10,000 steps a day - PART 5 (Review)

The 2nd week pedometer results are in, as follows:

wk of 20 Feb 2012           
               
                     Steps    Distance (Km)    Kcal    Fat (g)
Day1            13349   9.3                     344     21.6
Day2            7628     5.3                     74       3.9
Day3            10238   7.1                     261     15.9
Day4            4062     2.8                     164     10.7
Day5            5465     3.8                     86       4.1
Day6            14766   10.3                   388     23.7
Day7            7129     4.9                     140     7.5
Total 1 wk    62637   43.5                   1457   87.4
               
No of days   7           7                        7         7
               
Avg day       8948     6.2                      208.1  12.5

The results look fairly similar to my first week's performance. Mainly because the number of days when I have my bush walks this week is the same as last week's. So I am still not up to 10,000 steps a day yet but it's ok because it's looking like I am improving and I am working on the goal.

That is the main thing...............

Auction

The advertisement for the auction:

Exceptional value 4 bedroom family home.

Ready to refurbish to your own taste and decor this elevated BV property on a coveted corner allotment provides exceptional family accommodation in this hugely popular locale with Burwood Highway tram only minutes walk with primary and secondary schools, parkland and your choice of local supermarket and major retail shopping nearby.

Accommodation comprises entry, large elevated living/dining room with full width verandah and sweeping views across the suburb, kitchen with adjoining meals, four bedrooms - main with semi-ensuite bathroom, further family bathroom and generous double car garage plus paved entertainment area with pergola.

• General Features
• Property Type: House
• Bedrooms: 4
• Bathrooms: 2
• Land Size:653 m² (approx)

• Outdoor Features
• Garage Spaces:2

Danny's property at 14 Consort Avenue which is just behind my home is up for auction today.

The attendance is very encouraging. I think approximately 20 groups of people have come to see the auction. Unfortunately there are only 2 bidders and the final bid is only $552,000. The property is passed in but it is sold later to the final bidder at a slightly higher price of $555,000. I think the property's sell price is about 10-15% below the market price when the market was at its peak some 2 years ago. In addition the buyer will have to spend maybe $80k on a new kitchen, 2 new baths and new floor carpets. So in reality the property would have been sold with new renovations at $630k +. And 2 years ago, it would have been sold at maybe between $700k and $730k.

From realestate.com.au Melbourne auction results for week ending 12 February 2012 were:-

57.4% Clearance rate

249 Reported auctions

Sold prior to auction:	28	Passed in:	102
Sold at auction:	113	Withdrawn:	4
Sold after auction:	2

The auction result is really appalling and today i is definitely a buyers' market!

Jack's new home

We go to my nephew Jack's new home he bought for an inspection before its settlement next week.

The new home is off Mountain Highway in Knox. Jack is very excited, of course. It reminds me of the first property I bought way back in 1993 in Singapore. It was a 5 room ＨＤＢ flat I co-owned with my eldest brother. We did some renovations, mainly brother wanted to put in a new terrazzo floor and a few other things. I remember the floor turned out to be very dark in color and did not look like a terrazzo floor.

Anyway Jack is happy with this unit which has 2 bed rooms, a large living area, a functional kitchen, an ensuite, a laundry room, one garage and one car park space and a reasonable rear patio. For the price he paid I would say it's a good first home for him. 

There is no renovations required for the unit. It's only 8 years old. Maybe some carpet steam clean. Next week I will help him paint his unit. Nothing beats a new coat of paint to make the unit feel like a new home.......

10,000 Steps A Day - PART 4 (The lull sets in)

I need to be serious about this business of working up a sweat and keeping the old heart pumping, daily! It's getting very difficult these few days because of the hot weather. Yesterday we had 35C, today's 38C and tomorrow is forecast to be 34C with a late afternoon cool change.

And I hate hot weather. 

It has been so hot the heat so intense there is no incentive to do anything productive..... I get lethargic and like a lizard put out in the sun to dry.

But I need to get back in the game to be effective and to be successful..... and I will. Some days they are easier than others. You just cannot beat it. c'est la vie; like they say ................................

