Chez FitMercy

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I became creative today and I have to make a post of it. I am quite artistic, I realized this not too long ago and I started to explore this personality trait as much as I can. I started by investing in other languages, now photography and many more to come, watch this space. Each piece of photo is very significant to me. I really love this! The life I love and desire in a photo collage. Have you made a collage before? What are your desires in life? Can you put them in pictures? Let me know what you feel in the comments.

Hello readers, these are answers to two previous posts. What were questions that bothered you as a kid? How do people get into the TV? My beautiful brother answered, in his words “they normally go in through the sockets and the wires as tiny creatures and then they change to humans when they get inside the box, lol. Funny enough I believed that for an exceedingly long time as a kid. What question do you still have unanswered till now? Why do bad things happen to good people? I think everyone still asks this question in way till now. We may never get answers to that or we may explain it. Why did you stop or start asking questions? I started at the point I realized smart people are curious and it projects them into knowing more and better. It is a lot more easier these days with Google.com, I can ask without being judged, I can pose any question and I will get thousands of answers it is left to me to filter them using my moral correctness. To the Seven Questions (speci...

One of the earliest adult songs I learned by heart as a little kid was a song by Johnny Nash “ there are more questions than answers ”, I heard it every week for years since it was an intro to a TV talk show. As I grew up, I realized those words were true. Are they not? There are many questions parents could not give answers to, many times teachers were lost even in their fields of specialization, a lot of inquiries  were purposely swept under the carpet by  religious leaders either because they were never told the answers too or they were too unbothered to find out. More importantly, many questions that bothered us and still bothering us as individuals and we are yet to find a clue, and which we may never till we are done. Questions increased as I grew, the peak of it was my teenage years, unfortunately there was no one to pose them to or sometimes I was not bold enough to ask adults those questions. Then I became an expert in monologue , I spoke to myself,...

v What kind of thinking error could I be making? v What evidence is there that this thought might not be true (or completely not true)? v Is there an alternative explanation or another way of viewing this? v What is the most realistic outcome of this situation? v What is the effect of my believing this thought and what could be the effect of changing my thinking? v What would I tell a close friend or family member if he/she were in this situation and had this thought? v What should I do now?     I will answer these questions in my next post but I need you to think about them too before then...  

The struggle is real and the earlier one comes face to face with reality the better. It's funny how blogging helped me lose weight in the past and how I had left it for this long and kept struggling with my diets and exercise. I had to answer some questions today about some thinking errors I have been nursing over the years about weight loss and right now, I think I should deal with the questions and get myself out of this rut. If you will like to know, I have gained weight, lost the weight and lost more and gained even more since the last post here. The struggle is real my dear. It's my birthday tomorrow, I will post those questions and answer them too. Frankly, it's great to post here again. Maybe it was pre-matured for me to leave for a website. Trust me the struggle is real. See you soon then.

I told myself "I am back" in my last post but it would be one month in a few days and I am still not back, lol. Sitting to write with a lot on your plate is actually impossible or rather not doable. I have embark on journeys one too many within the past month that I feel like a stranger among my folks these days. I mean the trips and all the learning attached with it had given me new orientation and fresh insight for life, living and my weight loss journey too. On one of my trips, I caught a glimpse of a way of eating (WOE) called KETOGENIC. I have heard a lot about it since last year but I hated the whole idea of removing a whole food group just for the sake of loosing weight. I want to be healthy at any weight so fad diets don't appeal to me for any reason. Another reason ketogenic was having a bad rap with me was the fact I felt it's too expensive to maintain (I still feel it is). For the time of my life I hate any form of inconvenience, I am not a food addi...

Hey friends and awesome readers, I had not been here in two months and it feels like forever right now. I have had a lot going on with me and I had been overwhelmed at some point and ready to give up but there is a desire and a drive from inside that wouldn't just let me. I am amazing, I am strong, I can do anything, Positivity is a choice and; I am prepared to succeed. There had been challenges here and there but I have learn to relax and watch on, some I stress myself over, others I leave to let them be, some I sleep over and others I discard them from inception. Read my post on Stress Management. Right now I look good health wise because I had been fasting, it was the Lenten 40 days fasting that triggered fasting for weight loss for me and I really think I am enjoying every step in the way. I love the idea that my digestive system is not perpetually overloaded with work, trust me I am seeing changes, even PMS is given way. I know I will be in good health even...

Today, I want to let you into one of my favorite recipes, so simple yet so exciting to the taste buds. My sister called it "yam pepper soup" to me it's my go to meal to heal and to celebrate. Ingredients   - 3 habanero or scotch bonnet pepper - Spices of choice at least 4 to your taste (I love my soup chilli and spicy) - Protein 2 cups or as desired  (in small pieces includes and not limited to beef, chicken, oxtail - ponmon, tofu, fish - dried, iced or fresh. I have never used any plant protein except tofu) - 1 cup diced yams - 1 medium ball of onion  - Scent leaves, 4 tbs shredded  - Seasonings and salt to taste  - 3 cups water You could alter the measurements to suit your taste.

This post is actually short and subtly pleading with myself not to give up. I think I am attending to too many things at the same time and somehow it's taking a toll on my emotions. This week happen to be our wedding anniversary and I was elated by the way we were celebrated and for me to close the day immersing in the joy of the past years was a no-no because there was just too much to take care of  around me [I don't want to complain because it's a duty]. I am sorry but this post is actually a ranting post. 

