Wellness coaches are trained to help clients develop and implement personal wellness plans by:

• Accepting and meeting us where we are today
• Asking us to take charge
• Guiding us in doing the mindful thinking and doing work that builds confidence
• Helping us define a higher purpose for wellness and uncover our natural impulse to be well
• Helping us tap into our innate fighting spirit
• Addressing mental and physical health together
• Helping us draw a personal wellness blueprint
• Helping us set realistic goals; small victories lay the foundation for self-efficacy
• Harnessing the strengths we need to overcome our obstacles
• Helping us view obstacles as opportunities to learn and grow
• Helping us build a support team
• Inspiring and challenging us to go beyond what we would do alone

Wellness coaches use positive coaching psychology, which integrates more than fifteen other fields. Coaching psychology, in part, is the relational vehicle for implementing the tenets of positive psychology, a field focused on the scientific study of happiness and well-being.

I am currently working to become a Wellness Coach. As part of the certification and growth process, I am working with practice clients.  As a practice client, you receive my services for free over the course of three months.  If you are excited about achieving health, fitness and wellness goals, then enter with a comment below by January 15th. There will be two winners.

I am striving to provide services that answer to your complete well-being.   I believe that you will enjoy and flourish from this approach to unleash your vision and confidence in yourself.  Feel free to email questions or ask for further details.

The Wellness Coaching Program

1. Coaching sessions are free and conducted by phone. We will determine a regular time that fits your schedule.
2. Complete an online Well-Being Assessment prior to the first coaching session.
3. An initial coaching session for 75-90 minutes to develop your Wellness Vision, 3 month goals, and first set of weekly goals
4. We will conduct 30-45 minute weekly sessions for three months

It’s that time of year when you’re thinking about how you’re gonna do everything differently.  Let’s take it a few steps at a time and look at the first two to three months in front of you.

Realistically, frame your goals around your lifestyle and lessons learned from years past. What changes can you make today that will ring in the New Year with a more confident, smiling, stress free YOU? Now, is your time!

1. What’s is my physical fitness goal for the next eight weeks?

2. What is my main challenge to achieving this goal?

3. What steps will help me overcome these challenges?

4. How many workout sessions can I fit in my current schedule?

5. No time to workout, what can I do with my body for 10 minute, today?

6. Daily stretching will help relieve tension and slow me down to reflect on events and thoughts.

7. What workout equipment do I have readily available? Pull it out now and keep it in a visual spot. Every time you walk by it, think to yourself, “Do I have a few minutes to workout?” Go ahead and complete an impromptu workout. A little here and a little there will do wonders for your morale and body.

8. My motivational mantras:

I can do it!

I am healthy and strong!

I love moving!

I feel great!

WHAT IS YOUR MAIN GOAL FOR the first part of 2010???

• Keep holiday planning in one folder to work on during spare moments.

• Complete a major planning session (20-30 min) to define holiday tasks.

• Use your main calendar or planner as you schedule your tasks.

• Steadily complete tasks in manageable steps.

• Review Daily Routine for E.P.I.C. (Eliminate, Postpone, Isolate, Consolidate) Results.

• Prioritize Fitness, Food and Self.

• After the holiday, review your plan. Note what worked, time estimates, and ideas for next year.

• Put the folder away until next October.

Time Management:

• Brainstorming is not a waste of time. It allows you to “brain dump” all the unconnected thoughts roaming your head. Those roaming thoughts and inability to process where they fit in an already busy schedule is the basis for a majority of holiday stress.

• When scheduling tasks, place a time beside the task. It’s important to give yourself a time estimate because you’re more likely to dedicate your efforts to the task’s completion as outlined.

• Every morning and evening between now and the end of the Holiday season, take 5 minutes to review your tasks, adjust your calendar, and find a spot to complete one or two holiday tasks. When the evening arrives, check off your list, highlight your accomplishments and prepare for the next morning. Breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy your well earned sleep.

Food & Events:

• Enjoy bite size portions.

• On a day a large meal is planned, eat smaller and lighter portions for other meals. Maintain a balance in the meals and don’t skip eating to make up for the big one.

• Have healthy, high energy foods on hand for snacks (ex. hard boiled eggs, fruit, cheese, vegetables, cut meats).

• Schedule one day a week as a splurge day. Focus on healthy choices the rest of the week.

• For weeks that have multiple events, pick and choose your weaknesses selectively. For instance, Mary Jane has a fantastic sweet potato pie at the annual office party. Indulge with a slightly larger portion than the other bite size portions.

• Test new, healthier recipes two to three weeks prior to it’s debut.

Exercise:

• Keep to your routine as regular as possible. Make this a priority and work other tasks around it.

• Missed a workout? Complete a shorter session at home.

• Take advantage of 5, 10, 15 minute windows to complete short workouts. You’ll be surprised with what you’re able to accomplish.   Intense, short sessions reap amazing results. Your body is your priority.

