Chez FitMercy

Thank God it's Friday, this is for laughs as we start the weekend.

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.

I received a mail this past week with a request to discuss the above topic. It's not a very sensitive topic because I am more result-oriented than checking style out during or after a sweat session but I think I got interested along as I wrote. I am a stylish person in my own little way (we had that since we were little), and I think I can be crazy with labels. I love anything that I need to buy to be close to the best if not the best, I window-shop a lot maybe it's the reason I stand out for buying quality. It's in me to save to buy the best not for a show off but I believe that buying the best will save you of future unnecessary expenses (I have tested and tried that on several occasions). I become more conscious of kitting up for my workout sessions and probably answer a few questions so you understand my style.

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.

The Bible says " do not despise the days of little beginnings ". Zechariah 4:10 In the spirit of keeping a streak for 20 weeks straight and 200 posts on this blog, I have decided to give something away. I wish an ardent viewer takes this away, it's for NIGERIANS alone. I promise to do this more often and probably bigger too.

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.

I have been weighing myself and blogging about it for almost 20 weeks consecutively. I feel proud of myself because I know that consistency is very important in a weight loss journey and I am doing just that. For the past 3 weeks I had been posting on eating, hunger and other things in-between. I posted about CRAVINGS , DESIRE TO EAT and HUNGER , today and I am going to make my inference from the past posts and how it could affect me as a person (one of the purpose of this blog is for readers to learn from me and succeed). My conclusions goes thus : 1. I now know what true hunger means, which according to Dr. Fuhrman is felt at the throat and at the back of the mouth (refer to the last week's post)

It's a new week and I am a little excited today for some reasons: 1. I had my first workout Wednesday morning after more than 3 whole weeks of inactivity. 2. I just got clue to a new challenge and I am really excited that I may not bored out of this. 3. Intermittent Fasting is working and I am not worn out. It's more spiritual than physical and that keeps me going. 4. This is my 200th post on this blog, a wonderful milestone for me. I am proud of myself The post on true hunger is not really mine but a fact as researched by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D.  Happy Reading. Hunger is good to experience on a daily basis. Hunger is important to aid in our enjoyment of food and get the precise signals from our body to know the amount of calories we need to maintain our lean body mass. When we eat when we are hungry food tastes much better and we are physiologically primed for proper digestion. Hunger, in the true sense of the word, indicates to us that it is time to e

Unlike cravings, the desire to eat or appetite is more physiological than psychological. An appetite is not a bad thing, in fact when we feel true hunger the desire to eat must rise before we can eat to satiety. A desire to eat is an appeal to consume food either because of hunger caused by true hunger or some emotional or hormonal imbalances in the body. In a desire to eat, there is a physiological stimulation which is being controlled from the brain to other parts within the process. This desire could be stimulated by some factors including but not limited to: 1. Pictures of food (Sight) 2. Seeing other people eat (Sight & Smell) 3. Time to eat (for those who have specific timings) (Biological clock) 4. Attempt to suppress a negative emotion e.g. boredom, anger, depression etc (Psychological) 5. Cravings 6. True Hunger These attitude to food are all controlled in the brain which is not the subject of today's post, but the main focus is to know what

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

It started yesterday and I have decided to make it a post. I started craving these foods yesterday, and I feel like sharing in a post today. and of course this:   How do you handle your cravings? Why do we crave only the not-so-healthy foods? Can you eat the above without overeating them? I need help.

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'

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 used to hate spinach (saw it more as a detox) as a veggie option for a long time until recently when I made it work for me and it had been yielding without tummy bugs. I grew up to not only steam spinach but blanch it if you ask and I get all manners of tummy troubles a day after, so I grew to dislike spinach. As a student I met some ibo girls that made me love ugwu (pumpkin leaves) and so I discarded spinach but during the dry seasons, ugwu is so untouchable. All these pushed me into finding a way out, so I can eat my spinach with all its nutrients intact and not having to frequent the bathroom 12 hours after. I got some spinach from the garden on Saturday and I wanted to just share what I did with it. Fresh spinach from garden Ingredients 1. 2 handful of Spinach (preferably baby spinach) 2. Red Oil (be careful because 1tbsp of Palm oil is 120 calories, add as desired) 3. 2 Ripe tomatoes 4. 3 Hot Scotch Bonnet pepper (Rodo) 5. 1 big ball of red onion 6. 1 smok

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,

Last week, I was very religious with tracking both food and workout on a daily basis and all was going well till Saturday when I was supposed to have tabata, I just realized my heart rate was high, my body was not ready and till this morning I had not lifted a finger in my home gym.  It would be a lie if anyone told you it's all rosy and active through a weight loss journey there are lots of ups and down. In fact I think my own journey had been unique. I cannot work on a regimen for 4 weeks straight, No I can't! BUT I WILL, as you know that I get bored easily, so to be frank the road is not easy at all and I am not exempted.

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-

Plyometrics also called "Jump Training" is a type of exercise that involves a quick and explosive movement. I personally love strength training than cardio workouts, I just dislike that chest thumping that happens after the cardio exercises. But I am at ease with plyometrics and I love the fact that more energy is burned because it high impact exercise at a short time frame. This week has seen me with a lot of this jumping around and I feel the endorphin rush after each session. I am posting this so that you can give this a try sometimes, below are my favorites:

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

As I sat down on my chair today and in a brief moment I was thinking of when my weight loss journey started some 6 years ago. I was a field worker for my organization and trust me I was not enjoying my job then, I felt cheated everyday when I got to work because of some "discrepancies" in posting of staff members and my assumed lopsidedness in the treatment field workers were getting. Also, I was not really a happy person because of some challenges I faced as a newly-wed and trying to even understand the relationship that I was really working hard to be the best at. One day I was on the field and I came face to face with my most dreadful equipment then "a scale". Before then I never wanted to know what my weight was because I was really scared I might have to face some realities of a pending health issue or something close. Well, that day my colleague on the field persuaded me (he has a really small structure) to check since it wouldn't hurt to know. 

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 been AWOL for a week, I went on a retreat. The Nigerian Baptist Convention (which I proudly belong) had it's Convention in session between Saturday 16th April, 2016 to 21st April, 2016. It was mandatory to be in attendance because of some important roles myself and DH were playing. That aside it was a very rear opportunity to be alone with God and learn at His feet. It was a good time to retreat and pray to God almighty who can do every impossible. The theme for this year's Annual Convention is Moving Forward: Working Out our Salvation with Fear and Trembling , it was a program filled with teachings, sermons, prayers of intercession, petitions etc. I was richly blessed and I would not have forgiven myself if I did not put my all into this. The essence of today's post is the benefits that accrues from having a personal retreat. Retreat in a simple term is "withdrawal or a draw back" it is mostly used in the army. A retreat is often carried