Chez FitMercy

It is two weeks and two days today that I had been planning and journaling. In these few weeks I can call myself a planner , woohoo! Planning also called forethought  " is the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve a desired goal" . I love this definition because of the these words ' thinking ' ' organizing ' and 'goal',  since that's what I have been doing, although not the deep kind of thinking but the just-do-it type. I mean all I do each night is just know what my workout plan for tomorrow is and I get everything ready including Plans A, B and everything to Z. I wake up each day not planning to finish the whole exercise in my journal but as much as I am satisfied with while there is still time. I write the meal plan for the next day including my snacks in my journal and for the past 16 days, it's been worth it. Every night I end the day completing my workout or writing how the day had been food-

Indoor fitness could pop up for many reasons, the weather being the ultimate of them all. It could range from a scorching sun, heavy/light rain, darkness, dawn etc. A lack of time during the day or even cash crunched to pay for a gym can make an ardent exerciser resolve to stay indoors to do the needful. My own reasons being : I cannot run outside because DH feels it's not safe for me  I am not always buoyant enough to pay for a gym subscription  I am not rich enough to get the complex machines like a treadmill, stationary bike etc  According to Liz Noelcke a staff writer with Sparkpeople, "there is no reason that you can’t make a home gym part of your reality. A home gym adds convenience and privacy to your workouts. When you exercise at home, you save time, money, and the rush hour headaches (on the road and in line for the elliptical). Although you might be cautious due to budget and space limitations in your house, building a home gym isn’t as impractical as

My weigh in today looks well and with such small loss (0.2), it is a movement towards the right direction. The retreat had not allow my routine to be back to normal but I am focusing on my diet more. I intermittent fast everyday, a 14:10 pattern i.e. 14 hours fast and a 10 hours eating window. Let's speak more about food fast, for 40 days we had been involved in a 19:5 fasting pattern (spiritual exercise), and I may say I am reaping some benefits both physical and spiritual. I wasn't 100% faithful like DH was but I did up to 65% of the fast. I really learnt a whole lot of stuff about myself and hunger during these fasted periods, I will highlight a few: Intermittent fast or what I call "short term" hunger cannot kill me or anyone. I am well able to exercise in the morning fasted hours than when I break the fast at night, when I tend to be weaker. Hunger pangs bite hardest into me between the hours of 10am and 1pm. After these 3 hours I don't fe

I have experimented it severally and that is why I am here. I love the mantra that says " abs are not made in the gym, they are made in the kitchen ", and on your plate. Let us start from the anatomy of abs and then move on to what happens to either create the 'bulge' or the 'packs' we get at a time or the other. The abdominal is made up of different muscles on the front, side and middle of the abdominal area. When we think of the abs, most of us are focused on the flat muscle that travels down the front of the belly, from just below the chest to the pelvic area. This muscle, called the rectus abdominis , is often called the " six-pack ," because there are three tendinous creases there that separate the muscle, giving it that washboard look. The rectus abdominis is responsible for spine flexion , which involves bringing the shoulders toward the hips, as in a crunch, and is involved in most abdominal exercises like crunches. Which

It's another weigh in today and I am happy with the results - 169.8lbs. I overate over the weekend but IF helped me and here I am back to my pre-TOM weight and a little more. I usually mindfully measure my body before climbing the scale, what I means is this, there is a feel of lightness and when I weigh in I find that the scale is down and the same happens when the scale will go up. This is an indication that I am in charge on this matter, nobody will do this for me. I need just a little discipline and I will surely get it right and anybody can too. Last year , I was down to 162.8lbs, I could almost not believe my eyes that day but it was there and I am making a determination today (3/23/2016) that nothing will stop me again till I get back to this number between now and the 13th of April, 2016. Some things worked last year and it will work again, I was under some discipline last year and it worked. Here they are: Bread is a bane to my weight loss success and therefore,

On a monthly basis, for every fertile pre-menopausal woman, there is an Aunt Flow (sorry TMI). Personally, the flow bugs me less unlike the extra baggage that comes with it consistently, I refer to the "water weight" or bloating that accompanies TOM. I feel really discouraged seeing my weigh ins going back and forth, up and around the same numbers. It can be as bad as over 3lbs (1.5kg) during this period, I know that I will loose the so called "water weight" the following week but I really wish to be out of this jingling over the same weight range for months. It is a fact that right now I am in a plateau of some sort but the spike during periods gets to me a lot and I could start bingeing if care is not taken and some mental exercise done to curb it.  I also realized that a few days before TOM, the morale to exercise and energy levels are so low and the week after TOM brings on some unexplained hunger that keeps me eating without caution. google

