Noah: Um, welcome back to Physical Education. We are educating people physically. I’m here with Coach JoJo—Lumos member turned wonder coach, turned nutrition coach, turned all-around excellent person. Wow. That’s a lot. I keep going.
We’re doing our five questions for the coach, and today we’re going to talk about nutrition. Specifically, the nutrition challenge that you and your clients—and some fun extra people—just wrapped up.
So briefly, for folks who don’t know you, or who know you beyond my very detailed explanation, what do you do at the gym specifically in the nutrition realm?
JoJo: Yeah. As Noah said, I am a coach. I joined as a member in the very early days, in 2017, so I’ve been exposed to the Lumos culture from the very beginning.
I started coaching about three years ago, and then recently started coaching nutrition earlier in 2025. I mostly take a very longevity-focused approach to nutrition. I’ve learned through this process that I’m not really interested in coaching major bodybuilding-style goals or very strict body composition changes for competition.
I much more prefer focusing on behavioral change, long-term change, and things that will keep people healthy and happy for a very long time. And I think that really aligns with the culture here—zooming out the lens of fitness and having people think about it a little less in the short-term or purely aesthetic sense. There can be this panicked feeling of “I need to do X right now, I need to be here, I need to be there,” and instead shifting to a longer-term view where you can work on things slowly and sustainably.
Noah: Which sets us up well for the rest of the conversation. You just wrapped up a holiday habits challenge at the gym. Why did you want to focus specifically on the holiday period?
JoJo: The holidays are super challenging. Routines get thrown off. You might have family in town, you might be traveling, there’s just a lot less structure in day-to-day life.
I already had a good number of nutrition clients that I wanted to work through this period with really closely, and I wanted to open that up to the rest of the gym as well. The first message I wanted to send to participants was about realigning with why they signed up in the first place. They clearly had some intention around their health or nutrition, and I wanted them to know that for themselves—even if they didn’t tell me.
Then I wanted to help them take those intentions and goals and translate them into daily actions that could be expressed no matter where they were or how chaotic things got. How do you remain committed to a broader goal in a much less intense way?
So there was a big focus on bare minimums. We had five daily habits that were the bread and butter of the challenge—things they aimed to hit every day. They might look different from day to day, but they kept people voting “yes” for the person they decided they wanted to be at the start of the challenge.
The last piece was helping them accept that this was enough. There’s no need to be all-in versus all-out. I wanted to move people away from the idea of “the holidays are here, so I’ll just wait until the New Year.” I’d much rather people express their commitment in a less intense way and recognize that they’re already different than they were last year.
Noah: A lot of that feels relevant beyond the holidays. Anytime schedules or environments change, people feel that pressure. And I’ve seen a lot of challenges over the years. There are always a few people who absolutely crush it—they get every point, do everything perfectly—and that can leave everyone else feeling like they failed.
I really liked that this was individualized and led by the participant, where they help define what success and learning look like. Which leads to a common question in gym spaces: why not do a classic January “New Year, New Me” challenge?
JoJo: We could do those anytime. People get renewed energy all the time—birthdays, summer, life transitions, the New Year. And I want to work with that motivation when it shows up. I’m not saying that’s bad or wrong at all.
What I was more interested in was working with people through the tougher times, teaching them how to maintain consistency when energy is lower and structure is missing. That consistency eventually leads to more motivation, especially when people start seeing progress.
Even with clients who are feeling that renewed energy now, I’m excited for a few months from now when friction comes up. I want them to have the tools to get through that.
Noah: It sounds like you chose to catch people on the downslope rather than the upslope. Pulling them back to center instead of riding the natural spike. It’s harder, but probably more beneficial long-term.
So let’s get specific—what actually was the challenge?
JoJo: It ran about six weeks, starting a week or two before Thanksgiving and ending on the last day of the year. There were five daily habits: a hydration goal, a protein goal, a movement goal, and two others.
The movement goal was 20 minutes every day—coming to the gym, going for a walk, doing yoga at home. The idea was building the identity of “I am someone who moves every day.” There was also a mindfulness habit and an anchor habit—something that added structure even while traveling, like drinking water first thing in the morning or going to bed at the same time.
Participants tracked everything daily in an app called HabitShare, which let me see everyone’s updates. It was really fun to follow. We also had weekly group challenges in Slack—things like trying a new recipe and sharing it.
We also had a bingo card with harder, longer-term challenges, like setting a boundary or hitting sleep goals for most of the program. It gave people different ways to engage.
Noah: Now that it’s wrapped, what stood out to you?
JoJo: It followed a pretty classic challenge arc. Lots of excitement at the beginning, lots of participation, and then that tapered off. The bigger Slack challenges fell off more, but the habit tracking stayed pretty consistent.
Right before Christmas, a big group of people stopped tracking, which is totally normal. That’s life. What mattered most to me was reinforcing that the bare minimums were the priority. Even four or five weeks of consistency is a big win.
I also noticed that my ongoing nutrition clients were the ones who stuck with it the longest. Having that extra weekly touchpoint made a big difference.
Noah: That lines up well with your overall nutrition philosophy.
JoJo: Yeah. It’s very process-oriented and identity-based. I want people to notice behaviors, not just numbers.
Clients start realizing things like, “Every time I sit down to watch TV, I eat something—not because I’m hungry, but because it’s the habit.” That awareness is huge.
I want people thinking, “I’m a water person,” or “I eat intentionally,” rather than relying on rules. It’s not about never snacking or never watching TV—it’s about breaking the automatic patterns.
Then we can make small changes, like eating at the table or moving the scale somewhere more visible. We’re way too attached to outcomes. Identity is what actually lasts.
Noah: That feels like a good place to wrap. For the rest of the year, if someone wants to work with you, what’s the move?
JoJo: If you’re at the gym, just come talk to me. Otherwise, you can email through the website, fill out the form, or DM us on Instagram. I run the socials, so I’ll see it.
Noah: Perfect. Thanks for sitting down and chatting. We managed to keep this one under 20 minutes, which feels like a win. We’ll see you next week.
