Chez FitMercy

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.

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/ripped

Good morning good people. As promised in the last post, I decided to bring my readers into my plans (fitness wise) for 2017. I did stop calling it new year resolution since last year because it has been researched and known that resolutions don't last, on another note now I think the way we do our resolutions is what makes it pre-termed most times. I mean what do you say of plans that are made hurriedly in the wake of a new year for some selfish reasons; or I decided to jump into a plan because I am trying to take a revenge; or I am even angry at myself and that's what informed my decisions, such plans must be truncated immediately I get even with any of the above negativity. I will like to reiterate today that a plan,  resolution or creative intention (whatever you decide) that would work and successful must be SMART  (click to know what that's about).

Today is the Twenty-Second day of the Twelfth month in the year Two Thousand and Sixteen, and when you consider your journey towards weight loss, how do you feel? Sad, disappointed, frustrated or happy, fulfilled and encouraged, I would rather say maybe it's not about the happy ending but the story. Instead of checking your weight today and just realizing that the numbers are higher than the first month this year, I would rather you do an analysis of other things like the efforts you have put into living and staying healthy in 2016. A screenshot of my sparkpage and my weights for the first 8 months

As I did yoga (Wednesday exercise) this morning, and looking forward to a favourable weigh in, " consistency " came to mind on a topic to speak about. I think the ease by which I slide into some yoga poses brought this to mind.  Consistency is a pattern, a compatibility, lack of deviation, a uniformity that defines anything ranging from behaviours to substances. Doing a particular thing with so much steadiness and constancy without slacking. If weight loss is going to be meaningful then consistency must be the watch word. When exercise/diet is consistent, the weight loss becomes easier and new challenges/heights could be set. Meanwhile one of the major challenges even in life is actually becoming consistent with anything. Life gets in the way and there is a diversion which could in turn lead to deviation from any set goal.

Fitness or  physical fitness is a general state of health and well-being and, more specifically, the ability to perform aspects of sports or occupations. Physical fitness is generally achieved through correct nutrition, moderate-vigorous Physical exercise, physical activity, and sufficient rest. It's not how long we will live, but how well. You can be successful without Fitness, but your success may be limited. Fitness builds energy that makes it possible to live with more zing and power. It's the pep you'll need to really go after your passions and goals. Our bodies were meant to move -- they actually crave exercise. Regular exercise is necessary for physical fitness and good health. Once you begin to exercise regularly, you will discover many more reasons why exercise is so important to improving the quality of your life.  Exercise reduces stress, lifts moods, and helps you sleep better. It can keep you looking and feeling younger throughout your entire life. A

Kyra Williams is the leader of a sparkteam where I am a member, she is also a blogger at  kyrawilliamsfitness.com . She periodically sends mail to us [members] on some important topics, this caught my attention and I am willing to share it on my blog.

It doesn't matter how good the plan or idea, nothing will work for you if you don’t believe in it. And more importantly, nothing will work if you don’t believe in yourself.  YOU ARE WORTH THE EFFORT! Find above the words for week 3 of our challenge, I really love this motivation statement because I have been there.

The Biggest Loser Challenge (BLC) is still on and I had a great week save my lack of consistent exercise. The challenge emphasized greatly on setting goals on all levels and meeting them. Nutrition Goals I did a daily meal plan and tracked it in my journal at the end of the day. I made sure to record everything that made it's way into my mouth daily and wrote statements of caution for anything that was not planned for the previous day. I realized at the end of this challenge how good it is to plan meals ahead, it gave me a sense of discipline and some accountability. Fitness Goals I did badly on this part, for whatever reason I am a bit incapacitated. I wanted all my exercise videos on a memory card because of some hard disk issues I had with the computer and solution seemed not to be coming forth quickly. I am not making excuses because I had lots of other alternatives but I promise myself that this week will be better. Goal Setting I did not get the instru

The week 1 of the Biggest Loser Challenge ended yesterday and Wednesday Weigh-in is today. I will like to give a recap of how that past week went. During the weekend challenge we were required to do the following: Develop Nutritional Habits Develop Fitness Habits Develop Healthy Habits

There are instances of economic recession all over the world right now, and Nigeria is not an exemption and if I am allowed to say this, we seemed to be at the core of it right now. I am writing as it relates to my environment and what I practice. I noticed that healthy foods can be expensive in this side of the world except you are truly determined to do what is right. I will highlight food sources and what you can consume to get the daily requirements of such classes of food. I will dwell more on protein , fruits and complex carbs because that is where we have most challenges when it comes to being balanced around here. Protein Beans : Right now beans seem to elude the present recession as the price of beans is stable at N1200.00 ($3.00) for a paint rubber measure. It's a staple seed that can be diversified. You make your beans porridge, pudding and cakes out of this and you still have your fill from little. ( 3/4 cup cooked beans = 1 serving )

