Real Push-ups. And Greek salad.

It seems like kids can do anything with their bodies. When do we lose that? I know not everyone does, but I think if you asked most people my age to do a handstand or a cartwheel they would just laugh. I could do those things when I was a kid and I liked it. I'm pretty sure I could also do real "man" push-ups too but I don't actually remember. For as long as I remember every time I tried I could not even do one full push up unless I was on my knees. The Jillian Michaels moves in January included push-ups and I modified them the whole month. I don't think I even tried. But you know what? That really started to hurt my knees because of how hard the floor is. So when it came time to do push-ups again after a couple of months I figured I better try it to see if I could give my knees a break. And I was surprised to find out that I am now strong enough to do push-ups. Not that my nose comes anywhere near to touching the ground. They are probably more like half push ups. But this is a huge breakthrough for me. The other day Robin asked me how many I could do. I just laughed and said "really? You think I can count while I am doing this?" I kind of look forward to it actually. It's proof that I have broken a very solid "I can't" barrier. I am stronger than I think I am. My lunges are improving too. My knees touch the ground most of the time when I do them. 

On a totally different topic, I made a sort of Greek salad for dinner tonight. I used beef tips this time but I usually get the really thin sirloin steaks and cut them into bite size pieces. I cook them in just a little olive oil and season them with Greek seasoning. Unfortunately I just found out my Greek seasoning has msg so I will be looking for a better one. I do this salad with a spinach base and add cucumber, thin slices of red onion, cherry tomatoes, olives, and feta cheese. Then I add Greek seasoning to some plain Greek yogurt and stir in a little milk until it's thin enough to be used as dressing. Or if I have been to costco lately I use tzatziki, also thinned with milk for the dressing. It's so light and yummy and my husband LOVES it. Perfect summer meal in our house. Except that toddlers don't really eat salad. Their loss. 

Apple Cinnamon detox water follow up

So I mentioned the other day that I had decided to try this flavored water as an experiment. The apples and cinnamon flavor the water without adding any calories (who knows how that works? Magic?) and give it a little extra something to boost metabolism. Some people go all out on this detox and only drink this for a week. As in, they don't eat anything. I couldn't even last through a whole day. But I have been drinking at least 84 oz a day this week. My personal opinion is that it tastes better when you are not starving yourself.

I can't say that I'm sure I feel more energized than usual since I have been drinking my water this way. I feel pretty energized after my workout every morning. But I have lost 3 lbs in the last four days, and I'm going to say this has helped with that. I may not have eaten more than I should have for the last 2 weeks, but a lot of what I did eat was loaded with sugar. My body needed to detox and I think the apple cinnamon detox water helped that process along a little better that plain water might have. I don't keep it on ice like the recipe says to (seriously? How did I make it here from our last apartment without my ice cube trays?) but I do keep it in the fridge so it's colder than what I normally drink from the faucet. Colder water also makes your metabolism work harder.

The apples and cinnamon keep for a week as long as you put new water in the pitcher every 24 hours, so I'm going to keep on drinking my water this way until the week is up. There are some who feel the need to flavor their water so that drinking enough isn't as much of a burden. I'm not one of those people. Not that I don't need help drinking enough water, but I actually prefer it plain. I could see myself doing this for a week out of every month though, because the idea that it's giving my body a little health kick makes me more motivated to do other healthy things.

Throw away the cake

I can't believe it's been a whole month since I blogged. Let's say this month has been... ok. As far as weight loss goes, it looks pretty normal. I started at 193, and ended at 186. 7 lbs is a pretty solid weight loss for a month. Why was it just ok then? Because looking back at what I ate does not make me proud. There were a lot of parties this month, and being with my friends and family has been a much needed boost for my spirit. But I didn't do what I should have to stop myself from eating SO. MUCH. SUGAR. Holy cow, how could I possibly have lost 7 lbs? But more importantly, how much better can I do next month?

Last week was my daughter's 2nd birthday. She LOVES butterflies. At least the idea of them, I don't think she's ever seen a real one. Anyway, I was feeling crafty, so I made her a little cake in the shape of a butterfly. It was seriously adorable. I used box cake and can icing (which I think it disgusting on its own) so it wasn't anything too fancy, but I was proud of my messy decorating job. And there were cupcakes too because I made one layer of chocolate and one layer of funfetti so there were extras of both cake mixes. Then I invited a few people over for pizza and cake on her birthday, and suddenly realized that "few" was actually more than 20. So I made mint sugar cookies in the shape of butterflies. No icing needed, these sugar cookies are that good. The party was a success. And there was so much cake left over. And unfortunately I discovered that the canned icing wasn't as gross when it was on the cake, and I really quite liked it. I should have done it as soon as everyone left, but I waited two days before I threw away the rest of the cake. When cake is always there, right in front of you whether you are hungry or not, way too easy to just grab a bite, you eat more than you should. Not as much as I would have a year ago, but more than I should. I did feel pretty proud of myself for throwing out almost a whole butterfly wing, even though it really made me sad to put my creation in the trash.

That's just the worst of it. There were also two baby showers, a Nauvoo party complete with a whole batch of rolo cookies, cousin's dinner with home made cinnamon rolls, General Conference donuts, and an extended family party at the Pizza Pie Cafe. I felt really awful Saturday night, and decided I better try to detox. I found a recipe for apple cinnamon detox water on this blog. I figured, I like apples and cinnamon, I'll try it out. Yesterday I mostly only drank this and didn't eat until dinner. I wasn't planning on eating dinner, but I was starving. And by the end of the day I was kind of sick of the taste. I think the idea of this 0 calorie drink is a good one, but I prefer normal water. The apples and cinnamon are supposed to last like a week in the fridge if you keep refilling the pitcher, so maybe I'll try it again today. But not on an empty stomach.