Well the 12 Week Body Transformation is over for round three 2011. I will be joining up again for Round 1 2012 as it was the best thing I have ever done. I've lost 10.2 kg this round 14.4 kg since the beginning of pre season. I've also lost 46 cm in total. the biggest lose was off my waist. I don't feel I need to change anything I just need to continue on down to 65 kg. My next short term goal is 80 kg by my birthday on the 13th January and then after that round one 2012 starts on the 16th January, well preseason anyway. I will try to get back here in the next month and write an update.

Have a great christmas make sure you eat clean and keep the exercise up....

See you next round

Before September 2011

After December 2011

Tracie

Finally my BMI is 29.4. finally made the overweight range I'm no longer obese. Woo Hoo.
Lost another 1.6 today. Now I'm 85.9 kg. I thats 14 kilos gone since pre season and 30 kilos since 2009. When I was diagnosed with type 2 Diabeties. I was at the doctor yesterday and shed said that when I get my BMI down to 24 I can come of the diabeties medication. Maybe my blood pressure medication as well. This will save me a lot of money every month. The price of healthy is low...

Tracie

Can you believe I have made 87.5 kg. I don't know why but this number has made me so happy. maybe because I have been so stagnant for the last couple of weeks. I'm really loving this program and I'm going to do it again next round. The motivation you recieve on the forums is just fantastic. The videos from Mish are fantantic too. I bought my first pair of size 16 shorts off the shelf in Target the other day, and I have dropped one bra size.

Just had to shout it too the world..

Tracie

My how time flies, we are almost up to week 7, things have been going real well, have lost 10.7kg in total I'm very happy with that. This week was a little low on the weight loss scale, but I am a bit hormonal so this may account for the small loss, it was still a loss. I have been eating very clean, this week the exercise was a bit light on as my left knee is just a bit tender so I gave myself a couple of light days, I should be able to get back on track on Sunday. Tomorrow is my rest day as it is the busiest day of my week and I just can't fit exercise in.

Tracie

Well it looks like I'm going to be a once a week updater. Since daylight saving started I have been having a hard time getting up to exercise in the morning. It is just so dark at 5.00am. This morning though I got Steve up so he could come with me. I only had .5 hour but I managed to burn 250 cals, this is better than nothing. I had to start work at 7.15am looking after the kids I used to nanny and I'm not finishing till 7.15pm. Very long day but I love being with these kids they are such sweeties. Diet has been going really well till we made choc chip cookies today as an activity. I only had one though, they just smelt soooo good. I will count the calories as a snack maybe even my two snacks for the day. I haven't looked at how many calories in one cookie.

I'm really loving the food on the menu it is so nice and yummy, not like diet food at all. Tomorrow I'm going to do my time trial again. I will be really interested to see how I go. I can run so much further than I could ever run before.. Back tomorrow after the time trial and fitness test.

Tracie

Ok, I have been a bit quite. Just a little busy with exercise, and cooking. Aren't the meals fantastic? I loved the Prawn Pad Thai, it was so yummy, we will be having that again. the other dish I've cooked a few times is Cajun Chicken, this is a bif favourite in my house. I think we had it 3 times last week. Looking forward to Laksa tonight.

The exercise is still going well, I'm not having any trouble getting up at 5.30am. Next week might be a little different as Daylight saving starting on Sunday, and 5.30am being so dark.
Tomorrow we have an appointment at Revesby Workers to join the gym. I will then be able to go there when it is too dark in the morning until it lightens up again.

Week 2 weigh-in I lost 1.5kg. was very happy with this. Have lost 6.5kg since the beginning of pre-season. Tomorrow is weigh in day again an I'm hoping for another 1.5kg.

See you tomorrow.

Tracie

Today was a good workout, up at 5.30am and out the door by 6.45am we walked 6.41km, even tackled Valley Rd. This is a huge hill and I got all the way to the top with out stopping HR got to 153 and boy could I hear the heart pounding in my ears. But you know what, I will be doing that again, because it felt real good to get to the top.

Here is a photo of my HR monitor  to show Cals burnt. Still can't get to 500.

This is what happens to your smart phone when you throw it at your husband when you are cranky with him for not concentrating on the timing of your time trial.

No not really, I dropped it on the ground face down on concrete 5 minutes after completing the time trial in 8.44 minutes. have been told it is cheaper to buy a new one that have it repaired. good thing it still works, just a bit more decorated on the front screen. But I was cranky with him for not concentrating on the timing though.

