Tag Archive for ‘healthy lifestyle’ at themojocoach.com

Tag Archive for 'healthy lifestyle'

Introducing…Got Mojo?™

Published on August 18, 2010 in General. 0 Comments

GOT MOJO?

Lifestyle Fitness, Inc. through www.TheMojoCoach.com is pleased to announce the launch of its newest brand Got Mojo?™. The Got Mojo?™ brand is dedicated to helping people achieve their ultimate body, mind, image and lifestyle in order to become their personal and professional best. New products will include motivational books (available for single or bulk purchase) and promotional gifts. New services will include single and group coaching, corporate and wellness events as well as transformational VIP Days.

For individuals: Becoming your personal and professional best requires a fit body, strong mind, positive inner and outer image and balanced lifestyle. It means reaching your full potential so you can achieve success in all areas of life that matter most to you.

For companies/groups/organizations: Ensuring that your company or organization is at its best requires employees to be “at the top of their game.” When employees learn strategies and ideas to easily incorporate into their lifestyles, destructive and unhealthy habits are slowly replaced with new, healthy habits bringing about health, vitality, a positive inter-office environment and loyalty while reducing health care costs, absenteeism and employee turnover.

Debi Silber, MS, RD, WHC The Mojo Coach® has been inspiring and empowering hundreds of people for nearly 20 years to look, feel and live their best. She’s a Registered Dietitian with a Master’s in Nutrition, a Personal Trainer, Whole Health Coach, Lifestyle Expert, speaker and author of The Lifestyle Fitness Program: A Six Part Plan So Every Mom Can Look, Feel and Live Her Best (recommended by Parenting Magazine and Jack Canfield, Co-Author of the Bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul series and The Success Principles.) Debi’s a featured expert on over 15 websites, is frequently quoted in print and online and has a following of thousands of individuals worldwide. She serves on four Advisory Boards, additionally has two certifications in pre/post natal fitness, is a Select Provider for Healthways Health Professional Provider Network and has received honors and recognition for her unique charity program, as a Cambridge Who’s Who, Madison’s Who’s Who, Notable American Woman (twice) and Outstanding Young Woman of America (twice).

Whether for individuals or groups, reaching your full potential while achieving success personally and professionally means implementing a well-rounded approach to improving the areas of life that make life meaningful. When these areas of life are improved and in place, that’s when you know you Got Mojo?™.

To get started contact Debi Silber or a Lifestyle Fitness, Inc. team member at
(631) 499-4999 or email Debi@TheMojoCoach.com.

The Cost of Conserving Energy

Published on February 4, 2010 in General. 1 Comment

We talked about this before, but as the winter winds are whipping around, it bears repeating. While it’s great to conserve energy, make sure you aren’t conserving YOUR energy, especially during these cold months.

You probably have put some effort into making sure to keep your energy bills down this season. You may have put some extra weather-stripping around the windows, or added some insulation. You put the storm windows up and made sure that everything is sealed up tight.

But, as tempting as it is to wrap up in a blanket on the couch, hibernate and wait for Spring, don’t do it! Even now, when walking across the parking lot sounds like the last think you would want to do, do it! Invest in some warm gloves and a nice toasty hat and scarf and walk across that lot. And walk up those stairs. And get off that couch!

And here’s an extra bonus for you – shivering burns calories! So let yourself be a little cold. Get out and walk around the block, even when the wind is blowing and the snow is falling. You won’t melt. I promise.

Conserve the energy on your electric bill, but when it comes to your own personal energy, use it. The beauty of it is, the more you use, the more you’ll have. You can be your own personal power plant! An Energy Star!

Burn baby, burn!

Tricks for Staying on Track While Eating Out

Published on January 19, 2010 in General. 0 Comments

Many of my clients find it much easier to stay on track with eating healthy meals when they cook for themselves and eat at home. But eating out is such a huge part of many of our lives, and doesn’t need to mean completely letting loose.

I have tons of tricks that I share with them when we are working on building up that mojo, and here are a few to get you started! If you want the full scoop, come check out my Mega Mojo Membership program!

• For a lighter meal one option can be to order an appetizer (as long as it’s a healthy one) with a salad or two healthy appetizers instead of a high fat/calorie entrée.