10,000 steps a day - PART 3 (The Right Diet)

Today I take my mom to see her nutritionist at the St Vincent's. At the weighing in she takes mom's weight. I jump on the electronic scale out of curiosity and Bam! I am surprised.

I am excited to read on the scale that I weigh now, 79.1 kg. I don't know when I last weighed below 80kg. It must have been like 25 years ago! Even with the amount of hill climbing I was doing at Bintulu after I spent 5 months doing thrice weekly regimes I found I only lost 6 kgs from a high of 86kg. Back in late January 2010 I was on the dot 80kg. That was already no mean feat for an old guy..... and now? I am a little overwhelmed....

Not only have I lost some weight I actually feel great. I must say my goal on this 10,000 steps-a-day journey is not to lose weight as much as I actually want to increase my fitness and my overall state of health. I really, really do feel good about the regime I am putting in daily, weekly. And the sense of achievement is driving me forward on this journey of 10,000 steps a day.

Back to my weight. From my discussion with the nutritionist my ideal weight should be a range of between 75kg to 80kg。 And weight is only one of the considerations and I should pay a lot of focus and attentions on fitness and exercise.  Back to the basics for me!

She also advocates the following healthy eating diet :

Whole Grain and High Fiber Foods - at least 4-6 serves daily. One serve is
- 1 slice of bread (wholemeal/seeded/multi-grain)
- or 1/2 cup of cooked rice/pasta
- or 1/2 cup of cereal (high fiber/oat/wheat bix)

Fruit - 2 serves daily. One serve is
- 1 banana/orange/apple/pear
- or 2 mandarins/plums/peaches

Non starchy vegetables - 5 serves daily. One serve is
- 1/2 cup of cooked vegetables
- or 1 cup of salad vegetable

Starchy vegetables - eat 1 serve most days.
- 1 small piece of sweet potato/ small potato
- or 1/2 cup of corn kernels

Legumes - eat 2 serves every week. One serve is
- 1/2 cup of kidney beans/ chick peas/ lentils (high in carb)

Dairy Foods - 2 to 3 serves daily. One serve is
- 200g yogurt
- or 250ml milk
- or 2 slices of cheese

Meat, chicken, fish, eggs, tofu, legumes - 1 to 2 serves daily. One serve is the palm of your hand.

Oily fish - 3 serves weekly including fresh salmon, mackerel, herring, tinned salmon and sardines

I AM VERY SURE I DO NOT meet these strict criteria of types and serves of the right kinds of foods that is why I take vitamin supplement．I believe I definitely need to eat more fruits and veges. And I have not even touched on the foods that I should not be eating so much of i.e. those high in fat, high in sugar, and low in fiber!!!
  

10,000 steps a day - PART 2 (Review)

Just for myself I have kept data for my 10,000 steps a day personal challenge. Initially I aim at doing 4,000 steps of daily bush walk. Including other daily routine activities I think 10,000 steps a day is a good challenge for me if I can do this consistently over the short term (i.e. Feb to June). Of course I will falter and stumble along the way and may not reach my goal but I don't care ...... it's a Goal that is it.

Week of 13 Feb 2012

                    Steps    Distance (Km)    Kcal    Fat (g)
Day1            2535    1.2                     32       1.6   (no ex, northcote duties)   
Day2            7467    5.2                     214     13.1 (bellbird dell) 
Day3            9378    6.5                     144     7.5   (no ex, busy home duties)   
Day4            5906    4.1                     67       3.5   (no ex, rained)   
Day5            13091  9.1                     346     21.8 (bellbird dell)   
Day6            8581    6.0                     252     15.7 (bellbird dell) 
Day7            4906    3.4                    168      10.2 (bellbird dell)
Total 1 wk    51864  35.5                  1223    73.4
               
No of days   7          7                        7          7
               
Avg day       7409    5.1                    174.7    10.5

First observation is I did not reach my goal. Never mind...... I shall try again....

From my week 1's data which I think is interesting because no matter what daily activities one is doing one can actually be quite comforted to know that it's not too difficult to clock at least 3,000 to 5,000 steps and lose some fat.