When I first started my journey to weight-loss in 2010, one of the easiest exercises for me was running. I loved the environment way back when the morning breeze will blow on my face as I was doing the 5k training. No gadgets to measure my pace, heart rate or speed, I just ran. I did high speed, easy pace and some walking till I am done for 30 minutes every other morning. I was also not alone because I met guys who love to run too. Fast forward to 2012 and we moved to another place where running was almost impossible (not safe enough). I had to register in a gym very close to the office and my passion for running continued and I even became the leader of a running group on sparkpeople, yay. 2014 I was posted to another department that made going to the gym practically impossible, I tried to adjust my schedules but it looks like every adjustment tightens the space harder. Since last month I have been following a blog Katie Froster's  runsforcookies which sparked running

It is going to be a quick post today because less had happened other than lots of clutter and disorganization, ish. Today is another weigh in and I can say I did not do badly with a gain of a pound from last week. TOM is here and I normally have a 3lbs gain for other months. To be candid, I hate making excuses but not when life keeps getting in my way. I have issues with people who are disorganized and they keep assuming that is the way every other person around them is. I became a little organized after reading Eat That Frog! (21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time) . The book is about handling your stuff in the order of importance, the "frog" is actually the activity that is hardest for you and shouldn't be delegated or delayed for another time, this is marked "A", a "B" is what is second most important but that is not so vital but equally necessary. A "C" is an activity that can be delegated or shif

Today is week 1 since I decided to stop the monthly challenges and tweaked to weekly plans . That is rather doable for me and I think I am reaping the dividends of the change coupled with intermittent fasting (Church matters).  My scale had been misbehaving for a while now so I decided to weigh my 10lbs dumbbells this morning before weighing myself, it showed 9.8lbs so I concluded I will be removing 0.2lbs from every of my weigh in pending when I will reward myself with a new scale. I eventually weighed in at 169.2lbs and that automatically gives me a 169lbs for Wednesday Weigh in. That truly made me happy because I was tired of seeing 170 something every time for the past few weeks now. I was both surprised too because while breaking my fast last night, I ate everything in site including BREAD (my weakness). I was doing this because today was going to be a full day fast no tasting, no water too till breaking period.  Food is on point because there is no way I would over

It's no news that I get bored easily. I think I dislike too long  routine and when I hear people say "I eat the same breakfast each day of the week or I had been doing this everyday for 5 years" I am baffled and wondered how they ever cope. Anything that is around for too long bore me out except the DH and surfing the internet, lol. Don't get me wrong, I have routine that I had been doing for more than 7 years like going to work daily, brushing my teeth every morning, being in church at particular time and days of the week, what I hate is monotony. I love me some spice in everything. Way Out (if you are like me) 1. Know yourself and determine what works for you 2. Experiment with your own body (you are always the lab rat in this science of weight loss) 3. There is no one-size-fits-all 4. There are lots of gibberish when it comes to physical fitness and healthy eating  5. Familiarize yourself with your body so that you can bust myths and establish facts 6.

I had a Fitbit activity tracker two years ago and it got lost never to be found again. I got a new tracker but not a Fitbit this time, it is called I5 Smart Bracelet . I realized there are hundreds of such activity trackers with no popular brand names that are out now for our use. I ordered my own tracker from AliExpress at a cheap rate of about $20 (N6,000.00) approximately. When it arrived in the mail, I sincerely did not know what to expect considering the cheapness of the product, I was preparing my mind for the worst ranging from a hyper-counting of my steps, to a faulty band, low battery etc. But with over two weeks of consistent use, I had really been surprised and impressed. Surprises : 1. Not different from the Fitbit I had 2 years back 2. Steps counting are almost near accurate (fitbit was not exact either) 3. It was not ambiguous 4. Battery life is quite reasonable (chargeable) 5. The color was just perfect for my skin. 6. There is a buzz feature t

