Chez FitMercy

I saw it, I prepared it, I took it and I loved it . I always wanted something new in my recipes. This weekend I decided to try a drink I had always seen on online, after a long search I realized it is call "infused water" and there is also a special bottle for it although "mason jars" are more in use, for me, I am using a water bottle for a start till I lay my hands on other containers meant for that purpose. The drink gets better with the days, you can drink the water and refill without throwing the fruits or veggies out. My Recipe : Ingredients 1 small orange (cut into small parts to enter the bottle, with or w/o the rinds, I prefer without) 3 leaves of basil or mint leaves (I did not shred, I tore each leaf for easy juice extraction)  (Carrots, watermelon, cucumber, and other freggies as you would love it) Preparation : - Put all your ingredients in the water bottle - Fill with water - Close the bottle and leave in the refrigerator for 4 hours or l

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

The first month tagged #ProjectScaleDown was a huge success, save three days within the 31 days when I was down with flu I worked out every single day and I had a 4.2lbs loss to show for it, if I lost 4.2lbs consistently for 12 months I would be 50.4lbs less by December and trust me that is way beyond my weight goal of 145lbs.  I followed all the instructions as I spelled them out in my first blog this year and I am reaping it's benefits because the scale is going down. This is February, the month of love and I will love to give some love to this body. No stress, just some walking comfort for my body. I am intending to walk this month, 6 days in a week till I can attain 10,000 steps per day i.e. 5 miles approximately. I have my calendar designed and ready to be executed just like I did in January .  I have concluded tagging this year's challenges as #ProjectScaleDown , this is the hashtag you will follow on twitter and then the mini hashtag defines the month.

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

Intermittent Fasting (called IF) is a pattern of eating where you time your eating. There is a deep study by various people on this (Read on  here ...) and I have tried some of these including:- 16:8 Fasting You fast for 16 hours and limit your eating within an eight hour window. I was doing this day in day out early 2015. My breakfast was coming in by 3pm every day and I lost weight and my blood work became almost perfect. I think I got discouraged along the line when some "concerned folks" started complaining that I am doing "too much". I regret ever listening to them now, not sure they were God sent. 24 hours Fasting . This is when you don't consume any calorie for 24 hours straight, I normally fast breakfast to breakfast i.e. 7am today till 7am tomorrow. I did this as a "collabo" (together) with the 16:8 and I think this was what made my weight loss so drastic and noticeable. I did this early last year and I had a surprise

I wish to call it " Limorange ", I used 100% orange juice and 100% lime juice to give me that tangy/sweet taste of the lemon. The recipe below: - 8 Lemons - 250g sugar - 500ml water Materials - 1 bowl - 1 Juicer - 1 small pan - 1 wooden spoon Procedure: - Juice the lemons or like me juice enough oranges and lime and I used 2/3 cup lime + 1.5 cup of orange juice. (Use the lemons if you have it, it tastes better) - Boil sugar and water, stir on a gentle boil, remove when sugar dissolves. - Pour into the juice and stir - Chill for half an hour - Serve on rocks My mom brought oranges for me yesterday and today being my recipe trial day, I tried this recipe AGAIN. I did it before with lemons, it tasted better. Lime are more concentrated than lemons, I added the orange to tone it down too. Fresh from Farm Oranges Limorange Drink

Bingeing – according to the dictionary – is a period of excessive indulgence in an activity, especially drinking alcohol or eating. It is splurging and overindulgence, this shows that bingeing is not a normal situation. Over the years bingeing had included other activities apart from eating like excessive shopping and excessive watching. It is good to note that these activities (binge eating, drinking, watching and shopping) are all to cover up issues, bingeing is mostly mental/physical disorder and an escape route from some negative emotions. When there is a compulsion to do any activity in excess, check it.  Some physical signs to note includes : - Eating much more rapidly than usual - Eating until feeling uncomfortably full - Eating large amounts of food when not feeling hungry - Eating alone because of the embarrassment at the large quantities consumed  Binge happens within a short period and it is attached with so much guilt after the act. Whichever

It is October and it is also the Breast Cancer Awareness Month. There is a saying that "what you don't know won't hurt you.." but I think these days it may not hurt but it may KILL and that is the reason early detection of any disease is important. Knowing early is as important as proper education on what to be done about it. In this part of the world religiosity had taken over right thinking and it bleeds my heart a lot when people live in denial of medical problems that can be taken care of before it gets out of hand. This bring us to the issue of self breast examination, it should be taught and known by all girls either young or old. What we are looking for could range from painless/painful lump, discharge from the nipples, unequaled boobs with a far departure from the norm, color changes on the skin of breast or pulling in nipples. A simple DIY can save you from the later hurt after all. In partnership with BHG ( Bankers Healthcare Group ), we (u