• Revisit your fitness goals daily!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

What tip would you add to surviving the holidays?

The grocery store is filled with information, but processing and understanding the details can feel overwhelming.  Here are a few tips that I put together to help you better understand how the food is that you purchase and bring home.

Happy Shopping!

When looking at foods to purchase, consider:

1. Quickest path from nature to mouth. The body is equipped to break down foods in their natural state. The more processes the food undergoes before reaching our pantries, the more the body has to figure out how to break it down.
2. Food combinations (Overall Meal Planning) for maximizing nutritional value. The body uses food as part of major chemical processes in the body. Many of the functions require multiple nutrients to be the most efficient. Our body needs over 50 nutrients a day.
3. Major Ingredient Concerns:

• Salt: Under 120mg per 100 cal serving. Goal-60mg to 100 cals.
• Sugar: Daily allowance of 12g-36g a day. 3Tsp-9tsp.
• Fats: Avoid trans fats (anything with hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated ingredients).
• Goal: 1-2-3 rule—for Every 100 calories, 2 g. fiber, 3 g. fat.
• Keep saturated fats under 10% daily total calories. Usually around 8-12g. A day.
• Healthy fats are necessary in the diet. Look for unsaturated, poly, and mono fats.
• 20% daily intake should be in the form of fats.

Deciding Factors in keeping food healthy, nutritious, and tasty:

1. Cooking Method: In general, the most nutritious state of a food is in it’s raw form followed by steamed, broiled/grilled, sauteed, boiled, and (LEAST) fried.
2. Environmental Factors/Organic: There is uncertainty in how much damage or influence pesticides have on various foods and on our bodies. Just because something is labeled organic, does not necessarily mean it’s better for you. Be aware of processed foods regardless of the ALL NATURAL or ORGANIC labels.
3. Price: Still a major factor in determining your ability to purchase a wide variety of foods. Price does not mean that nutritious foods are off limits.  Most quality fruits, vegetables and meats can be purchased through sales and smart shopping.  Keep an eye out for sales, buy in bulk, freeze, and plan ahead to create frugal, nutritious meals for less than processed, convenience food prices.

Other Tips:

• Keep ingredient lists short
• Avoid difficult words in ingredient lists
• List is ordered from most to least
• When shopping for processed foods (sparingly), go for foods with sugar or salt not within the first 3 or 4 listed ingredients.

Arming yourself with knowledge is one of the many steps to help you in this journey of healthy living.  You’re not alone.  Work on one tidbit of information at a time and before you know it, you’ll be an expert in what you’re bringing into the home.  Keeping our families healthy and happy is a continuous conquest!  Enjoy.

Think about it. Let’s say you were “the funny one.”  The attention and praise you were showered with whenever you did something funny felt great, so you kept at it in order to receive that praise.  But what happened when you wanted to be intelligent and serious?  Chances are you didn’t take the risk.  Venturing into the unknown and risking criticism or falling short of your goal wasn’t worth losing your tried and true role as the entertainer.

Even though a label may be flattering, it’s limiting because it can prevent you from stepping out of the comfort zone of how you’re being viewed and received.  We fail to strive beyond our labels.   Without the label, all areas are fair game as there are no expectations of how you should behave.

People love to categorize people, places and things.  It is easier for many of us to organize and compartmentalize things when we know what category everything belongs in.  If you grew up in a household with siblings, maybe each of you had your own label, which served as a way to easily describe you. “The smart one”, “the pretty one”, and “the baby” may have been descriptors that helped your parents easily introduce you to their friends, but these labels could also have held you back.

What about negative labels that we may have been given, or labels we may have interpreted to be negative?  If it was said enough times, we probably just accepted it to be true.  Unfortunately, this is how our belief systems are formed. Someone we trust (or a group, organization, society, etc.) says the same thing with conviction over and over again. Eventually we buy into it and it becomes part of our beliefs.

But what if that person or group that we trust was also on the receiving end of some limiting beliefs?   As a result, they may be misinformed, may not know any better, and they unknowingly pass that damage along to you.  Because of your trust and belief in that authority figure, you accepted the label (good or bad) that they placed on you.

For example, let’s say you had a parent who always called you “lazy”.   Maybe they were trying to motivate you to be another way or maybe they thought it was an accurate description of how you behaved.  In either case, you grew up thinking, “if they said it all those times, it must be true.”  So when opportunities came up, you heard that ongoing tape in your head – “you’re lazy” – and figured that whatever was involved may take too much effort for you because you are just too lazy.

Here’s the good news – you can get rid of all of these limiting beliefs once you identify them, evaluate them and decide to discard them.  Just as I keep saying, it’s our job to change what we don’t like.  As I’ve also said, it may not be easy, but it’s so worth it.