• Start with a clear based soup or salad instead of a cream based soup or the bread basket.

• Ask that the bread basket not even be put down on the table. If that’s not an option, make a rule about how much you’ll have before you go and stick to it!

• At a buffet or salad bar, load up on the vegetables and watch out for high fat toppings and mixtures.

• Split an entree with your dinner partner or ask for half of it to be packed up before the waiter even brings it to the table.

• Use the opportunity to enjoy what the restaurant is known for; enjoying a small portion of those foods which are unique, interesting and symbolic of that restaurant while avoiding ordinary foods that you
can have anywhere.

• Substitute fruit, salad or steamed vegetables in place of high fat side dishes.

• Use condiments like ketchup, mustard, vinegar, lemon and salsa to add flavor instead of butter, sour cream, cheese or creamy sauces.

• Ask for foods “dry” or with sauces on the side.

• Use the “fork trick” for your salad. Instead of piercing the salad then dipping it into dressing, do the reverse! Dip the fork in the dressing first…then pierce the salad. You’ll still get the flavor you love
without using nearly as much as if you did it the other way.

And here’s your “Mojo Minute” for the week, a video demonstration of the “fork trick” – happy dining!

Mojo for the Holidays Contest

Published on November 18, 2009 in General. 12 Comments

Are you waiting for January 1st to begin your weight loss program?

Have you resigned yourself to the fact that you’re probably going to gain weight during the holiday season?

Yes, you’re about to enter the period of time where we tend to gain the most weight (and feel the most stress!) But, in one 30-minute, one-on-one Mojo Coach® Holiday Strategy Session I can give you a personalized plan to prevent holiday weight gain!

We will talk about everything from how to handle parties to how to deal with the well meaning “food pushers” you’ll be visiting with over the next few weeks! We’ll talk about preventing the physical, emotional and mental wear and tear the holidays can cause, strategies for cocktail parties, sit down dinners, what to bring, drink and even what to wear to prevent weight gain! (Remember, I’ve worked exclusively with hundreds of moms as a Registered Dietitian, Personal Trainer and Whole Health Coach for nearly 20 years and I’m going to give you everything that’s worked for them and we’ll find the perfect strategies that will work for YOU!)

Get a jump on some healthy habits now before you feel that overwhelmed, overextended and overstuffed feeling the holidays may bring! Then you can move into the New Year with a head start on your healthy resolutions.

If you want to guarantee your strategy session with me, you can sign up now for a 30 minute Mojo Coach® Holiday Strategy Session – that’s all we’ll need to strategize YOUR personal holiday survival plan for success. Besides getting a unique and specific plan based around your individual needs, challenges, obstacles, lifestyle and more, your $200 strategy session investment will include:

• A Complimentary copy of my book: The Lifestyle Fitness Program: A Six Part Plan So Every Mom Can Look, Feel and Live Her Best (recommended by Parenting Magazine)
• My Free Report: 10 Tips to Avoid Weight Gain from Mindless Munching!
• A Free subscription to my e-mail newsletter: Mojo Moments
• 52 weeks of tips and advice for getting your body, mind and spirit in shape!
• Access to resources, articles and more!

If you want to make sure you have everything you need in place to prevent weight gain, stress and overwhelm this holiday season, a limited number of spots are available for this unique type of coaching session. Secure your spot, give yourself a holiday gift (or have a special someone get this gift for you!) and get started right now.

AND, I’m offering 2 lucky women the chance to win one of these $200 value Mojo Coach® Holiday Strategy Sessions…for FREE!

To enter the contest, do one or more of the following things – multiple entries will be accepted (and encouraged!) So spread the mojo around and give yourself more chances to win! Encourage your friends to enter – the more the merrier! And couldn’t we all use a little extra mojo at this time of the year?

1) In the comments below, tell me the biggest challenges you face during the holidays.

2) Become a fan of The Mojo Coach on Facebook and write on the wall what your challenges are.

