Chez FitMercy

When we talk of personality, we are referring to who you really are , what stuff you are made of, what you do as habit or attitude effortlessly or sometimes without thinking. For example you can never advise an extrovert to start talking because it is done without thinking neither will you force an introvert to socialize since he won't bulge. In the psychological world, they have a lot of classifications that I am not delving into in this post. I will be referring you to some quiz (at the end of the post) where you can find out where you belong and what you can do to help achieve your healthy goals. Did you wake up 4:30am everyday to get some runs in and after a week you were either exhausted, bored and uninterested in it any longer? Were you in a monthly challenge and your schedule did not see the light of the 5th day? Have you tried Yoga and you wondered what the slow motion is all about? Did you register in a gym at the beginning of a year and you wondered why t

I love cooking.  I love learning new cooking tips. I love trying new recipes. I think it could be responsible for my tendency to overeat. I love the food I cook or let me just say I love eating food, good foods, delicious food. Can I say I lack self control? Or all these episodes of overeating even after intermittent fasting is emotional in nature? I have tried 5-6 meals a day and I ended up overweight and now I am doing intermittent fasting still I tend to overeat at my non-fasting window or days. The question I am asking myself today is this: AM I AN EMOTIONAL EATER? Whenever you eat outside hunger it can be defined as emotional eating. Anytime you eat to soothe yourself or suppress a negative emotion e.g. anger, sadness, or even boredom you are emotionally eating.  I am aware of this but I seem not to be able to help myself when the eating starts but I try that it doesn't spin out of control, at least I am sure to get it curbed within 24 hours,

I weighed in this morning at 170.2lbs and that is a gain of 0.6lbs this week. I did well because I had NSVs . I feel so proud of this achievements and I know that the scale will soon move towards the right direction.  NSV means Non-Scale Victory , it is very important for everyone on a weight loss journey to imbibe this as a culture if they want to ever make a headway. It is often said that the scale nor the numbers on it does not determine what success you have. I agree with this and I think it is fact even though it is easier to feel bad and misbehave after any weigh in that shows an unfavourable number. 

It had been great completing this week with daily exercising and cautious eating. My feelings was mixed on what the result would be because I am just days past TOM,  the weight is always maintained at this time but I did try my best to take healthy steps towards a weight loss this week. Low numbers on the scale doesn't come by accident, it comes through a conscious and consistent effort. I weighed in at 169.6lbs this morning (0.8lbs loss) I was determined to do something positive this week and I am grateful that lines were falling to me in pleasant places. One of the most important things that happened was my journal, it became a bestie this week and I wrote in it everyday. I planned and tracked my workout, planned and tracked my food, I wrote down my feelings including reasons for my failures and ways out.

I tried my best this past week but I think TOM really proved me wrong and I am not feeling bad about it at all. I am growing into it and I believe with time things will work well. As I planned last week Wednesday, I did 5 days intermittent fasting 14:10, one day 18:6 and a 24 hour fast which ended this morning. I stepped on the scale this morning and I weighed 170.4lbs, I know it has something to do with TOM and some other factors I took note of like overeating during my eating window. When breaking the fast by 11am in the morning, my meals are planned and on point but by the time I get home at dinner, there is a feeling to stock my tommy. I am putting that into consideration this week, meaning just because there is a fast does not give room to eat just about anything.  On the exercising front also, I did not lift a finger this week because I was just not feeling it (it's a bane). I am going to make sure to try my best this week to workout for the 7 days starting today, I stil

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

168.2lbs flashed me yesterday on the scale. It's a relief since I have not had a number this low in the past 12 weeks of my Wednesday Weigh in. I tried to do all that is in my power to exercise throughout this week (as promised in the last post), though not the expected minutes. I have strongly decided not to make excuses nor complain anymore (as Nia advised in her blog), I am going to shut up and do something . I love to plan whenever I can and this in turn helps batch cooking which also eases me off every wrong choice in meals, unhealthy snacking, binge eating, exercise rut and overeating as the case maybe.  Now I really wonder why we don't plan to plan??? The place of proper planning cannot be over-emphasized in any weight loss journey.  When you plan : You will likely have extra time on your hands to rest or have some ME time You make your exercise sessions an appointment that must not be disappointed You will save a lot of money because the plan

Good day good people, I almost forgot to write about my weigh in this week.  I felt a little better this week because there is a reward for my consistency. I had a pound loss over the scale and it makes me feel nice and ready to continue with my present workout/food schedule. The weather (my last week's excuse) is getting better with some showers in between but much more, I think I felt more determined to do THIS. I had been running indoors ( how possible could that be ) and it had worked, as evident on the scale and also my heart rate monitor.  pop sugar After some more researches, I will talk about exercising indoors and all the benefits attached to it in another post soon. I love a mantra that reads "if plan A is not working, there are 25 more alphabets between A and Z" meaning that I just had to stop making unnecessary excuses and move on. After some pep talk, I told myself I am on a weight loss journey and it is no good news that I keep merry-

I had an 0.4lbs weight gain between last week and today. I am not surprised because " it's not possible to keep doing the same things and expecting different results ". All my plans to take my workout up a notch last week was forfeited by some factors beyond my control, "weather" (over 37 degrees celcius and over 27 at night). I hate making excuses but I seemed to be very helpless at this point, the scotching sun during the day and the humidity at night is quite overbearing. According to a previous plan , I intended utilizing the mornings but they are as equally humid as the nights too. The effects of all these is low morale and total body debility and I don't feel encouraged to do anything. It looks to me that my mind is not working neither is my body. I am presently on intermittent fasting and I am consistent with it, but I also think I eat too much while breaking the fast and it is really jeopardizing my efforts of the fasted periods. I h

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,

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

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

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 am growing stronger.  With  little little modifications I maxed out with the Cardio Challenge yesterday at a little over 7 minutes (yay). I am so far from weight-less today at 75.6kg (+0.3kg) bad weighing day. I know it is TOM That I maxed out after 7 minutes yesterday is my NSV for the week and I am proud of myself. I have decided to include at least 1 mile walk with the days of Insanity just to create space for the next round of Sparkpeople Biggest Losers Challenge (it is a 12 weeks long challenges, weigh ins and competitions).  So pending the start of the challenge in two weeks, I will be including daily 1 mile work (that is 6 miles per week).

I wish I was weightless!!! Good morning friends Today is weigh in day and I think I had a 0.2kg less the weigh in for last week at 75.3kg today. I am not sure if that is a reasonable progress for, I hope I can record something positive for the coming week. Not too good news!!! I have slacked on bread eating and I am not happy about that. It is also impeding my weight loss progress, I eat it when I crave for it now and not on weekends as I earlier agreed to do. I have to caution myself and keep looking forward. What food have you identified to impede your progress?