my extravagant birthday present, four sliver Pandora charms, (I wear them around my neck over my clothes, as they tarnish on my skin), each one to represent one of my grand children. I have a friend whose husband keeps buying her corsets for her birthday, lol, I am too much the bush girl for those sorts of things, I usually choose practical gifts, and these Pandora beads have been the first luxury item I have chosen in a long time.

Now I have a bead to represent each member of my immediate family plus each bead does double duty and represents 5 kilo of weight I needed to lose, from my heaviest weight of a few years back.  I now own 10 Pandora beads; yes that is the full 50 kilo.

I have taken the emphasis off losing weight now and my aim is for a balanced lifestyle that stays true to continuing to nurture myself, both physically and creatively/emotionally ad my belief is that my body will find its own ideal weight quite independent of BMI charts and bathroom scales and by conscientiously eating a healthy portion controlled diet, being active and paying attention to balance and strength training exercise in particular, I will continue to be a strong and productive happy senior for as long as I am able.  I am very happy with where I am, within myself, todayJ.

I thank my family and friends for all your assistance in helping me achieve this comfortable place I am at and encouraging me in the trasition period to a new, downsized, in home, career and self, lifestyle. Today I have begun to write a small book, about this downsizing journey.

 

I took a quick scan through the forums, as I relaxed to prepare to go to sleep and saw an interesting post concerning how much the social networking in the internet was adversly, affecting a person’s life.  This is only one thing that can eat into our self care time and yet if it is kept within a balance, social networking even on the internet, can include positive mentoring sites, and may be, very valuable, self care. 

I try to find the balance where I can say my time spent on social media, benefits me.

I know the time when I lost the bulk of my weight, happened in conjunction with being very active in a weight release forum. I also know my blogging keeps me focused and moving forward to all the goals that matter to me and that my networking on facebook puts me in touch with positive mentoring and supporting people, I value these contacts even if I need to restrict the amount of time I can spend doing these things.

My balance system is not perfect, or equal, sometimes it weighs more heavily to the physical to the neglect of my creative needs and sometimes as in the last two weeks it leans heavily toward the creative me, nurturing the emotions. Balance is never perfect, it is in constant motion and requires constant work and I need to be aware and remember I am striving to focus on having a balanced lifestyle. 

The balance point, how we combine our physical and emotional needs, will be very different for each of us. Best of luck in finding your own balance.

It is very easy when we give up an addiction, such as the one I once had of overeating that we might replace it with another, such as excessive time on facebook, in forums or in creative work, and it’s something I need to remember; that I want to replace habits that do not support the new me with good habits, not another addiction. 

This past fortnight has been a good one for me in seeing my being able to add more of my creative fulfilment interests back into my life and develop my plan for the creative work ahead,  I am using an efficient document management system to make sure this new creative activity stays as a balanced part of my life and does not ‘take over’ and cause me to neglect my physical needs of planning and eating balanced meals and taking sufficient time to exercise.

I am very aware now of the importance of keeping a balance of the physical and the emotional, in my life.  As an artist writer I will always be tempted to allow the emotional creative self to dominate, that is why I wear a simple leather Pandora bracelet with one Pandora bead, the yin yang (balance), bead on my wrist these days, below my heart rate monitor watch, as a constant reminder of this, ‘Balanced Lifestyle’, commitment I have made to myself.

I do NOT diet. I strive for a ‘Balanced Lifestyle’.

 

I'm having a few issues that interfere with Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation training.

