When You're Eating, SLOW DOWN!

Eating should NOT be a race. Hurrying through a meal causes you to miss most of its delicious flavors, not to mention that you're likely to eat way more than you should. That's because your body doesn't recognize it's full until twenty minutes after you've eaten too much. I must admit, that I was an offender. But I've slowed way down. I use to always eat lunch at my desk, finish eating supper 10 minutes before everyone else, and my breakfast... well that is always an "on-the-go" meal.

So knowing that I needed to slow down to really enjoy and savor my meals took some getting use to. A great way to do this, is to eat with a friend that you know you will talk a lot with. Why? Because talking to someone while you're eating, slows down the process. You usually don't talk with your mouth full, so you can consciously take smaller bites, taste and chew your food longer while you listen to your dinner buddy give you the dish on everything exciting in their life! Juicy low-down on friend and eating your meal slower so that you will feel fuller without overindulging, BONUS! But be careful doing this. When you get your meal, or better yet make it yourself, portion out exactly what you should be eating, so you don't trap yourself into the "mindless noms" of just stuffing your face because something is in front of you and you are distracted by the enthralling conversation of your friend. Be aware of how much you're eating and just slow down, relax, TASTE your food and enjoy the wonderful company.

Alternatively, if you are solo dining, this is a great time to really analyze how you eat. Instead of rushing through your meal to get to whatever it is next that you need to rush to, go slower. Put your phone down. Turn off the television. Chew slowly and focus on each bite, putting your fork down between them. Also, get your full glass of water in, by taking a drink after every bite. By doing so, you'll reach that feeling of satiety without ever feeling like you need to unloosen your belt a notch.

Shakeology Day 2 & 3 Final Results!!

I'm sorry I didn't post my results right away! I had it in draft form and didn't publish it! Grr! Silly me. Anyway, I ended up losing a whopping 5.2 pounds during my 3 day cleanse. It was an easy cleanse to do, because for the most part I didn't feel "starved". The first day was by far the hardest day, mostly mentally getting over any cravings I may have been exposed to. Other than that, pretty darn easy, compared to other cleanses I've done before. I did another cleanse about 1 month prior to the Shakeology one but on that one I felt so starved, completely famished and couldn't stick to it. With Shakeology it was different, way more satisfying and tasted way better!

So there are my results, sorry it took me so long to get them posted. My life in and of itself has been a bit hectic and crazy. I just may post about that stuff later, we'll see.

Hope to see you soon!

~Skinny Phoenix

6 Things You Can Do To Improve Your Nutrition

Habits are hard to alter. So, here are six changes you can make to improve your nutrition. Your body will thank you if you try even half of them.

1. Eat a healthful, low-fat breakfast each morning. Focus on whole grains, fruit and low-fat dairy products.

2. Aim for at least six servings of grains each day; ideally three should be whole grains. Whole wheat bread, oatmeal, brown rice, whole rolled oats, popcorn, whole grain cereals, and whole grain corn are good examples of grains to include in a healthful diet.

3. Go to your grocery store and purchase one fruit that you’ve never tasted before. If you don't know what it is, ask the manager of the department. If you don't know how to prepare it, ask about that too.

4. While at the grocery store, select one vegetable that you haven't had in a year. When you arrive home, consult your favorite cookbook for a new recipe using it. Better yet, wash it and eat it fresh and raw. Or, you can try parboiling it for just a minute and then plunge into ice water.

5. Consume one more vegetable than you did last week.

6. Purchase a vegetarian cookbook.

~Skinny Phoenix

Skinny Phoenix’s Accountability Group

My accountability group is for those looking to be accountable to themselves as well as to others to help them achieve their health and fitness goals. I am going to be fairly strict on this and you will be held accountable for daily check-ins. If you fail to check in for 3 days straight you will be booted out. I only want those who are serious and who will remain committed. If you want to lose weight and change your eating habits to reflect those of health, but have never been able to stick to something because you couldn’t “do it alone” then this group would be for you.


Step 1 – Email me at skinnyphoenix31@gmail.com. Let me know what you weigh now, what your goal weight is, how you are working out/plan to work out [i.e. which program, TurboFire, P90X, Running, Swimming, etc.], and how many times a week you are willing to commit to working out. “Like” my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/skinnyphoenix).

Step 2 – Sign up for a free Beachbody account via my website http://www.beachbody.com/skinnyphoenix. This is where you will be logging your workouts, in the online gym (this way you will also be eligible to win the daily prizes!). Set up your profile and add any before pictures and add a small blurb about yourself. Add your weight and measurements to your profile as well as your goals then email me your measurements. Add me as a buddy. I should show up under your profile pic on the left hand side of the screen as your “Coach” you will just need to add me as a buddy. Order your fitness program (if you need one) and Shakeology (if you want to accelerate your weight loss).