3) Tweet about the contest on Twitter and include the hashtag #GETMOJO. Here are a few sample tweets you can use:

• I entered to win a free session with @themojocoach http://www.TheMojoCoach.com/blog #getmojo

• No weight gain this holiday season with @themojococh http://www.TheMojoCoach.com/blog #getmojo

• I want to win a holiday strategy session with @themojocoach http://www.TheMojoCoach.com/blog #getmojo

4) Write about the contest on your own blog and link to this post.

Entries will be accepted starting NOW until midnight on Thanksgiving (November 26th). Winners will be chosen at random and will be contacted via e-mail on Monday, November 30th.

So get to work on your entries and spread the mojo all around the internet. I look forward to working with you to overcome those holiday challenges!

While you are here, get a jump start by entering your name and email in the sign up boxes at the top of the page (right under my picture). You’ll instantly start receiving:

• My Free Report: 10 Tips to Avoid Weight Gain from Mindless Munching!
• A Free subscription to my e-mail newsletter: Mojo Moments
• 52 weeks of tips and advice to get your body, mind and spirit in shape!
• Access to resources, articles and more!

If you are anxious to get started now you can sign up now for a Mojo Coach® Holiday Strategy Session, I promise it is worth every penny!. If you enter and win the contest, you will get an additional 30 minute follow-up session for FREE!! Signing up is easy, just click here and I’ll email you to set up the best date and time to plan YOUR strategy session ASAP!

For those entering for a chance to win your Mojo Coach® Holiday Strategy Session for FREE, good luck!

Pounds or Pants? Measuring Weight-Loss Success

Published on November 9, 2009 in General. 8 Comments

How can you measure weight loss success?

Some of my clients like to measure pounds on the scale. Others like to use a tape measure to track body measurements. Others choose to be professionally tested using skin calipers or hydrostatic weighing. Still others use the fit of their clothes or the compliments they receive.

There are pros and cons for each of these methods, so it is important to understand them all in order to determine which one works best for you.

1) The Scale

It sure can be motivating when the needle moves to the left. But what if you are including some strength training in your exercise program and building muscle? Your weight may remain steady (or even go up) as the composition of your body changes. So you may be looking better, but the scale isn’t showing your success. This can be really frustrating!

Also, during weight loss, many of my clients reach a plateau. Your body isn’t a computer and may not lose weight with the kind of precision we’d like. You may not show a weight loss for a few weeks and then show a fairly dramatic loss all of a sudden. If you go by the numbers on the scale alone, you may become discouraged.

2) Tape Measure

The tape measure method can be very motivating or very discouraging, depending on who’s doing the measuring and the results you get. I’ve worked with moms who’ve been so unhappy with their bodies that the thought of taking measurements is nothing short of terrifying. Although it may serve as an effective benchmark, many moms find it a discouraging way to begin their program.

For some, seeing the cold hard “before” measurements can be more damaging than any later benefit of tracking progress. If you can handle the initial shock, tracking inches can be more motivating than tracking pounds because as you build muscle and reduce, you can see that the shape of your body is changing, even if the numbers on the scale don’t show the change.

If you do want to go the tape measure route, make sure that you take your measurements at the same time and same day from month to month. This will allow you to see progress and avoid measuring excess water retention due to PMS, etc. Measure your upper arm, upper thigh, waist, hip and bust. Try to be consistent about where you measure so that you can accurately see your hard work paying off.

3) High tech Body Fat Measurements (Calipers, Hydrostatic)

These technologies have the benefit of more accurately measuring the overall composition of your body. Watching as your body fat percentage goes down can be very motivating, even if your weight stays consistent.

However, both of these techniques, involve having a professional involved in the measurements, which is probably unrealistic for most people. Also, measurements using skin calipers also depend on the expertise and precision of the person doing the tests and can vary from expert to expert.

4) “Skinny” Jeans Test

Some moms feel that the best way to judge weight loss and fitness success is by noting how they fit and feel in their clothes. I always encourage my clients to find a specific pair of pants that they’re trying to fit into. It doesn’t matter if, when you start out, you can’t even get them past your knees. From week to week, on a consistent day of the week and time of day, try on the pants and notice how they fit. If they couldn’t go past your knees and now they do, that’s progress! If they’re over your knees and creeping up your thighs, good for you!