This I hope give us incentives to get into some kind of activity other than exercise IF WE CANNOT afford the time or are lazy, such as:

- Shopping in a mall (quite intensive walking but slow paced therefore low fat burn)
- Lunch time office walks for 10 minutes
- Take a public transport and walk some distance to your destination
- Walk around the neighborhood for 10 minutes 3 times a week
- Play a game of golf
- Park your car one block from your destination and walk


NOTE ＴＯ SELF: On Day 1, 3 and 4 I did not manage to do my bush walk and so I clocked low number of steps and low fat burn. But on days I bush walked the calorie burn and fat burn were considerably higher. So the pedometer distinguishes hard, consistent activities and works out higher numbers in Kcal and fat burns.


The large calorie, kilogram calorie (Kcal), dietary calorie, or food calorie approximates the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1 °C. This is exactly 1,000 small calories or about 4.2 kilojoules. It is also called the nutritionist's calorie.
                                                                              
One final thought to self. I am surprised I walked an average of 5km a day!

  

One More Time

I was going through some old photos and came across one of these blurry, faded ones that speaks to me. It was me sitting in a glider  in Benalla Airport (YBLA).

It was '83 or '84, would have been in the autumn or winter time.

The glider was fibre glass tandem 2-seater and the instructor would sit at the back. The aircraft had dual controls, of course, a stick for pitch and roll controls, rudder pedals, basic instruments and I am guessing artificial horizon, directional gyro, airspeed indicator, VSI, altimeter and a basic compass. No slip indicator instrument but just a yaw string. One can just see the string right in front of me, kind of where my left hand is, in the picture.

No flaps on this aircraft just air brakes. We were air towed to about 4000 ft and we would release the plane from the tow tug and bank left while the tug broke right. There we would try to find thermals to climb higher and it was not always successful. I remember the instructor took every chance he got doing some rolls and eventually I learnt from him to do a loop. Wow.

I remember it was so, so quiet up in the aircraft because there was no engine noise. One time the instructor said, "Hey look. Rainbow!". And there it was, a rainbow, up where we were flying, all quiet, only some wind noise, he and I; looking at this rainbow over our shoulders. It was one time that I felt like it was neat. Just point the stick and the glider would fly to where I pointed. Like it was part of my body.

I clocked about 5.5 hours dual on it over 2 or 3 days. I did the flying with some of my aeronautical engineering class mates but I was not good enough to go solo. From memory there was one natural pilot amongst the group and he actually did go solo in that time. 

This has got to be one of my favorite photos in that it shows a young me some 30 years ago doing a course that I liked but every one said was crazy. The gliding we did was also the first time ever that I piloted an aircraft.

Warren Buffet famous quotes

I got this jpg pic from someone. Although there are English and grammatical mistakes but essentially the message is sound. A good reminder for me.....

I especially like the quote " Never test the depth of the river with both feet". This is applicable in so many life circumstances and not just in investments. 

I often am faced with my rivers. The rivers come in many forms. A decision is often needed to cross the river or not. 

- Should I wait?

- Should I do it now?

- Should I give it all that I have?

- Should I leave a back door in case the river is fast flowing or deep?

I take it that I should be wise to find out more by tipping a toe into my rivers?

10,000 steps a day - PART 1 (The Goal)

On 13 Feb I got my pedometer from Pedometers Australia. I want a pedometer to measure our bush walking data such as number of steps, distance, calories burn and fat burn. I am surprised that when I use the pedometer yesterday just doing routine things (not including my daily bush walking) I clocked 2523 steps!

The short term goal is to walk at least 10,000 steps a day and then over time build it up to 15,000 steps a day. I believe this is not a problem for me during our long intensive bush walks because we can quite easily clock up 4,000 to 5,000 steps but it will be impossible to reach 10,000 steps if we are not doing hard, intensive walks.

Here are some data from Walking With Attitude that I find interesting and easy to use as guides for my daily walks.