Can you think of some instances where your labels stand in the way of the happy, healthy version of yourself that you want to be?  Are you “the fun one” and that makes it difficult for you to say no to indulging at parties? Are you “the clumsy one” and that makes it difficult for you to try a new exercise routine?

What if you could throw away the old labels that aren’t contributing to your success and pick new ones that support your goals? What if you decided you were “the adventurous one”?  Or “the healthy one”?  Or “the happy one”?  What would that version of you be able to do?

Debi Silber, MS, RD, WHC The Mojo Coach™ is a Registered Dietitian with a Master’s degree in Nutrition Science.   She’s a Certified Personal Trainer, Whole Health Coach, Lifestyle Expert – just for moms, speaker and the author of The Lifestyle Fitness Program: A Six Part Plan So Every Mom Can Look, Feel and Live Her Best and From Mom To Wow: Your Ultimate Body, Mind and Life Makeover Guide.   Debi’s been branded The Mojo Coach™ because for nearly 20 years she’s inspired and empowered overweight, overwhelmed and unfit moms to “get their mojo back” through gradual, lifestyle change.   Sign up for a free report, 52 weeks of weekly tips and a subscription to Debi’s newsletter, Mojo Moments, at www.TheMojoCoach.com.

Each month we provide a Free Seminar in order to answer questions that influence fitness and health goals. We’re also adding “Active Duty Briefings” bi-weekly to allow clients to discuss their challenges and look for advice from each other and our experts. We look forward to developing a connection among our clients that goes beyond meeting on the field/or in the home.

Dedicated to promoting health and fitness in Nashville communities, Fitness Link launches it’s first free monthly seminar in Nashville.

Multi-billion dollar industries such as health care, fitness studios, pharmaceutical companies, food processing, as well as endless books and magazines have debated and distorted the truths about health and fitness to the point where we are all utterly confused and don’t know what to do.

If you answered YES to any of these questions, you are not alone. Come join us in untangling the truth of health and fitness. You have a right to know! You have a right to change your life!

As a mixture of interactive discussions and mini-bootcamp challenges, the attendants will come away with a better understanding of Nashville’s need for improved physical fitness and a breakdown of the overwhelming myths surrounding exercise and healthy living. Come dressed in comfortable clothes and be prepared to move and feel great.

When: Saturday, July 11, 2009 from 10 AM to Noon

Where: Radisson Hotel in Donelson, TN at 1112 Airport Center Dr, Nashville, TN 37214

If you live in the Nashville area, then please join us. For more details, visit our website, www.tnfitnesslink.com or call 615-513-0349.

I am thankful to be an American.  I love this picture.  We were standing in the rain while Ryan marched in a Veteran’s Day parade for the American Legion in November 2008.

We are so lucky to live in the U.S.A.  I am proud to raise my children here and take part in this day of Independence.  For the men and women that are serving our country, THANK YOU!

I have visted many countries around the world, and I am always happy to return home.  Other places are nice to see and experience, but nothing compares to what the U.S. has to offer it’s citizens.

Step 1: Decide on your location: home, neighborhood, town, park, etc.  Your location could be a combination of all these places, but make sure you’re incorporating bikes, walking, physical movements to get from one place to another.  Try to use the car sparingly!  Remember our goal is to keep moving with our own motor!

Step 2:  Decide on a time. Is their a time limit? or Until everyone finishes their quest?

Step 3:  Design the meat of the scavenger hunt. List the questions, items that are being searched.  For instance, a neighbor down the street might have a unique mailbox that the children can find and take a picture or describe on the answer sheet.  If the hunt is in your yard, find a unique feature or hide a soccer ball for the children to find.  Then have them complete a physical activity in that location like skip to Question 2 from the mailbox or kick the ball ten times to each other before advancing to the next clue.

Have fun with creating, watching, and participating in the Scavenger Hunt.  The children will be problem solving, getting rid of some energy and staying active.  Plus, Mom, that’s one less day to worry about for the summer!

I’d love to hear some of your ideas or how your scavenger hunt went.  Send me some pictures and I’ll post some great Scavanger Hunt Days and Sample questions/answers to help moms make it through the summer.

For the past several months, I took on new responsibilities as Quality Control Specialist for the trainers, expanded my training hours, and present personal training packages to new members.  My schedule is finally stabilizing and I’ve cut back on a couple of those 5 AM mornings. I look forward to returning and sharing my experiences.

In the meantime, I am excited to share that I completed my first article for the Spring issue of Breathe Magazine , a magazine for active women in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast that offers fresh perspectives on women’s health, outdoor adventure and green living.  The article shares tips and ideas for Moms to stay active.

Go Workout Mom is also listed as one of the Top 100 Healthy Mom Blogs!
Thank you!

So, if you see any abnormalities to the site, please let me know.  I’ll try my best to resolve any quirky issues.