5) Compliment Test

Receiving a compliment can make your day. But choosing compliments as your success measure can be dangerous. You may not get all of the compliments that you deserve as many of the people in your life may be too preoccupied with other thoughts, or feel uncomfortable about commenting on your appearance. Many people feel that by noticing your smaller size, they are drawing attention to the fact that at one point you were heavier. Others may be jealous of your weight loss success.

The best person to try to impress is yourself. You know your body best and can recognize how it is changing as a result of your hard work. So choose a way to measure your success that’s unique and personal for you, but feel free to enjoy the compliments when they do come your way!

Consider which method makes the most sense for you, and which would be most motivating. Commit to one of these measures and take the time to track your success on a regular basis. The idea is to see the success and feel proud, inspired, and happy with your results.

If you have found an interesting way to track your progress toward a healthier you, please share your story with me. I love to learn from all of the fabulous Mojo Moms out there!!

Too many Treats?

Published on November 1, 2009 in General. 2 Comments

First, I hope you had a wonderfully fun Halloween and that your kids enjoyed dressing up and seeing all of their friends in costume. Now that the excitement has settled, you may be faced with a huge pile of candy and wondering what to do with it. Maybe you are thinking, “They’re kids, it can’t be THAT bad for them.”

Let me share some frightening statistics from the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity (a problem so large that it has its own Journal!)

Childhood obesity is the greatest health risk our kids face today
By the year 2010 (that’s next year) it is expected that 50% of all children will be overweight
This is the first generation where kids have a lower life expectancy than their parents

We’re spending billions of dollars on healthcare and our kids are unhealthier than ever. What’s going on here?

One thing that’s going on is that the average American child’s diet consists of one third junk food. Snacks, candy and other prepackaged foods, desserts filled with far and sugar make up a large portion of their daily intake. And I’m not just talking about special occasions like Halloween and Christmas. This is every day. All day.

The “food” that kids are eating is nutrient void but dense in calories. The lowest quality calories that you can find. These are the choices that are placed at a child’s eye level in the grocery store, and not by accident. Ads for these high-sugar, high-fat, low-nutrition foods air during your children’s favorite TV shows. The commercials for these foods are filled with bright colors, music, action and the promise of something special.

An additional issue is that, as a nation, we are suffering from “portion distortion”, and this includes our children. They are learning to super-size, and purchase “economy size” and “value sized” meals themselves. They are constantly being bombarded with unhealthy food choices and learning that “bigger is better.”

And then the problems of low-quality, high-volume eating are compounded by an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. Think back to when you were a kid. Chances are you played outside with the neighborhood kids after school until it became dark. Kids today come home from school and many of them spend the rest of the afternoon and evening in front of the TV or a computer screen.

So here’s a troubling equation for you:

Sedentary Lifestyle + High Fat/High Sugar Foods + Huge Portions =

Overweight Kids

Now some kids have the opposite problem, instead of being sedentary, these kids have no down-time at all. They’re being shuffled from one activity to the next day in and day out. What are they eating during all of this “shuffle time”? For many moms, the easiest solution is either grabbing fast food to eat on the run, or grabbing some snacks for the kids to eat in the car. See where I’m going here?

In our well-meaning attempts to give the best to our children, we push the limits until the only possible way to get everything done is to cut corners. These corners frequently impact the food choices we make (for ourselves and our kids) when our lives become hectic and out of control.

So another bad news equation (we seem to be on a math kick!):

Overbooked Kids + Overstressed Moms + Convenience Foods = Overweight/Overstressed Kids

Let me give you an embarrassing example of overplanning gone horribly wrong.

Before I understood the importance of a sane lifestyle, downtime and reduced stress, I had my kids enrolled in anything I could sign up for. From the minute they finished school until the minute they were all sleeping, every minute was planned. We had to be at a game, practice, or event every evening, often doing homework in the car on the way. Very often I’d have at least one of my four children crying because they just wanted to be home playing.

One day, I grabbed some chicken nuggets to “feed” them during our shuffling. As we drove from one activity to the next, I started flinging chicken nuggets over my shoulder to my kids in the middle and back rows of my SUV. I was in a panic because we were running late, and the kids were crying because they were tired from all of the running around, and my aim was so bad that no one could “catch” their dinner as it flew past! When I finally took a moment to think about it, I cringed at my behavior.

