As Karissa struggled with finding true happiness, balance, and self-love, her weight got out of control. As her weight increased, everything else in her life suffered even more. She was depressed, ashamed of her body, had zero self-worth, and her confidence… let’s just say that it was fading away. In 2011, her health and overall well-being took a huge nosedive… She felt like her life was spiraling out of control.
It wasn’t until one rock bottom moment sitting in a doctor’s office which was followed by a major life epiphany did Karissa realize that she needed to BossUp and make healthier lifestyle choices so that she could be the best wife to her husband and mom to her kids. That ah-ha moment sparked something inside of her which pushed Karissa to reclaim her best life ever.
Karissa Adkins is an Award-Winning International Speaker, 2X 1 Best-Selling Author, and Weight loss & Habit Change, coach. She is the Founder and CEO of 365DailyHustle a global coaching company helping purpose-driven women 10X their health so that they can 10X their entire life. Karissa is also the Executive Director and TV personality on Living Real TV, and she is the voice behind the BossUp Babes Podcast Show. In August of 2021, she was featured on the cover of 2Inspire Health Magazine, and in April of 2022, she will be receiving the Marketing 2.0 Leadership Award in Las Vegas.
Karissa has been seen in networks such as ABC, CBC, MarketWatch, and NBC for her expertise in health and women’s empowerment. Karissa thrives in the area of women’s mental and physical health, and she is on a mission to help more women become strong, confident, and healthy leaders.
Karissa is proud to have helped thousands of women confidently break free from their health limitations and become unstoppable when it comes to living their healthiest life. When she's not helping others, she's continuing to say "yes" to her own growth and stays 100% committed to being unstoppable in her own life and business.
Karissa Adkins, CEO & Founder Of 365DailyHustle
You’ve been in the health and weight loss industry for over a decade. Tell me a little bit about how you got started coaching.
My mission for the last 10 years has really been to empower, inspire, and motivate women to live their best life. I have gone through and experienced what so many of my clients are facing today, and I have made it my life’s work to help these women BossUp and rise above their current life and health situation. 12 years ago, I looked like a very fun-loving, successful go-getter who quite honestly had her shit together. I was respected in my community and in my career, I had two awesome kids, and a husband who loved and supported me. But on the inside, it was totally different.
As someone who has experienced lots of childhood trauma, you can imagine that when I met my ex-husband at 19 years old, we had lots of things to work through. I had zero confidence, lots of self-doubts, and tons of old beliefs to let go of.
Fast forward a few years… We got married, we bought a cute little house, I started working for my mom again, we had a beautiful daughter…. I thought life was pretty good. For the first time in years, I was happy, I mean who wouldn’t be.
But over the years I found myself taking care of everyone and everything except for me. I didn’t want to focus on how bad I was still hurting on the inside, and instead, I found happiness and joy in helping others and raising my kids. I wanted to be the best mom, wife, friend, employee, daughter, and sister that I could be…. and I lost sight of being the best version of me.
In 2011, I hit rock bottom which led me to a major life epiphany. My family and I were stationed in Germany, my husband was deployed, I was tired, and I was running behind to get to a doctor’s appointment. There I was at the doctor’s office when I got some real hard to hear truth. The doctor looked at me and said “Karissa, I hate to be the one who has to tell you this, but someone needs to. You are 5-foot tall and 213lbs and you are considered to be obese, If you don’t change your lifestyle habits today you might not be around for your family in 10 years. OUCH right!
The next day, sitting on the couch feeling pretty sorry for myself, I looked over at a picture of my mom, and for the first time in my entire life, I saw just how heavy she was. I saw all 320lbs of her, I saw her battle with cancer, diabetes, lack of energy, and quality of life, you see for the first in my life… I didn't see the strong confident woman who raised me. Nope, I saw myself in her 10 years into the future.
That rock bottom moment followed by a major epiphany that I had on that couch sparked something inside me and pushed me to become a better version of myself. Over a 3-year period, I change my habits, behaviors, mindset, and every day I decided to take action towards living a healthier more abundant life. 85+lbs and 7 years later, here I am running a global coaching health and fitness business helping other women get fit and stay healthy forever too.
A lot of career-focused women find themselves in similar places… overwhelmed, exhausted, and in poor health. I’m not sure if it’s a gender thing but women tend to take care of everyone else first and put themselves on the back burner. In your case, where do you think this comes from?
I think it comes from old childhood wounds and programming. I watched my mom work herself to death only to prove her self-worth by helping others. She almost sacrificed all family time for her business and, for her bridal shows. Anything she touched turned to liquid gold—except for our family. We were a family that was very broken. I don’t have a ton of memories with my mom because she was always working in and on her business. She was bossing up, herself, which I can respect. That’s exactly where I get my work ethic from. One of the biggest lessons that my mom taught me was if you work hard anything is possible. That mindset and hustle have been ingrained in me since birth. I think that it’s the story that I created, that in order to be successful I have to be, Go, go, go, and “always-on”. Quite honestly, I used to believe that if I wasn't working 70+ hours a week in and on my business, then who was I, and how successful was I really going to be? At the end of the day, I struggled with creating and maintaining a healthy work-life balance, and it affected me in so many areas of my life.