Tracie

Weigh In Day

Today is weigh in day...

Got up this morning got undressed had a wee and guess what? .8 kilo gone. thats 5 kilos since the start of the preseason. I'm very happy with that.

While I was in Bankstown yesterday looking for some where that I could have my 3 months old smart phone fixed that I dropped and smashed the screen, while I was doing my time trial, I walked past the book shop and noticed Michelle was going to be there signing books today. So after yoga today I took myself up to Bankstown and bought the Crunch Time cookbook, I then waited patiently for the book signing. Here is the result..

A day three photo with Michelle. She is lovely, asked me if I had done all my preseason tasks and if I had watched the live video yesterday. Which I did. She then asked me how I went on weigh in day and I told her I had lost 0.8kg, I told her I had started watching what I ate and exercising preseason, and she asked how much I had lost. I told her 5 kgs. She said that was fantastic. I told her I would see her at the finale party for an after photo she said your on....

Better go and start tomorrow nights dinner as I want to get a walk in this afternoon.

Tracie

AND WE'RE OFF

Today is the official start of the 12WBT. I have been working up to this for the last 4 weeks, I was up this morning at 5.30am as I am every morning of the week now. I walked/ran 6 km this morning burnt 388cal. I can walk one telegraph pole run one telegraph pole on the hilly parts and on the flats I can run 2 telegraph poles walk one. this is a great improvement on 4 weeks ago.

I must say except for a few minor niggles I feel fantastic.

Have a great day.

Tracie

Measure Up

Today is Measuring Day, This is the day that you get the home truths.

In Preseason I have lost a few cms but there are still a whole lot more to go. When I measured myself on the 18th August 2011, this was the result.

18/08/2011                     Today 07/09/2011
Chest - 135cm                 Chest - 128cm
Waist - 124cm                 Waist - 119cm
Hips - 123cm                    Hips - 117cm
                                         Thighs - 57cm (L)
                                                      57cm (R)
Weight - 100kg                 Weight - 95.8kgs

I'm happy with the results so far, but I know there is a long way to go, and this 12 weeks is going to get me there.

Here are the before photos, now I thought I would be brave and put them on my blog as this would mean i owned them and it held me accountable for the next 12 weeks journey.

Today was Yoga day, haven't been for awhile, but it was good to be back, still burned 199 cals even doing yoga.

Well tomorrow is shopping day, I'm very excited to get the plans so I can start losing a few more cms.

Tracie

Wow Time fly doesn't it? 5 days since my last post and 2 more preseason tasks open. Kitchen Makeover was on Thursday, I didn't have to do too much for this as I have been following a reasonablly good eating plan for the last couple of years. So there wasn't any junk food in my house except for Steve's Potato chips, he's going to get rid of these as well and only have them in the house on Mondy's when I'm not home.

Preseason Task 7 Diarize and Organise, Got out my diary and started to put in Red Flag events, not too many in the next 12 weeks, Some things just pop up though, a very good friend rang me the other day to say she would like to get together with me in the coming months so this could be a red flag, as this would be a trip to the Gold Coast to see her and another old school chum who has had to start chemo again as her cancer is back with a vengeance. Will see what happens about this...

I exercise best in the morning and been doing just that for the last 3 weeks since preseason opened, staying on track pretty well. This is how my week will shape up.

Sunday - Fitness

Monday - Tone (one of Michelle's DVDs)

Tuesday - Fitness (now this is the day I'm going to do my Super Saturday as this is my Saturday) going to try and burn 1000cals

Wednesday - Yoga class also bulk cooking day as this is my Sunday

Thursday - Fitness

Friday - Tone

Saturday - Rest Day, (this is my rest day because I go to dietitian every fortnight at 6.15am, then I go to the Farmers Market at 6.30am to do weekly fruit and vegetable shop and then to work, 9am-5pm, and some times I even work 6.00pm-9.30pm at a playcentre so I just cannot possible fit exercise in.

This is what you have to do when you work in retail and work Saturday and Sundays.

The exercise is still going great my fitness has really improved, I'm even trying to do a little running my knees are a little niggly at the moment but I will just do it gradually I haven't exercised regularly for at least the last 8 years but this time I'm quite determined to do it.

Bring on Thursday when week one is released I'm so looking forward to it.

In the last 3 weeks, I have got rid of 4 kgs and 20cm so I'm happy with the progress so far, and I'm really pumped...