Step 3 - Full accountability (FA). On Facebook you will be added to Skinny Phoenix’s Accountability Group. You will log in daily to the FB Accountability Group, log your food on a daily basis, and write a short few comments on what you did for the day, worked out, had struggles staying away from the donuts, small successes and minor failures, etc. We will do weekly weigh in’s on Monday’s. I want this to be a place where you are held accountable for what you are doing. I realize it make take a little extra time out of your day, but remember you are doing this for yourself. You deserve it and you deserve to live in the body that makes you proud and to have the energy to keep up (or run circles) with those around you.

Together we can do this and achieve our goals!!

Day 1 Shakeology Cleanse

Ok, so after day one of my Shakeology, I lost 1.4 pounds! I was hoping to lose more, but I cheated a bit. So I'm still pretty happy that I lost that much! I did extremely well, didn't feel too hungry and the fact that I got to eat some "solid" foods helped tremendously. My cravings were greatly diminished and I didn't crave the normal "junky" food I usually do.

I posted a YouTube video about it here that you can go watch...
Day 1 Cleanse Vlog

If you want to do this cleanse with me, which I plan on doing again at the beginning of September, shoot me an e-mail at skinnyphoenix31@gmail.com. I am also starting an accountability group kicking off on August 15th, so let me know if you would like to be included on that as well.

I will update later on my Day 2 results.

Happy Weight Loss!!!
Skinny Phoenix

Losing Weight Fast and Healthy - A Fresh Start

Check out my video regarding this Shakeology Cleanse
I’m going to talk about doing a Shakeology cleanse. I am going to do one because I’ve lost about 45 pounds in the past with Beachbody, and then the stresses of life caused me to gain some weight back. I was down to 138 pounds and gained 20 pounds back! I’ve recently lost about 7 pounds, but it hasn’t been the healthy way, so I need to put a stop to that. I decided to do a Shakeology cleanse to not only cleanse my body in preparation for weight loss, but also to cleanse my mind. I am doing it to start fresh with my weight loss and start fresh with my mindset and my negative ways of thinking. You can lose up to 5 pounds doing the Shakeology cleanse, depending on how much you have to lose. I plan on losing 5 pounds because I’ve gained all this weight back, I’ve been eating like crap and I now have 30 pounds to lose. It’s a three day cleanse. I know I can lose weight from this, in fact my upline coach lost 2.4 pounds on her first day of the cleanse!! I know if she can do it, I can do it. After the cleanse, I will be writing out a nutrition and fitness plan to continue my weight loss journey. I am not just doing this as a “diet”, I’m doing this as a lifestyle change. I personally know that you need to keep trying until you get it right. So this is going to be my way of life. Eating healthy and exercising on a regular basis. I know I need to get back to exercising because it was such a huge stress relief. I felt so great after doing it, felt an enormous sense of accomplishment and it gave me the confidence I so needed in my life. When I’m not exercising on a regular basis as a stress relief, the stress gets to me and I get those negative thoughts that creep back and say “you can’t do this”, “you’ll never get out of this situation” etc. I decided, enough is enough! I am going to stop listening to that negative thinking and turn things around and doing this cleanse is exactly the fresh start I need to do that. If you want to do a cleanse to kick start your own weight loss or your own “starting over”, please join me. To get Shakeology you can order it from my website, www.beachbodycoach.com/SkinnyPhoenix. I am also starting an accountability group on August 15^th, so e-mail me at skinnyphoenix31@gmail.com to join me.

"I'm Kind of a Big Deal"

Ok, I'm not really a big deal, but I do feel pretty good right now. Life has been a bit crazy and hectic to say the least. I've got health issues, money issues, marriage issues, you name it, I've probably got some sort of issue with it. But I WILL survive!! As the song says. I will move on with my life and create a much happier one. Because really, it's up to ourselves to truly make us happy. I'm starting with me and I'm basically starting over with everything. I've had a bout of health issues (cysts again) that have got worse, due to other stresses in my life, which have caused me to again put a hold on my fitness and working out. But, I'm slowly getting back into things. Started working out again today, and although it was pretty difficult and I feel a bit out of shape, I feel so great that I did it. It relieved so much stress. Stress relief is exactly what this girl needs, and what better, healthy way to do it than to work out? So I did TurboFire, Fire 45.
I also decided to refocus my business efforts back into Health and Fitness. It's something I'm really passionate about, enjoy immensely and have no problem talking about. So my website is back up and running!!
If you are friends with me on Facebook, please help me out by "LIKING" my Fan page, which is here... LIKE ME. So that is about all I got for the day.

Time to go shower and wash the world away!