It’s no wonder that in a matter of 3 years, I went from weighing 120lbs to over 213lbs. I was overweight, embarrassed, and ashamed of my body and it was taking a huge toll on my life. I hated the person in the mirror, and I coped with these feelings with food, booze, cigarettes, and work. (More bad habits) Thank goddess for the rock bottom moment 12 years ago. Now I am teaching other women how to become fit, strong, sexy, confident leaders and how to balance out this crazy thing called life.
How did you end up losing all that weight and ultimately becoming unstoppable?
After the epiphany 12 years ago sitting on the couch, I sat down a made a list. A list that was made up of all the health and fitness “should” “coulds” and “must do’s” you know … drink more water, get more sleep, quit smoking, exercise, fad diets, etc., etc. At first, I felt overwhelmed, but then I told myself that losing weight and getting healthy is a process and that this process wasn't going to happen overnight, so I told myself to just pick two healthy habits that I thought that I could stick to long term.
I choose to eat less and move my body daily. Also, I knew that I would need some help and accountability with my reaching my goals. So, I went to some neighbors and asked if they wanted to join me at the gym. I asked if they would watch my kids while I went to the gym. I also asked my mom who I called every day to help hold me accountable to my goals.
You see, I wanted to be around for my kids, I wanted to be able to have the energy to keep up with my kids, and I also wanted to look and feel sexy in my body so that I would feel more confident around my husband, friends, and in my career.
Day by day, week by week, habit by habit, I started to lose weight, gain confidence in myself, and up level my mindset. Now, I feel unstoppable, like I can do and achieve anything.
Being a coach and speaker that motivates, empowers, and holds women accountable to becoming their best selves, I’m curious how do you stay focused and motivated yourself?
For me to truly show up for my family, audiences, and clients, I first have to show up for myself. You see self-care has been a huge key to my success and self-care allows me to stay motivated, inspired, and playing big. Self-care is a form of self-respect. Self-care looks different for everyone but for me, self-care looks like…
Daily exercise, clean eating, daily meditation, reading, food prepping, time-blocking, honoring my boundaries, saying no to others, traveling, etc. It’s one of my core values and pillars in my coaching programs. I love talking about motivation. There are so many different directions that I could go into here, and I could tell you all about the awesome tools that help me stay motivated on a daily basis. But, in my opinion, motivation comes from passion, purpose, and clarity. When you have passion, purpose, and clarity you become driven, focused, and unstoppable.
What do you think your superpower is?
You see, resilience is my superpower, having resilience has given me the ability to bounce back after every setback, only making me mentally, physically, and emotionally stronger.
When I look back at my life, I have a lot of childhood trauma, teenage bullshit, and major life setbacks. I have learned to reframe these setbacks and crappy moments in life as lessons and wins, because I would not be who I am today had I, not BossedUp and found a way to push through.
My past hardships don’t define me, they only motivate me to empower, inspire, and educate others to live their best life. I enjoy teaching and coaching career-focused women how to BossUp, Get Fit, and Stay healthy FOREVER.
What are some helpful tips that can help women who struggle with health, motivation, and fear of the unknown?
My four biggest tips to any boss or bossbabe in the making…
Always follow your heart. Every decision that I’ve made in the last 12 years has been made from a place of love. When you can cut out or let go of the BS in the world, the opinions, the what-ifs, the shoulds, and the HOWs and learn to have faith and trust yourself, you will find freedom, health, and happiness, that I promise you.
Say yes to more self-care, healthy habits, and creating balance. Give yourself permission to say yes and have fun! Being a career-focused mama is like being a superhero, and even superheroes must reset, readjust, and refocus on what’s most important. Without a healthy mind, body, and spirit, who can we really take care of, honestly? How much can we even really achieve before we’re burnt out? How far can we go on the tank if it’s constantly empty? So, take care of your health (mentally and physically) always!
Be relentless when it comes to living your best life. So, play big and be courageous! Don’t be afraid to let go (people, excuses, thoughts, etc.) of what holds you back. And never let FEAR keep you stuck.
My last tip comes from a lesson that my mom taught me. 11 years ago, I buried my mom, and with her death, she taught me one final lesson…. life is short. You never know when you will leave this world, so you had better enjoy the life you’re living today.
So, what's next for the BossUp Babe Karissa Adkins?
I am on a global mission, a mission to help support, empower, and motivate career-focused women to BossUp, Get Fit, and Stay Healthy so that they can unleash the most powerful version on themselves. So that they too can go from overwhelm and stressed-out to healthy strong confident leaders. I love helping women create healthy lifestyle habits that support a strong mindset, sustainably nutrition, flexible exercise, and I teach them how to reduce stress and anxiety which allows them to BossUp in every area of their lives.
I dedicate my time to developing powerful courses, eBooks, and transformational coaching programs that help women overcome their weight loss battle, double their energy, self-doubt, and self-sabotaging spirals while they learn to master their mindset, habits, confidence, and own their true badass self.
I 100% believe that when you follow your heart, take risks, invest in yourself, have faith, and surround yourself with other badass people you in return BossUp, LevelUp, and ShowUp for your best life. I’m excited about the future that I am manifesting and co-creating and I’m looking forward to impacting more lives through my Signature Keynotes, Corporate Training, Coaching programs, and future Articles.
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