Erin Cox is a personal-development author, motivational speaker, wellness coach, and mother of three who advises women on how to live more balanced, joyful, and healthy lives. Erin has become an expert in leading a balanced, healthy, fulfilled life as a mother through her personal experiences since delivering her first child in 2006. As the wife of an Air Force F-15 pilot, Erin has moved four times since her wedding in 2002, and as a result she has bonded with and learned from mothers from all over the world. Erin loves to hang out with her husband, play with her children, run, hike, do yoga, cook, and of course, write! Erin has also worked in water resources science and engineering. She received her BS in biology from North Dakota State University and an MS in water resources from the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Minnesota.
Erin believes wholeheartedly that motherhood is one of the most beautiful blessings that life has to offer, but it also presents a multitude of additional challenges for self-care and personal development. Erins mission is to love, nurture, and support women so they can love and feel good about themselves, live their dream lives, and offer their best selves to their loved ones.
Connect with Erin at www.erincox.com.
First of all, I would like to thank my greatest love and partner for life, Steve Cox, who has made so many things possible. He has always challenged me to be the very best I possibly can and has been my ever-supportive partner through this entire process. He is also the best father I could have chosen for our three precious children.
I would like to acknowledge my precious daughters, Ella and Elena, and my sweet son, Kellan. They have tolerated a mom who is on her computer for hours each day. My children give me daily inspiration and keep me smiling!
I would also like to thank my loving and encouraging parents, Gene and Cindy Day, who have always believed in me, as well as my brother, Brian, and my entire fabulous family. My mom and my mother-in-law, Susan Cox, have been reading and editing my work for years, and my father-in-law, Ed, has supported me with love as my business coach.
My fabulous exercise models, Anne Rylance, Tyanne Luken, Leah Crouser, and Laura Larson, have been dear friends for many years and have always offered me their love and encouragement. In addition, they have motivated me with the way they manage their lives and stay so fit as mothers. I also want to give a shout-out to all of my beloved girlfriends from Watertown, South Dakota, as well as from college and graduate school, and to my family-like military friends who live all over the world. You all know who you are, and please know how much I love you and have been inspired by each of you!
Finally, I would like to thank Hay House for supporting me and working with me on this important project, as well as my wonderful and detailed editors, Brookes Nohlgren and Lisa Bernier, who helped bring this book to life.
It is my most sincere wish that this book has taken you through a life-transforming process and has helped you get back your best self, in both mind and body. I have said it many times throughout this book: Motherhood is a challenging experience that can keep you stressed, overwhelmed, and disheveled, or it can push you to greater heights. You can let raising children consume you and lose yourself in the processor you can set an excellent example by living your very best life and taking good care of yourself, so that you have more love and energy for your partner and kids.
Since I finished writing this book, I have given birth to my third child and gone through the process of getting my mind and body back once again using the tried and true methods outlined in this book. I weighed in at four weeks postpartum, and to my dismay, I was 30 pounds over my ideal weight. Talk about a challenge to practice what I preach related to self-love! I know how hard it is to love a body that looks foreign and unsightly, and I know the overwhelming feeling of having a substantial amount of weight to lose. I have experienced feeling fat and have literally taken every measure described in this book to get re-centered, focused, happy, fit, and skinny once again! Its not easy, but it is entirely possible. I hope you have had a wonderful experience through this process, and I hope you will share it with me.
I encourage you to take a few minutes now to reflect on your experience over the past three months or however long your journey has been. Do you feel happier overall? Have you met your goals? Have you achieved your desired weight? Look back at what you wrote in the Introduction, and honor your successes. Celebrate your accomplishments, whether they are related to losing baby weight, setting and achieving goals, or simply becoming more joyful or centered in your daily living. Any part of your life that has improved as a result of reading this book is a success to me!
If you arent at your ideal weight yet, simply continue to implement the techniques, eating habits, and workout schedules presented in the book. It can take time to get your body to where you want it, and slow and steady weight loss is the most healthy and sustainable kind. Hang in there, and stick with it!
I am grateful and honored to have been part of your journey, and I send you much love and light as you go on with your life as a mother. Please contact me at erin@erincox.com if you have any questions about the book or if there is anything else that I can do to support you.
I wasnt able to include absolutely everything I would have liked to in this book, which is why I have created a multitude of free resources on my website, www.erincox.com You will find numerous useful and motivational materials, such as recipes, exercises, and online workshops. As a reader of this book, please use the code HOTMAMA to receive a 25 percent discount on the online course or coaching package of your choice.
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