Tracie

After my huge walk yesterday I woke up with a huge headache, so I didn't think I was going to train today at all. After taking some panadol and going back to bed it got better finally.

This afternoon I went out and walked 5 km, Steve had a meeting to go to so I got him to drop me off and I walked home. Always makes you feel good after a nice long walk. walking somewhere different always makes it special, the local council has put in some gym equipment in the park not too far away, so I might have to make this a regular haunt as I can't afford a gym for real at the moment. There was a cross trainer, exercise bike just to name a few.

For dinner I made a nice big bowl of fresh salad and chicken. Yummy

Tracie

When I woke up this morning I thought I would skip the walk and do a DVD instead, when the DVD was over I didn't think I had done enough work so I had breakfast and went out for a walk, we decided to walk along the boardwalk beside Salt Pan Creek. it is very nice down there we managed to walk 10ks. This particular walk ends with a huge hill. I walked up this hill without stopping, It was a great feeling to make it. I will be doing this walk again but I need to wait for my knees to feel a bit better first.

So today's walk was 10.1kms at 7.2kph it was a great walk will be doing it again real soon.

This morning I was up at 5.30am walked 5.63km in 1hr at 5.5kph, burnt 381 calories, still a bit short of 500 calories but I'll keep working on it.

Have been out two nights in a row for dinner, have kept the calories pretty lean during the day, tried to make good choices, and had no dessert...

The next social eating function is for our nephew Ethan's 11th Birthday, so will work really hard till then so weight gain is minimal, Going to a Buffet, always dangerous..

Off to work now.

Tracie

Preseason Task 5

COMMITMENT - 

I'm committed to losing 20kg in the next 12 weeks doing


Michelle Bridges 12wbt, I'm also committed to working out 6 


days per week and following a healthy eating plan...

1 Kilo Lost

1 Kilo is gone forever, Wednesday was weigh in day and it is gone. It's is good to be in double figures again.

6.00am Wednesday Morning - trying to capture fog 

Wednesday I did 2 workouts, this was because I went out for a Chinese lunch with my Mother in law. In the morning I got up and walked 6.13 km in 63 minutes at 5.3 kph this burnt 511 calories, then after lunch I walked home from the restaurant this was another 2.68 km in 30 minutes, this helped burn off some of the excess calories eaten at lunch. I ate very little rice and tried to stick to steamed food but a couple of pieces of combination seafood was too hard to resist. For dinner a light chicken salad was in order...

Thursday I started the day at 5.45am  with a 5.17 km walk in 58 minutes. at 5.3 kph. Thursday was my first day back at work after a 2 week holiday, I didn't have to start till 1.00pm, did some shopping then came home and made Steve and I a nice chicken wrap and a chicken salad to go into the fridge for dinner, as well as the chicken salad I also had some strawberries, passionfruit and yogurt. This was yum.

View of Georges River from Bush while walking

On Thursday the Polar FT7 heart rate monitor I bought on line arrived in the mail, along with the New Balance shoes I managed to find on ebay for $41.00 Brand New in Box. I wear New Balance shoes all the time so buying them on ebay wasn't a problem.

This morning I had a late start with the walking. my right knee is giving me a bit of a niggle so I put a knee support on and off I went. Today I did 6.36 km in 67 minutes. Today I amped it up just a little by doing a little running between the occasional telegraph pole to get the heart rate up a little bit more. I feel really good still have the support on my knee, but I will just be aware of how it's feeling. This has been a lot of work for my knees over the last week and a half, but they will get used to it.

Starting work at 1.00pm again today so I'm going to make mixed vegetable and Tofu stirfry for lunch and take a chicken salad for dinner to work. Steve won't be too happy with the Tofu but he will get over it.

Tracie

First I'm going to start off my blogging with what I've been doing for the last few days.

Saturday - Went to a crochet class in the city, then I walked home from the station 2.68 km I also got out of the train at St James Station and walked down Market St to York St where my class was, this was .58km I walked at a pretty brisk pace, I walked back as well another .58km, this added 1km onto my total for the day. this is way more than I would have done in the past.

Sunday - no workout today, as I usually work on Sundays I decided to spend the day with my husband, we went to the markets and done all the stuff we don't usually get to do on weekends.

Monday - Got up at 5.45am and walked 5.81km this took an hour and burned 450 cal.

This morning I got up at 5.45am and walked 6.76km this took 1hr and 13 mins, when I start back to work on Thursday I will have to get up at 5.30am to get my walk finished by 7.00am. this needs to include stretching as without stretching I wouldn't be able to walk at all. I have managed to keep the shin splints at bay with a lot of calf stretching etc.