All news is good news. Imagine walking on a rocky surface — maybe a beach, or a dry creek bed, or a hiking trail. Some of the stones are stable and solid. If you step on them, they don’t move. Some of the stones aren’t stable. They wiggle or tip when you step on them. With every step you take, you are getting feedback about the path. And you can use that immediate feedback to correct course as needed. If you step on a rock, and it shifts, did you fail? No. You just got important information about the next thing to do — try another rock. You got feedback......... Feedback is just information It's data that you can use to make a decision. Imagine yourself in a gym...... If you feel yourself leaning too much to one side, or losing your grip on a weight, or losing your balance, you take action to correct that. Same as with your eating habits If you notice that pizza seem to make you overeat, or make you feel sick, then you make a decision about whether to keep that pizza around. ...

I have been busy trying my hands on some new workouts, eating plans and shuffling my time and life to keep body and soul alive and healthy.  One of the things I have been working on is Meal Planning . In the present economic condition we are in this country, everything evolves around planning including how and what we eat to avoid wastage, unhealthy habits and unnecessary stress.  Meal Planning is simply planning your meals ahead of eating them. The planning could just be an idea of the food or explicitly to include the quantity and quality of the food. For example, writing down water as my next meal is a planning but writing down 2 glasses of water is another version and a better one. It's better to be detailed enough while planning so that it would meet it's purpose, i.e. meeting a healthier lifestyle.  In other words ambiguity should be totally avoided when planning meals. If you plan to eat rice for dinner today, what style will it be? Jollof rice, p...

This is February and its so surprising how time flies these days. I wonder if our activities was more than what it used to be. Somehow within the month of January,  I realized that many resolutions and good intentions are already waning. The need for this post is for a re-awakening and a call to refocus so that we would be celebrating and not bemoaning our achievements at the end of 2017. Losing focus is never intentional and we must understand that fact, I mean no one desires to do a thing that she  is so passionate about only to get lost in the middle of it, there are some factors that could be responsible and we will just highlight them. Mark my words "could be". 

I have been AWOL and I have been busy too. Too busy to even get anything done about the blog or exercise. Since it's the beginning of the month, I wish we will emphasize goal setting again and how to do it right. I am sharing a coach's article on SMART goals and I hope you gain a thing that will help you through February. Happy reading As the year comes to it’s end and we are welcoming by new beginnings and are allowed the time to reset, we begin to think about how we would like to improve our bodies, minds and overall beings.  Since I am a personal training, and a virtual trainer, I will focus on the physical goals. We have an acronym for goal setting and it’s – you guessed it – S.M.A.R.T. That stands for:  S – Specific  M – Measureable  A – Attainable  R – Realistic  T – Timely  SMARTgoals 

In the Pixar movie Inside Out, the premise is that each person's brain has several characters inside, who act out individual emotions.  The movie captures the “inner drama” of the average person.  After all, sometimes it feels like we have different “characters” in our head.  In fact, sometimes it feels like being ourselves is a team effort.  Who’s on your inner team?  For instance, your helpful “inner team” members might include:  The #1 Fan: “Hey, you did a great job there! High fives, superstar! YEAH YOU!!!!”  The Planner: “Don’t forget to make your lunch. And you have a 3 p.m. meeting, so pack an apple.”  The Always-There-For-You Friend: “Sure, this is tough, but no worries — we can do this. I’ve got your back.”  The Adventurer: “Ooh! A new exercise! That sounds fun!”  Your not-so-helpful team members might include:  The Doomsayer: “You are never going to succeed. It’s pointless.” The Negotiator (aka...

An English saying goes "birds of the same feather, flock", this means that like minds attract. It is very unlikely that people one makes friends with are opposites of who we are. We naturally align with people that we love things about them, it doesn't have to be all the qualities anyway. On our journey to fitness and a healthier lifestyle, we need help greatly. Help in form of people, ideas, information etc that will draw us closer to our destination than where we started.

We had spoken extensively on setting goals and what to do with them since the beginning of the year. I am not going to over-flog the topic. I will only use this short post to instruct you to go back to your journal or notebook where you scribble those plans and check how you have fared in the last 19 days of the year. Search inwards: - Is your energy/courage/confidence  sapped? Revitalize by reminding yourself why you started this.  - Are you getting bored already? Tweak your goals/resolutions  - You have not started yet? Just jump into the wagon, it never waits. - Life got in your way? Take a deep breath and keep moving. - Are you making what you call, "little progresses"? Keep on 'keepin on. - Are your progresses large? Celebrate it and reward yourself for doing it. We are here to make tremendous success this year 2017 in our weight-loss journey and nothing will stop us.  Proudly African I considered my journey after my ...

Is it OK to workout when sick? I have not worked out in almost 5 days because I was sick and not disposed enough to exercise. We need to be alert to conditions when our body needs rest and no matter how ardent you are, please kindly call in sick and let the body rest and heal. 

Good day good readers. Is it not awesome that I am still in this weigh in and healthy lifestyle blogging? I am so proud of myself this morning and my Wednesday weigh in and blogging about it had not faltered for a moment.  Consistency is a key to success, keep moving even when sometimes you take some wrong turns [of course its because you are conscious is the reason you even know you have taken a wrong turn], keep moving by turning back into the right direction. Do not stand there kicking or blaming yourself for the wrong turn and not doing anything about it. Today we want to understand more about success and how you need to get yourself ready for it. Last post dwelt on what our plans, goals and resolutions are in 2017 [I believe you have written them down], now we are to be optimistic and enter into the level of imagination on what our successes will be like this year. What successes are you looking forward to? 1. From 1lbs - 500lbs loss 2. A toned/rip...