1 New Habit

I have been reading up on habits and how to create new ones.  The key is to pick one habit , keep it simple and focus on that habit for 30 days.
I found a great post about breaking bad habits from www.pickthebrain.com.  You will love this website. So much good information.

So My habit will be to get up at 6am and go to the gym. I am going to focus on this habit for 30 days!  I'm not going to think of fancy work outs or where I'm going to work out but that I am going to get up at 6 am and be out the door by 6:15.   The gym in closed friday mornings so I will do this Mon-Thursday.

Now I realize the hardest part of this is physically getting out of bed...Well I already started going to the gym this week and the key is: Do Not hit the snooze button.


There is no reason to hit that snooze button...the alarm goes off-lift up your head, turn off the alarm and get up!!!   If you don't get up right away then your mind will tell you to stay in bed.... You have to get out of bed before you talk yourself out of it!!
Don't even think about it, don't try to rationalize or think of excuses not to...just do it, just get up.  I don't even know why there is a snooze button.

Now that I have shared with you the getting out of bed part I will move on to some other tips:

Preparation for the night before:

• Set aside my work out clothes, shoes, phone, head phones & water.
• Prepare my coffee the night before. (set the timer)
• Be in bed by 10 pm.

Preparation in the morning

• Get out of bed and brush my teeth. (this wakes me up)
• Warm up & eat my banana protein muffin
• Also pour my coffee and start drinking
• Get dressed
• Out the door!

I eat my muffin first then I get dressed (i'm buying time for my food to digest)  and also the drive to the gym gives me time to drink my coffee.

weekly weigh in:

I'll get straight to it-last weeks weigh in was 149
Here are my stats today:
SW:152
CW: 147.8
GW: 136

This morning the scale read 147.8     I lost 1.2lbs!  That is great!
I have worked out every day this week and my eating habits are better. I noticed in the past sometimes I would lose 2 lbs in a week then .5 the next so I'm going to be patient.

I have to share this Amazing 6 week Seminar that I am participating in. It started Thursday night and its called Powerful Brain. Health Body.

I'm hoping it will give me the tools needed to lose 10 lbs.
Something that stuck with me is he said not to focus on Bad Habits and getting rid of them. Just create new healthy habits and focus on the new healthy habits!
The first habit that I am creating is waking up at 6am every weekday and working out.  So far so good. Monday was a holiday so I started on Tuesday, oh, now that I think about it I slept in till 7am on Thursday...but its a start, I worked out tues, wed and friday morning.
Now I have to think really hard about other new habits that I want.

There were 2 questions in our packet that we have to answer...it took some thinking but this is what I came up with:
Why do I want to lose 10 lbs?
I want to inspire and motivate those that I care about
I feel like losing 10 lbs is enough to change my appearance then others will notice and be inspired.Think about it..where does most of your inspiration come from? Not books, gimmicks or exercise machines but actual people!   When I need some motivation I look at before/after pictures of actual people who lost weight.
To have that feeling of accomplishment
People would say "you don't need to lose 10lbs" Why not? Why not be the healthiest you can be? Plus I like the challenge.   It really boosts your self esteem and gives you the courage and confidence to try other things..
Why is it important to me?
I value my health. I thank god every morning for my health. If you don't have your health you cannot enjoy your life. I am thankful for so many things, my husband, daughter, work, my family...but if I'm not healthy then its really hard to enjoy all the blessings in my life. Think of a time you have had the flu...you would give anything to feel better again right?      I want to live a healthy lifestyle so I can be a good example for everyone around me!  My husband, my daughter, family members, neighbors, coworkers, etc.     There are too many people out there that don't work out, don't eat healthy, they are depressed, tired, sick..but will not exercise...  I just don't get it???     If I can lose weight I hope that others will see me and get inspired as well.  There are a lot of people in my life that I care about that don't exercise and also eat junk! I want to motivate them.  
I have noticed in the past year I have become very passionate about nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. It all started from a program and my work called Healthy Utah. Once a year you can make an appointment and they will do a health assessment, if you pass then you get $50.  Passing would be a bmi of  26 or less and if you don't fall under 26 then they have other incentives like losing 10lbs, quit smoking, lowering your blood pressure. Its a really good benefit that not very many people take advantage of.  (Now that I say that I am curious to know the % of employees that do participate in this)

I will end with this alarming statistic that was thrown out during our seminar:
People with a BMI above 30 call in sick on average 14x a year!
People with a  BMI under 25 call in sick on average 4x a year!

weekly weigh in

ok people I suck. Don't  look to me for inspiration.

The scale will not budge! I have exactly 4 weeks to lose 10lbs!!
Weigh in for this week:  149lb   so no loss or gain there.

SW: 152
CW: 149
GW: 136
 I was doing so good at the first of the week but once Valentines Day came, so did the candy. My husband brought home thee best caramel corn drizzled with chocolate..then my mom bought a little box of chocolate for my daughter then I made sugar cookies.
I didn't have a problem with the cookies however I ate all the broken pieces!!!


You've heard that the broken chips are 0 calories right? well I told myself that the cookie crumbs and pieces were 0 calories as well. The only problem.....the scale didn't think so!


On a positive note I have registered for a Seminar called :Powerful Minds Healthy Bodies.
It's a seminar that is being offered through my employer so me and a couple friends signed up. It is beginning this upcoming Thursday. It could not have come at a better time because I'm telling you- I am struggling!
Its a 6 week program and we will meet up once a week. I can't wait for the first meeting, I hope its worth the time.

k I have another positive (despite what the scale shows) I have been getting up early and going to the gym first thing. Once I hit the off button on the alarm I am up. I noticed if my head hits the pillow I will go back to sleep (duh) so right when the alarm goes off I jump out of bed, get my coffee and go to the gym!