** 120 steps in 1 minute.

** 5,000 steps in 45 minutes

** 10,000 steps in 1.5 hours/90 minutes

Some ideas to increase steps are:

1. Bring the shopping bags in one bag at a time - 8 minutes/960 steps.

2. Do laps around the house waiting for the kettle to boil - 3 minutes/360 steps.

3. Empty the dish washer 2 items at a time - 5 minutes/600 steps.

4. Before getting in the car you must walk around it 3 times - 1 minutes/120 steps.

5. Find 10 minutes at lunch time to go for a quick stroll - 10 minutes/1200 steps.

6. Return your empty shopping trolley to the supermarket from the car park - 6 minutes/720 steps.

LOSE WEIGHT AND FEEL GREAT

STEP GOAL 15,000 STEPS A DAY - to achieve permanent weight loss I need to walk 5000+ steps a day (equivalent to 45 minutes) at a higher intensity for 5 days a week. If I am measuring all day steps then my long term goal (very long term, like a year!!!) will be to build up to 15,000 steps a day! But in the short term (Fe to June2012） I should aim for 10,000 steps a day。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

YES. I will try.

OMRON HJ203 WALKING STYLE POCKET PEDOMETER utilises the highly accurate 2D Smart sensor technology (accelerometer). Which means no more clicking sounds! The Omron HJ203 pocket pedometer can be worn around the neck, in a pocket or even placed in a bag.

Garry Schyman - PRAAN

"Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money." - Native American Proverb

This song by Garry Schyman has been used in the Matt Harding - where the hell is Matt? dancing videos. I enjoy the tune a lot. It's so soothing and warm; evoking some tender emotions inside.

Praan Lyrics 

Bhulbona ar shohojete
Shei praan e mon uthbe mete
Mrittu majhe dhaka ache
je ontohin praan

Bojre tomar baje bashi
She ki shohoj gaan
Shei shurete jagbo ami
(Repeat 3X)

Shei jhor jeno shoi anonde
Chittobinar taare
Shotto-shundu dosh digonto
Nachao je jhonkare!

Bojre tomar baje bashi
She ki shohoj gaan
Shei shurete jagbo ami
(Repeat 3X)

Ingles:
"Stream of Life"

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth
and of death, in ebb and in flow.

也許只是一個生活中的體驗,轉個念,結局便大不同 (Turning Point)

這一生誰是我的燈塔， 而我又是誰的燈塔呢？

Eyes of a Child - Lane Wallace

I'll run my hands gently

Over the wing of a small airplane

And say to him,

This plane can teach you more things

And give you more gifts

Than I ever could.

It won't get you 

A better job,

A faster car,

Or a bigger house.

But if you treat it with respect

And keep your eyes open,

It may remind you of some

Things you used to know ...

That life is in the moment,

Joy matters more than money,

The world is a beautiful place,

And that dreams really,

Truly are possible.

And then,

Because airplanes speak

In a language beyond words,

I'll take him up in the 

Evening summer sky

And let the airplane

Show him what I mean.

(poem by Lane Wallace)

IT'S NOT EASY .....

I WANT TO DOCUMENT MY MOM'S RECOVERY from her heart attack on 29 April 2011 and a subsequent triple bypass operation. Pictures are taken when she is transferred to the Cardiac Ward after ICU care.

For 3 days after the operation the doctors keep her on sedatives. Slowly they reduce the drugs and on the 3rd day she opens her eyes for the first time. She is very pale and very weak and very much in pain. Naturally she is struggling and not being aware of her surroundings.

The pain is so great she wants to give up. "Doctor, I wan to give up".

Somehow she finds the will to carry on, bit by bit, day by day, step by step.

Some things she says touch those around her. The moment she is awaken she is able to recognize me but could not speak because she is very weak. She could not see anything for days because of the multitudes of drugs that are injected into her body to keep her going.

She very slowly begins, over days, to acknowledge people and to regain some strengths.

The road to some sort of a full recovery for her will be slow and long. We wish her courage and good cheers.

Most of all, we are all just so glad she is still here with us.

5 May - Mom is pale and in much pain

5 May

5 May  - no appetite, very much emptied out

May 6 - feeling much better

7 May - smiling and able to talk a bit more but still easily tire

7 May

8 May - Happy Mother's Day

8 May - smiling a bit more, feeling happier

8 May - eating a little more

20 May St V Rehab... feeling much better

Mom is well enough to make a donation to St V Foundation