Back the Kickstarter.

Celebrating a close family member's 50th birthday in the ICU is a worst-case scenario for most people — but for Danni Allen, watching her father battle (and then overcome) weight-related health issues proved to be the catalyst that inspired her to audition for "The Biggest Loser."

After beating out 300,000 other applicants to be one of the final 15 featured on the show, Allen showed up to set and was immediately faced with the harsh new reality of her next six months — namely, the signature tough love of trainer Jillian Michaels.

"When you meet Jillian Michaels, she gives you no second to think," shares Allen. "There wasn't  a minute to think before she had you on the treadmill."

And that first workout? Yeah, it lasted four hours.

Jillian Michaels, at the time, "was not my favorite person," Allen says tactfully. But eventually, the trainer wore Allen down. Or as Allen laughingly confides, "she literally beat it out of me!"

"Plus, my entire team got kicked off in the first four weeks - so I was riding solo with [Jillian] for the next six months of the show," ultimately setting up a close post-show relationship that Allen says they maintain to this day.

As Allen describes on this week's podcast — published nearly five years to the day after her win — Michaels helped her break down goals and re-define them in different ways beyond the show's narrow focus.

"At the time, it was definitely about a scale, but [Jillian] helped me find successes outside the scale." Running, doing her first-ever push-up, and practicing yoga all became staples in Allen's workouts.

Once off the show and back to real life, Allen was able to translate some of the strategies learned from Michaels into maintaining her healthiest weight.

"I took it one day at a time, one minute at a time... Being on the show helped me choose smaller goals and hit those. Find those successes, because that's what's going to launch you into the next goal."

The show also taught Allen the importance of a strong community supporting you — a philosophy Allen promotes in her work with Planet Fitness, the fitness chain known for their Judgment-Free Zone®.

"We [the cast members] created a family on the show. I think it's different than other reality TV shows — we're not there to take each other down. We are actually there to support and push each other... we wanted to be there for each other."

As far as Allen's takeaway tip towards living your best life, she encourages a twist on a gratitude journal.

"I keep a journal, and I always write down three things that I did well that day. That shows me that I'm making progress. You always get bogged down by the negativity or the things you wish you could have done or the "supposed to be's" — instead, it's about seeing what you did right."

Sounds like Allen is right where she's supposed to be.

This episode is presented by Chicago Sport and Social Club, reminding you that summer is just around the corner. Get into a summer volleyball league now and use code “GOALS” to get 5 percent off through March 31.

If you like what you hear, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and leave us a rating or a review on Apple Podcasts.

And if this post or anything else we’ve created impacted your life, please support our Kickstarter.

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Transcript:

JAC: Hi listeners, it's Jeana Anderson Cohen from aSweatLife.com, and I am here to talk to you quickly before we get to the high achievers who will share their goals with you. But if you have big goals or if you've been watching us help others achieve their big goals through our ambassadorship, we're asking you to help fund our Kickstarter. So if you check the link in the show notes today, you'll see that we are raising $20,000 between now and April 9th to help fund the expansion of our ambassadorship to help women set and achieve big goals in Chicago and across the country. Again, check the show notes or aSweatLife.com to learn more. Thanks so much. Let's get to those goal getters.

JAC: Welcome to #WeGotGoals, a podcast by aSweatLife.com, on which we talk to high achievers about their goals. I'm Jeana Anderson Cohen;  with me I have Kristen Geil and Maggie Umburger.

KG: Morning, Jeana.

MU: Morning, Jeana.

JAC: Morning. So Kristen, this week you talked to Danni, who many listeners may remember from The Biggest Loser.

KG: Yes, I spoke with Danni Allen who won The Biggest Loser five years ago. She is from Mundelein and she won The Biggest Loser a few years ago and now she has completely transformed her career and is working with Planet Fitness, helping them open new gyms across the Chicago land area and we actually spoke to her right before the opening of one on the Broadway location up in Wrigleyville.

JAC: And what's incredible about Danni is how she has sort of managed the change in her life. Starting first and foremost with The Biggest Loser when she had this catalyst in her life.  And then Jillian Michaels was introduced into the fold. What did she have to say about coach Jillian?

KG: It was really clear throughout our interview. She references Jillian several times and the impact that Jillian had on her life and encouraging her and scaring her a little bit in really getting that tough love mentality instilled in Danni so she could push herself harder in and out of the gym to really live up to her full potential. And one of the interesting things that she really retained after meeting with Jillian for so many weeks and days in a row was the importance of breaking your goals down into bite size pieces, which is something we have heard over and over again on this podcast. Danni referred to it as Eeyore, the idea that there's this huge seemingly insurmountable goal that you have in the future. Whether it's, you know, losing half your body weight or climbing a mountain, let's just say, and it's really clear that she was able to win The Biggest Loser not by thinking about, I have to lose 120 pounds, but thinking I have to lose five pounds this week. And then just focusing and building it from there.