I have not said a lot about it, but two months ago I discovered a painful lump over a muscle on my flank.  I weighted up then if I would do the 12WBT or try to have surgery to remove it immediately as it was painful and swollen.  It turned out that I would need to commute 200 kilometers to see a surgeon, one wasn’t even available here in north Queensland until September and I have no one to mind Reg while I have surgery. Even if it is minor surgery, I need someone to look after him so I decided to put it to the back of my mind, as I was told by the local GP ere and I also believe, it will be a benign fatty lipoma.  I have had one removed from my groin, years ago. 'Bull' to any doctor who says that these are not painful, it does depend where they are, mine seems to wrap around a nerve and cause a lot of hot swelling and inflammation that is aggravated by exercise.  This week I am afraid that aside from some walks, I have been in bed rest, just managing the inflammation trying to keep it to a minimum without going on to antinflamitory, medication.

So that’s the bad news, my excuse as to why I am not exercising very much at the moment.

I am striving to be positive, to pat myself on the back for what I do achieve, and accept what I cannot and fix what can be fixed when I get closer to family, so they can keep an eye on Reg while I get this sorted out. 
I am aiming to be back in Victoria, on September 1st and trying to get in to see a surgeon ASAP to get this removed and get back to normal.

So I am making the very best I can, of my current, need to rest my back muscles, (so as not to stir up a hornet’s nest in there), situation and I have thrown myself into preparation to write a novel.  Takes my mind off the muscles in my back being painful at the slightest movement now.  I believe in making life as positive as possible. J. I am also telling myself that a tortoise will achieve goal too, by staying on course.

I am searching for books to read in this resting time. I love Agatha Christie. Her sleuths’, the person who solves the crime, were always a little quirky, Miss Marples or Hercule Poirot, maybe my sleuth could have a quirk for always wearing pink ties.
Lol J. I am actually looking into developing a few extra sensory, perception, abilities in my hero, as the ‘eccentric factor’, in their character. I am using this rest time as positively as I can.

I am even suggesting to Reg, that we return to Victoria, while it is still winter down there, and get this issue fixed up, sooner, I hate having to be inactive to this extent and I would hate interupting Reg's holiday. Yes I have a lot to think about. 

Dieters wanted for website trial

Australians who are serious about losing weight are being asked to help CSIRO develop a web-based diet management program. 19 July 2010 The CSIRO Preventative Health Flagship is calling for volunteers to try out a pilot ‘online social network’ in which they get access to free diet and health information, recipes and chat sessions.

CSIRO is asking participants to sign up for 12 weeks, starting in early August.

CSIRO ICT research scientist Dr Shlomo Berkovsky said the trial aims to understand how online tools, such as discussion groups and chat sessions, can play a role in providing social support to dieters.

“People who diet with their families and friends tend to lose more weight,” Dr Berkovsky said.

“We want to see if we can create an online support system by putting you in touch with other people who are going on the same journey.”

“We want to see if we can create an online support system by putting you in touch with other people who are going on the same journey.” Dr Shlomo Berkovsky The online diet program will help make meal planning and shopping easier. It learns what you like to eat, what you have or haven’t eaten recently and suggests recipes for you to try. It will also create a shopping list based on your meal plans.

Participants must be over 18, be overweight or obese and have regular access to an internet-connected computer.

Anyone interested in signing up can do so at: 
Contact Information Ms Jo Finlay Communications Manager ICT Centre Phone: 61 2 9372 4309  Alt Phone: 61 4 4763 9688 
http://www.csiro.au/multimedia/Lose-weight-online-with-CSIRO.html

CSIRO adheres to strict privacy guidelines, and personal information collected will not be distributed to any other party and will be used for scientific reasons only.

Dr Berkovsky says the names and other details given by participants will never be disclosed, and they are free to withdraw from the program at any time, with CSIRO deleting all personal information.

I am back from a very long nature work, very tired, will sleep so well tonight J

Great exercise, today I bought myself a Sony Walkman DVD payer, with a jog proof action so I could listen to talking books while I exercise. Because of this I was able to increase my walking exercise to an extra three hours for the day.

I took our dog Indigo with me, she also got more exercise than she usually gets for the day and will sleep well too. 

We called to check on Reg’s fishing just as he was catching me a blue spinner crab for my dinnerJ.