That was my daughter’s last day of soccer practice. She doesn’t miss it and we haven’t veered back into that overplanned life since.

Take a look at how your lifestyle impacts your kids and see if it’s contributing to the development of unhealthy habits. Consider making changes that make healthy choices and a sane lifestyle part of the plan for everyone in the family. From stocking the snack cabinet with healthy choices, to making a plan to sit down as a family for a real dinner on a regular basis, to planning activities that get you all away from the TV for a few hours, you can make sure your kids start off on the right foot building a healthy lifestyle.

Do you have some examples of how you have worked to build healthier habits into your family routine? Any tips for keeping the holidays fun without an overload of treats? Please comment or drop me a note to share your thoughts – I always love to hear from you!

Ready, Set….Slow.

Published on October 12, 2009 in General. 1 Comment

When it comes to lasting weight loss, slow and steady wins the race.

Although many people take on the latest diet program, quick fix or promise of immediate results, most only find themselves right back where they started in a relatively short period of time. In fact, most people who take drastic measures to lose weight not only gain back what they lost, but gain even more leaving them more discouraged and frustrated with each attempt.

Why do we continue to put our time, effort and energy into the “quick fix” and why doesn’t it work?

Dieting doesn’t work for many reasons. The first reason is that drastic steps are temporary…at best. It isn’t realistic to commit into a 7-day-a-week exercise program if we haven’t been exercising at all or to think that we can drastically reduce our calories for the long term if we have many eating behaviors that caused the weight gain in the first place. If the changes we make can’t comfortably be worked into our day, our routine, our lifestyles and our lives, whatever we take on isn’t likely to continue. We may be able to commit to an overhaul in food choices or eating behaviors for a short while but when confronted with something that triggers us to overeat or abandon our best efforts, we will immediately go back to what is familiar and comfortable.

What is familiar and comfortable? Our habits. Whether they’re good or bad they’re what we’re comfortable with. That’s why when we want to lose weight those habits which originally caused the weight gain must be changed. We’ve all heard the saying “habits are hard to break” and because that’s true, a slow and steady approach needs to be used to develop new, healthier habits to replace the old, unhealthy ones.

So how do we break the habits which lead us to gain weight?

One thing we need to look at is our “diet mentality.” For many moms, we’re either on or off a diet at any given time. If we have that “all or nothing” or “black or white” extreme behavior when it comes to weight loss, there’s no room for error and no way to recover from any mistakes made along the way. If the road to weight loss doesn’t allow for some imperfection, it is unrealistic to think that we can stick it out for the long haul.

Life throws us some curveballs from time to time, that’s a given. How we handle those curveballs may require some adjustments to our eating plan. If our eating plan doesn’t allow for those adjustments, where does that leave us?

It leaves us right off our diet. Angry, frustrated and discouraged, we revert right back to what is so deeply ingrained within us. Any progress made is abandoned and for many moms, here’s where the negative self talk takes us even further away from believing weight loss success is possible as we berate ourselves with every bite of foods we’ve sworn off for good. So, if this sounds so familiar and you’ve had enough of “yo-yo dieting”, weight cycling and diet behavior, what can you do?

1) Understand that each time you start an unrealistic diet, you chip away at your confidence and belief in your ability that you can lose weight. The more you chip away at that confidence, the less you trust yourself and the more powerless you become.

2) Understand that although it doesn’t sound as appealing as a “miracle cure” or “immediate solution”, weight loss is a journey. The more you discover why you gained the weight and understand that your habits can and need to be changed, the more weight loss success you’ll have.

3) Focus on the fact that each habit you change serves as a stepping stone to greater confidence, trust and belief in yourself. When we isolate a habit we want to change, put our efforts into finding a solution to turn that habit into one that better suits us, we feel proud and happy with our ability to take control of our eating and our behavior. That simply feels good and enables us to see that our choices and decisions are within our control. It brings about a feeling of strength and empowerment as well as increases our confidence and self esteem.

When we feel confident, strong and empowered, we’re proud of ourselves and realize that anything is within our grasp. While it may be more exciting to believe that drastic efforts bring huge results, when it comes to weight loss, the greatest results are found by making the most minimal…but consistent changes.

