Lisa Druxman - The Empowered Mama: How to Reclaim Your Time and Yourself while Raising a Happy, Healthy Family

To my children, Jacob and Rachel

You gave me the gift of motherhood and have shown me a part of my heart that I never knew existed. I love you deeper than the ocean, to the moon and back, and to infinity and beyond.

To my husband, Jason

Thank you for supporting my crazy dreams and entrepreneurial spirit. Thank you for sharing this adventure with me.

To my parents, Bonnie and Larry

Thank you for loving me unconditionally and for teaching me that I can do anything I want to if Im willing to work hard at it.

To my sister, Kim

Thank you for inspiring me and holding me true to my values. And thank you for making me laugh so hard that I cry.

To my FIT4MOM family

Thank you for being my village and my inspiration. Thank you for allowing me to do what I love.

How to Reclaim Your Time and Yourself While Raising a Happy, Healthy Family

Lisa Druxman
Founder of FIT4MOM

I am honored and humbled that my wife Lisa asked me to write the foreword for her book. Well actually, she didnt ask me! She was looking at celebrities or experts and I jokingly offered to write it. To my surprise, she said yes! Im guessing she did so because she wanted to convey our family values and introduce me as a first hand example to the benefits of this book.

Lisa and I have been married for over 20 years. She and I continue to grow together in our marriage based on many of the lessons she shares in this book. We have done these activities together and its helped me as much as its helped her. If you think your husband would never participate, you might be surprised. I am neither Mr. Communicator nor Mr. Sensitive, but this really does work and has been invaluable to our success.

Lisa has been and continues to be my inspiration to be a better person by keeping me true to my values and remaining focused on whats important in life.

When our son was born over 16 years ago, she went on a mission to create a career that allowed her to also be a mom. She continued that mission when she wanted to share that career with thousands of women across the country. But it was more than a job. Lisa found that moms were so busy taking care of everyone else that they forgot how to take care of themselves. Lisa adamantly believed that moms were the best model for a familys healthmost moms just didnt know how to take care of everyone else and themselves. Thats why she wrote this book.

I have been fortunate enough to be a part of this mission and witness many of the wonderful and amazing moms that Lisa has had the honor of working with, learning from and sharing in their success and sometimes grief. Lisa has never wavered in this mission and her passion continues to inspire moms. In this book, Lisa shares how she figured out how to take care of herself and how you can too. As a husband, I can tell you that we want you to be happy and healthy. I can vouch that Lisa is not perfect, but that she works hard every day to take care of herself and her family. And when she does, she sets out a ripple effect that impacts her family, her friends, and her community.

Jason N. Druxman
Chief Founding Dad
Fit4Mom, LLC

Do you want your children to take care of themselves the way you do?

Do you want them to eat like you do?

Do you want them to exercise like you do?

Do you want them to stress like you do?

I have asked thousands of moms these questions. And the answer is almost always NO. Moms want their kids to take better care of themselves, eat healthier, exercise more, and stress less.

Guess what? Teaching your kids how to do those things starts with you! You cannot wish it for them. You need to become their model mom, as in their role-model mom.

How about this question: How are you? Ask any mom and the answer goes something like this: Crazy! Overwhelmed! So busy!

In my book, so busy is not a badge of honor. If we want our kids to have great answers to questions about self-care and happiness, it is up to us as moms to set them up for success. Moms are catalysts for change. They are the model for the rest of the family. They are the foundation for healthy habits. The good news is that when mom takes care of herself, eats better, and exercises moreher family does, too. Not only that, a mom who takes good care of herself also answers that last question differently. She isnt overwhelmed. She is happy. She is healthy.

We have all heard the flight-safety guidance about putting on your own oxygen mask before your childrens. We have all heard that we are supposed to follow that same philosophy as moms. I think that most moms believe this to be truebut NO ONE acts on it. I believe thats simply because most moms dont know how. Moms are so busy just surviving, and so overwhelmed with getting through the day-to-day, that they cant figure out how to take care of themselves.

Thats what this book is about. Its about putting me before motherhood. Its not about being selfish, though. Its about the importance of giving the people in your family the best gift that they could ever havehappy, healthy, well-balanced lives. To do that, we have to live the way we want our children to live.

To laugh more, and to feel overwhelmed less.

To exercise more, and to run errands less.

To eat healthier, and to have fast food less.

To chill out more, and to stress less.

Your children will follow your example, not your advice.

AUTHOR UNKNOWN, BUT HE OR SHE IS DEFINITELY A PARENT TO KNOW THIS TRUTH!

It seems to me that a happy life would be a pretty great legacy to leave your children. And I am going to walk you through exactly how to do it, step by step. Keep in mind that there is never a perfect balance, and I wont paint you pictures of perfect homes behind white picket fences. (Perhaps I should say I wont paint pictures of perfect homes from Pinterest.) Here, I will share a path that has worked for me, and it will work for you most of the time.

What qualifies me to give this kind of advice? To start, I am mom to Jacob and Rachel, and I am wife to Jason. At the time of writing this book, Jacob is fifteen, Rachel is twelve, and Jason and I are about to celebrate twenty years of marriage. I am also the founder of FIT4MOM, a company that has brought Fit4Baby, Stroller Strides, and Body Back fitness programs to a million moms across America.

Lets start with my business. FIT4MOM evolved from a major a-ha moment. I was on a walk with my son when he was just a wee baby. It was one of our best hours of the day. We both loved getting outside, and I loved getting some exercise. At the time, I had been a fitness professional for more than ten years, and I was thinking about how all moms want to get their bodies back after having a baby. In that moment, I realized that with my training I could help moms get their bodies backusing something that is already part of their lives and a great workout tool.

Thats how I created the Stroller Strides workout. I started with a few moms in my neighborhood. At that point, I wasnt thinking about it as a business. I just needed support and community as a new mom. It was a big hit! Soon after that, my maternity leave was coming to an end, and I was devastated at the idea of going back to work and leaving my new beautiful baby. So, I decided to turn Stroller Strides into a business.

I wrote a budget to show my husband that if I offered a certain number of classes and got a certain number of members that we would be okay with that as my income. He was onboard, so I quit my job and started my life as an entrepreneur. I opened twelve locations in that first year and signed on 1,000 participants. I hired instructors, and I was teaching classes six days a week. There were so many women looking to get their bodies back and meet new moms. Word spread and the business took offand this was before social media. I was getting emails from across the country from women who either wanted to start a class or join one.