I am sure you are familiar with the Biggest Loser TV series that ran its 17th season this year - since 2004. It is a challenge where obese or overweight contestants are made to go through rigorous exercise and strict dieting disciplines. They compete for cash reward for 3 months and after which a ranch winner and a home winner emerges. So when next you hear " biggest loser ", its not pessimism they mean the individual with the lowest number on the scale, I will most love to be in that category, lol.  Post today is about a replica of this TV series that I have been involved in over the past 4 years. This is an online version of the biggest loser TV series. This challenge runs for 15 weeks straight with a weekly Wednesday weigh in and some other in between activities just to keep team mates on their toes for the period, some of which are:

I have cracked my brain over what to write about today and when I tried putting some post together about " living healthy on a low budget " (watch out for that next), the topic " family " just popped in my mind and I decided to just pour my heart out a bit this week and also reminiscence into what my family eating style was about too. I grew up within a family of 7 including mom and dad. We are a combo of 3 boys and 2 girls, friendly siblings in our years of growing, we did everything together and really loved ourselves. I think as we were growing we started recognizing our individual differences and it could only make us form parties, I don't mean we disliked ourselves but we started preferring one person over the other and obviously became closer with one more than others, lol. (If this has not happened in your family, raise your hands up).

What or who are food pushers? We encounter them daily during our weight loss journey and instead of avoiding them I think we can be polite. This post is based on some facts about food pushers and as I had personally encountered them and the few reasons why they push food at you. They can be categorized into 3.

My weight is up this week because of a new exercise plan.  I weighed this morning first thing after leaving the bathroom and it was a gain from last week, I decided to do my workout for the day which was a high intensity interval training. After the exercise, I bathe and weighed again and it was an increase on the scale. I wish to address this in my post today. I had been discouraged over and over about this issue in my journey towards losing weight. I mean, starting a new exercise plan with great expectations of a cooperation from the scale only for you to sight a bad gain at the first weigh in, urgh...

Overeating is the process of eating excess food in relation to the energy expended by a person. There are a thousand and one scientific explanations that is given to what happens before, during and after overeating. I want to explain overeating as it relates to me. I mostly have this experience when I think I am too hungry or when I enjoy the meal or when the food is my favorite. I think as much as it is easy to explain overeating, it starts from the mind then the mouth and the most effect is felt in the stomach then the waist in that order.

I have kept at this streak for 20 good weeks straight up. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy Find Below my chart for the past 5 months of consistent weigh ins.

Thank God for another week. It had been hectic this past few days such that I had been extricated from my daily routine, I had attended to everything as they came. I mean this past week had been without a proper planning just because it was not working and many things are being undone at the close of the day (when I retire to bed nightly). I decided to start my series on CRAVINGS;  this is a strong desire for something such that unless it is satisfied it could jeopardize other things. Food cravings on the same page is the strong desire to eat a particular food or a food group, if not satisfied the person could either go hungry on other essential foods or could overeat other foods. It is quite unfortunate to know that cravings tend to the wrong foods especially sugars, it is really rare to see someone crave veggies or fruits, we tend to crave ice-cream, chocolate and simple carbs. We also crave foods we normally will not eat. Craving is not hunger, in fact we normal

I am making this a quick post so that I am not breaking my weigh in streak. I weighed in yesterday at 170.2lbs and that is a result of one week of inactivity but keeping food choices on point. I did well intermittently fasting and made good food choices, I also tracked my meals in my journals without default. You might wonder why I feel a gain of 0.4lbs is a good thing, I think so because I am just coming out of TOM and I normally expect a 3lbs gain most times but I think something is working for me, I only hope it has nothing to do with lack of exercise which characterized this week. I coming up with a series of posts on hunger, cravings and a desire to eat , I am almost done with it and I promise you it will be a good time to keep "overeating" under forever. ________________________________________________________________________________ I danced last week for a total of 90 minutes and I was surprised to have over 10,000 steps on my tracker, that is

This week had not been really interesting save the surprise birthday party I was at on Monday 20th. On the healthy lifestyle road, I can say this week was a bore. I tried working out but the morale was just not there (always remember that this happens a lot along your journey to success). Well, I needed to something interesting for this week's post and voila  - "clutters and de-cluttering" . We have all had to battle with this at one time or another. If you are a working class and you are like me with an 8 hour job with other extra-curricula activities on a daily basis, then you will relate with this a lot. Sometimes it becomes worse and you just must find that time to get your house in order. At a point, a cluttered house was my bane till I found a secret of handling one room per time and in a month my home became a safe haven again. Funny part is that when the house is cluttered there is a superstition that one will be having constant nightmares (I don'