A Six Step Plan for Success

Published on September 29, 2009 in General. 4 Comments

Are you ready to make some changes in your life? Do you have challenges in any of these areas?

* Nutrition

* Fitness

* Stress control

* Emotional health

* Relationship wellness

* Spirituality

You don’t have to wait until New Year’s Eve to make significant changes in your life. Any day can be the first day of your new lifestyle. But to make it really happen, you need a plan for success!

STEP 1: Evaluate

Take a step back and honestly look at the few months and ask yourself, ” “How did it go?” Take note of how you handled challenges that came up. Are you happy with how things have gone? I’m guessing if you are still reading this post, you are interested in changing some things. So based on your thoughts about your recent past, next determine what you want within each of those six areas moms struggle with.

Nutrition:

Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to eat healthier? Do you want to cook better meals? Do you want to food shop more effectively? Do you want to take more time to pre-plan your meals and snacks?

Fitness:

If you have not taken the time for fitness, think about what you want to do differently. Do you want to create a more exciting workout? Do you need more motivation? Would a workout buddy or new exercise program help?

Stress:

Do you need a more effective outlet for better stress control? Do you want to learn to journal, meditate or to do yoga instead of eating or doing another destructive self soothing behavior when you’re stressed? Do you want to focus on becoming very familiar with the signs and signals that let you know that your body’s under stress?

Emotions:

Do you want to become more optimistic, positive, less serious or just more fun? Do you want to react differently to challenging situations?

Relationships:

Do you need to reset boundaries, would you like to have a closer connection with your partner or do you want to have stronger, more fulfilling friendships?

Spirituality:

Is it time to pursue that goal, feel the joy, fulfillment and satisfaction that occurs when you’re truly in the zone because you’re doing what you absolutely love to do?

STEP 2: Set Goals

Once you come up with all those answers, set specific goals for where you want to be in the next year (or six months, or whatever time frame makes sense for you.) Be as specific as you can so that what you want becomes clear and it feels real down to the very last detail.

STEP 3: Consider Obstacles

This next step is crucial but often overlooked. You want to consider every obstacle you may encounter. When you consider all of your obstacles, you’re not as thrown when they arise. They’re already somewhat familiar to you and they will not derail you so easily.

STEP 4: Plan to Overcome Obstacles

Once all obstacles are considered, come up with a strategy to overcome every one of them. We often don’t think of what may derail us or what may sabotage us. That’s why when we’re faced with it for the first time, we fall off track. Without planning, we fall off and we haven’t considered how to get back on. If your goal to exercise daily will cause conflicts with your child’s sports schedule, can you ask someone to carpool? Can you exercise during the sports event (walk around the soccer field)? Will you have a supportive community to turn to for support? What else can you do overcome obstacles?

STEP 5: Set Milestones

After you’ve discovered what it is that you want, set small, manageable goals based on what you want to achieve and the strategies you just created. The reason why you break it down into small, manageable goals is to prevent overwhelm and encourage success. When you set a goal and you reach it, it builds your confidence and motivates you to continue. If your goal is to lose a significant amount of weight, set smaller goals along the way and then…

STEP 6: Measure and Reward Success

How will you measure and track your progress? Will you be tracking your clothing size? Your weight? Your mileage? Will you monitor your progress daily or weekly?

How will you reward yourself? Will you reward yourself when you reach a specific goal or when you handled something in a way that made you proud? Will you treat yourself to a manicure when you manage a week without desserts? What’s important is that you determine, set up and implement a tracking and reward system for many reasons. Besides keeping us motivated to continue, monitoring our progress and rewarding our efforts validate our progress, help us see what’s working and what’s not, helps us stay encouraged to continue, focused and on track.

If you are ready to start making some changes in your life, these steps can give you a roadmap to success. With clear goals and some advanced planning, you can make progress in building a better, happier, healthier and more fulfilled life.

While many things are out of your control, your thoughts, behaviors and actions are things you have complete control over. Destructive behaviors can lead you to continue down a negative path while taking the steps towards creating new, positive behaviors can bring you closer to becoming the woman that’s patiently waiting to be unleashed.