Yesterday Wednesday, was my Challenge weigh in day (Mondays are my official weigh in day) and as I stood on the scale and the number 170.4lbs (77.4kg) was staring at me, I was rather unhappy and wondered what went wrong between Monday (167.4lbs) and Wednesday. 5 things happened: 1. New workout plan started on Monday 2. White Bread on Monday diet 3. Fried Plantains (4 slices) on Tuesday 4. Reduced steps on my tracker for Tuesday 5. Post TOM week Some of the above could have been responsible for a 3lbs gain in three days. I was sad because of this but I did not allow it to dampen my morale to stop moving forward. Irrespective of what happens on your weight loss journey especially when it is negative e.g. a binge week, a gain or a workout rut, you have to tell your mind that there is another opportunity to be the best. Do not over-flog the issue and be in despair, just brace up and know that you can do it. It's within this ups and downs that lies your success, o

Here are mine for 2016 - Wake up by 5a.m. daily for devotion and then exercise. - Workout for at least 10 minutes every morning - Workout for at least 10 intentional fitness minutes throughout January.( I did not meet this goal, I had flu and was down for 3 days ) - Eat healthy (more whole grains, limit processed foods, drink more water) - Build a saving culture (20% of my monthly earnings) - Reward myself whenever I meet a fitness goal ( An activity tracker on 1/28/2016 ) - Exercise at least 6x a week - Intermittent Fasting on two days of the week (Wednesday & Friday), Leangains 2 days a week (Tuesday & Thursday) Note: I will be adding more as the days goes by and of course auditing myself monthly. Today is day 15 of my fitness streak and I have exercised for every single day in January so far, I have also lost 2.6lbs.  January 4 - 172.2lbs January 11 - 171.6lbs (I unofficially weigh in today at 169.6lbs i.e. a 2.6lbs loss) Other Goals with Da

One of my little secrets is that I hate going down when exercising, I mean any type of exercise that will make me either be on my back, bend my knees so much, sit down etc. If you ask me I dislike exercises such as lunges, squats, lying bench press etc. Find below some wonderful workouts you can do while standing and still break a sweat. Core : Upper Body : Thighs : I love Shaun T so much when it comes to working out without getting down. I can fully recommend this video (Hip Hops Abs) for a crunchless exercise. STAND UP AND JUST DO IT

I saw this header somewhere   and I felt it is a better word than New Year's Resolutions . Resolutions look so outdated and sounds more like a failed plan even before it began. When I was much younger, I had always heard adults make resolutions that I see them break at the slightest chance. They could work but it looks like many forget about it and that is why it never worked for many. Maybe we can help ourselves out on ways to have better intentions or decisions and keep at it till we achieve them. Mindfulness   Mind Over Matter : This is the key to achieving goals at any time, it is a strong and conscious desire to be on top of the situations at every check. You can get it if you want it so badly. Losing weight or quitting an unhealthy diet for example, nothing should occur in error. There is a dire need to be fully conscious of your environment at all times to really achieve your goals. You can make some decisions that could help in putting these goals right befor

How has been the day friends?  Today is Day One of Project Scale Down . I measured my girth at 36.1 inches Weighed in at 169.6lbs (77kg) A starting picture too. The next blog will be 16th of January for Day 15 progress. Follow me on twitter for daily updates. Observations : 1. My core had become very weak from lack of exercise 2. I did 60 secs plank hold twice, I started shaking at 2 secs the first time, 12 secs the second time 3. Fitness Blender core exercise for 20 minutes and I stopped the video thrice 4. I am really out of shape. Extras : I am beginning 5:2 Diet Fast by Monday 4th, 2016. It is a healthy way to keep your body in good shape. I have tried it before and I am ready to do it again. I will blog about this and what I did after the first day is successful.

The above is a tweak of January workout plan (I did this with a combo of Greatist's "just do something") and also my New Year's Resolution. I am starting on this project of 30 days and one of the major guidelines is to make an appointment of at least 10 minutes of exercise everyday. With the above plan, I am mandated to do just the first 10 minutes, any extra minute is bonus. A. Equipment (Anything that can be used to exercise within your reach) I have these: 1. I have 313 workout videos (low impact, high impact, flexiblity) 2. A stability ball 3. Set of Resistance Bands 4. Set of dumbbells (5lbs, 4kg, and 3lbs) 5. A yoga mat 6. A hand crafted 30lbs barbell (I am sure you don't want to see it but it does the job) 7. Other accessories like sport bra, jeggings, leggings, sport wears. 8. Consistency, consistency, consistency. 9. Lastly me, myself and I. 10. Mind over matter B. At least 10 consecutive minutes out of 24 hours daily fo