Now I know we are up to preseason task 3 Goal setting.

Now I'm not real good at this, but I am getting out of my comfort zone and I'm in the middle of writing my goals. Now the easy one is I want to lose 35kg, but in how long I just don't know, by yesterday would be good, but I know that isn't going to happen.

So my 12 Month Goal is to lose 35kg.
This would put me back to the same weight I was when I got married and I haven't seen that weight in 28 years.
I would also love to do a long distance cycling trip maybe 500km.
I have no ambition to run a Marathon, I think that is crazy, but then again I have never been fit enough to run a marathon, so who knows.

I love to cycle though, so to be fit enough to go for a lovely ride would be high on my goal list.

My 6 month goal is to lose 30kg

How will I get there?
By continuing the fitness regime I started and built up.
Count calories and only eat nutrient rich low calorie food.

My 3 month Goal is to lose 20kgs, now if it turns out that half way in I'm not going to make this as I've been a little ambitious, I will adjust this goal accordingly.
To do this I'm going to follow the 12WBT.

My 1 month goal is to lose 6.7kgs. Learn to run and run 3k without stopping or cycle 5km without stopping.

How will I do this? I will count the calories of everything I put in my mouth and build up my workout regime to include running and cycling.

Wow this is long winded. I have  been writing it on and off all day.

Tracie

It's raining today in Sydney.

That's great for the garden but not so good for exercising.

That isn't an excuse,cause I just came back from 57 minute 5km walk.

I just put on my raincoat and off I went, our block is 1.2km around so I walked around it 4 times then walked to my friends house. I told myself I wasn't going there till I had walked at least 5km so going there was a reward, she made me a coffee when I got there and we had a chat.

Rewards are always good they just make the exercise sweeter.

Tracie

Almost forgot to post today.

Well today I walked to Revesby to do my shopping, 4 kms at 5.1 kph, pretty good huh, I'm sure this is going to get alot better as the weeks go on, this walk helped me burn 370 calories, I know from reading the Forum that Michelle expects 500 cals to be burnt per day, so if I build up to this over the next few weeks this will make my life easier. I now have shin splints to contend with and no this isn't an excuse, I will be out there tomorrow working up to 400 cals.

The two apps I downloaded for my phone are fantastic. The "My Net Diary" is a great way of keeping track of calories eaten and burnt this helps keep me honest and I can see what I've eaten, it also makes me think before I eat which is great also.

Chewing gum has been a god send too. I think I will own a chewing gum company by the end of this 12 weeks.

I also managed to up my water intake today as well, this will help with the weight loss and keep me better hydrated as well, it's hard to think about drinking water in winter when it's not hot.

My Best Friend Kelly has also joined me on this journey, even though we won't be able to do much training together we will be able to support each other.

Have done the 2nd pre season task, will go back and watch the video again too see if I can come up with any more excuses...

Tracie

The thing I have real trouble doing is exercise. I think this comes from all the years I have been overweight and having no motivation.

This morning I downloaded a sports tracker app for my phone, wow what a great tool to use, now I just didn't download it, I downloaded and then used it. I went for a walk for 39 minutes and covered 3kms at an average walking speed of 4.6km/h isn't that just the coolest little thing? Now I have to keep doing better and bettering(is this a word) my pace so the same figures don't show up again and I keep getting better.

The other cute little and very functional app I downloaded was a calorie counter app. "My Net Diary", with this little app you can keep track of your calorie intake for the day, it will even keep track of the calories eaten and the calories used, doesn't this keep you honest.

I will write here over the coming weeks about how they are both going.

Have a great day...

Tracie

Well this is really addictive. the motivation out there is just fantastic. Have been looking for a heart rate monitor at a reasonable price, this will help me get really pumped and know that I'm working in the zone and burning lots of calories and fat.

Have done the first preseason task and introduced myself in the forum and I also joined twitter. After new running shoes the next thing I might need to purchase is a camera with video capabilities then I might built up the courage to do a vlog.

Come on Sept 12...

Tracie

The Beginning

Today I took the big step of signing up for Michelle Bridges "12 week Body Transformation".

As Michelle says the first step is the hardest but I've done it.

I have been going to a dietitian for the last 2 years but I've lost the motivation and I think I just need something else to make the weight go down again.

Well here we go......................

The first step is to introduce myself on the forum guess I had better go and do that.

Tracie