So hopefully with the Powerful Minds Seminar and My morning gym routine I will see the scale go down again. Crossing my fingers.

Another Quilt

yep I gave in.  My last post talked about how I was not going to start another project.
Well here it is!
I have to explain why I was all the sudden drawn to these granny squares.
I have been crocheting granny squares and when I would search on other granny squares and trying to get ideas on how to join them I would also get results for these granny squares!!  I didn't know they were called granny squares but they do look like granny squares (the crochet ones)  So I decided I had to make one....Oh and its a great project to use up your scraps too.

I tried to figure out a fast way to put them together rather then individually sewing each 2.5 square one at a time.   You know how on the trip around the world you can sew your fabrics in strips then cut them and magic occurs in the way you unpick them? Well I kept thinking how that would work out with these and couldn't figure it out. (Plus I couldn't find a tutorial on that so it must not be possible)

I did figure out how to save a little time. I strip pieced the outside squares.

So with each block you cut 2 10x2.5 strips of white and 2 10x 2.5 strips of your colored fabric.

I then iron them open and cut them every 2.5"   This saves time on ironing and cutting and also you don't have a bunch of thread tails....I hate those!

 Now you have a head start on your block and you can now select your inside blocks from the huge stack of scrappy fabric..

This is what it will look like.   And you can do a lot of your outside blocks all at one time. Have them ready to go!

I did find a blog that used the strip piecing method for her granny squares. Click here .  The reason why I haven't used her method yet is because I still have a bunch of 2.5 squares laying around that i need to include in my quilt. 

Meanwhile, I am still working on my sampler quilts...Not long after I lay them out do I get this...

I turn my back for a minute and look what I find. He thinks that I lay these out for him!

lol. thanks for looking. 

Click on the button to see more quilts in progress:

Saturday Weigh In

Source: plumcrazyaboutcoupons.com via Kari on Pinterest

Weekly Results:
SW: 152
CW: 149
GW: 136
Yep the scale is going the wrong way!
My friend shared a link on youtube....i'm kicking myself that I cannot find it but really the one statement that stuck to me was this:
"Your alarm clock goes off and before you can reach you hand over to shut it off your mind is already telling you that its too cold, your too tired, its too dark"        Don't listen to that voice!!  That voice will ruin your victories.  Get up and out of bed as soon as that alarm clock goes off.

Source: google.com.au via delilahthomas on Pinterest

Stop fighting with yourself! Just do it!
My biggest challenge this week has been sweets. When I start steering away from healthy foods its because I am bored. I need to try another recipe so this week I tried these protein bites:

Source: recipes.sparkpeople.com via delilahthomas on Pinterest

They are pretty good. Its something that I can have after I eat lunch.

Source: jagat-remaja.blogspot.com via Lillian on Pinterest

This I thought was too funny!!!

And I will leave you with these Skinny Rules, Some I agree with and some I don't.
Pick the ones you like and go with it!  Until next week.....

Source: infographicaday.com via delilahthomas on Pinterest

Pinterest = Bad!

I just need to stay away from pinterest before I start yet A N O T H E R  project!

Source: flickr.com via delilahthomas on Pinterest

I want to start a new quilt so bad!! However I do have a couple quilts in the works.
These quilts are distracting me!!I need to be calm, I cannot give in.

Source: flickr.com via Paula on Pinterest

I love these solid color quilts, they are so modern looking. I have someone in mind who would love a quilt like this.

Source: truebluequilts.blogspot.com via twiddletails on Pinterest

I think these quilts are mostly appreciated by the not so crafty people.

Source: sundancecatalog.com via delilahthomas on Pinterest

stash buster

granny squares:

I used my stash for these granny squares however I cheated a little and bought the taupe color that surrounds the squares. I love the colors together, the picture does not show them well.

I love how I decided to join them together. I just did a single crochet in the spaces. 

( i didn't crochet in every stitch)

This is what the back looks like.  I don't even know how to explain how I stitched them  and I can't find a tutorial online. I think this method works well on this because it is going to be a purse. It doesn't need to be as sturdy as if it were going to be a blanket.

It is going to be so pretty. I need to do 3 more granny squares for the front panel. Then 3 more for the back panel.

Saturday Weigh in

Well I missed last weeks weigh in. It was my birthday and I ate like crap.  Actually I didn't eat "like crap" I actually ate crap!!!  Well by crap I mean oreo cookies, Cafe Rio, a brownie....UGH! This week was a little better, I was able to work out 4 out of 5 days and I'm slowly getting back to eating better.
So this morning when I got on the scale it read: 146.8   Last week it was 146.6
So I gained .2lbs...what to do? Try harder.
SW: 146
GW: 136
CW: 146.8

I haven't made much progress but it's okay. It's  a challenge, its going to be hard. I don't want to seem shallow, I don't think it matters what size you are. All that matters is that you are healthy and also that you exercise everyday.   I am all about being the best you can be. If there is something in your life that needs so improvement then why not improve it?

Source: Uploaded by user via delilahthomas on Pinterest

This was on pinterest and it made me think.  Happy and healthy is what matters, not what size you are. People don't go around talking about the size of there clothes,
A great reason to work out is because you love your body! Don't work out because you hate your body.
Since I have been eating healthy my skin as cleared up and I had a positive dental appointment!  Oh and I don't have all those yucky issues with my stomach.
I still want to lose 10 pounds just don't want to beat myself up about it if I slip. I just like to improve my life in all areas like my relationships, finances, work and health!

So here is to another great week!