MU: One thing that is so fun about this podcast is that we get to interview these high achievers and talk about something that they might not always get to talk about on interviews or or with the people in their daily lives. We get to ask about how they set goals. And then one element that often comes up about goal setting is how people express gratitude for where they are and that helps them set goals for the future, but Danni has a really interesting take on gratitude, which is something that we love here at aSweatLife.

KG: Yeah. One of the things I really loved was when we talked about this, I asked Danni what her best life looks like because at aSweatLife we're all about helping our readers to live their best life and she responded that she took the time each night to write down three things that she had done well that day, not just three things that she was grateful for, but three areas where she specifically thought she had succeeded and she said, you know, at the end of the month you look back and you have 90 things that you did well and that's a huge confidence boost for yourself and helps fight that feeling of the imposter syndrome so many of us have, whether it's in the workplace or in our personal lives. So I thought that was a really great twist on a gratitude journal. Just making it a little bit different and really helping boost your confidence in a new and interesting way.

JAC: Chris. We're so excited to hear this interview with Danni, thank you so much. Here's Kristen with Danni.

KG: Welcome to the #WeGotGoals podcast. My name is Kristen Geil and I am here today with Danni Allen who is now working for planet fitness and is the former winner of NBC's The Biggest Loser. Danni, how are you today?

DA: I am doing fantastic. How are you doing?

KG: I'm good. We are so excited to have you here because we know that you are all over Chicago, which is our home base working with Planet Fitness, helping engage their new members. Can you tell me a little bit about what that role is for you and how you're working for it?

DA: Yeah, absolutely. If anyone has been to a Planet Fitness before, I mean I'm really, really passionate about making sure the brand stays here in Chicago as well, but we're 1500 locations nationwide and the best part about Planet Fitness is it's the home of the judgment free zone where anybody and everybody can feel comfortable in their own skin. And myself, who used to be, you know, almost 300 pounds at one point felt really intimidating going into a gym. So when I started working with Planet Fitness and seeing the culture that they allow everybody to feel like they belong, I had to dig in deeper and that's why I'm really excited to be part of the branding here in Chicago.

KG: What does that mean exactly that Planet Fitness does to make their members feel welcome in that judgment free zone?

DA: Well, the first thing you do when you walk into a Planet Fitness, is you'll see, purple and yellow plastered everywhere, which is always fun colors to have and make you just feel excited, but we always have really friendly staff that's always at the front desk to say, welcome you in. Always give you a tour of the gym. But the biggest piece of the puzzle with planet fitness is unlimited fitness training is included for only $10 a month, which is your membership cost. So included in that membership cost is unlimited fitness training, so that way you can have someone to be on your side and help you with your goals and you know, there are different workout sessions--over 40 of them actually every single week that you can be a part of at no additional cost to make you feel comfortable when you first walk in and that's a big goal of ours to spread that word.

KG: And let's back up just a little bit. Why don't you tell us a little bit about how you got to be on The Biggest Loser, what prompted you to try and get on that show and then what was your journey like once you're on there?

DA: Yes, so about almost, oh, wow, this is at six years ago, almost to the day. Unfortunately my Dad  got really, really sick and was put into the hospital and a lot of his health concerned attributed to his weight and we actually had a very close call there. I really thought there was a moment there. I wasn't going to have my dad with me. We were celebrating his 50th birthday in the ICU hoping that things would turn around and thankfully they did and my dad had lost about a hundred pounds.  He was doing so much better and really getting his life back at 50. I was 25 and just realizing, you know, as a wake up call for me that I needed to get my health in order. I was definitely tipping the scale very close to 300 pounds and knew that I needed to change something so I wasn't 50 and in the ICU and you know, hoping that I would have a longer life. So with that I started Weight Watchers and started to lose a little bit of weight with a girlfriend at work that was helping me while my dad was recovering. And then she happened to call me one night. It was like, Hey, you know, the TV show, The Biggest Loser? They have auditions tomorrow, let's go. And I was like, yeah, I don't really. I've seen what they do on that show. I'm not really sure I could quite handle it.  And you know, the Jillian Michaels is just scary enough as it is.

KG: I hear that.

DA: Um, and so, but, you know, we bit the bullet, we went the next day and the funniest part was this audition started at 10:00 and I always love when they call it Chicago, but it was actually Lombard. I'm like, this isn't Chicago people, but ...

KG: It's false advertisement.

DA: Exactly. But we got there at like 7 in the morning thinking, oh, we'll be at the front of the line. No big deal. We were sadly mistaken. We actually had to wait in line for almost eight hours because there's over 3,000 people already in line waiting to get in. But we did. And this was mind you at this point. Now we're in July of 2012. Right. And you know, summers here are just excruciating. And so I came all cute because I'm like, I'm meet some producers or I really didn't know what was going on, but it's eight hours later I got to the front.

DA: I was like a sweaty mess. My hair was. I was like, well, there's no shot of making the show. And we were in and out in a matter of 10 minutes, interviewed as a group and I'm like, well, you know, I'm sure they've seen thousands and thousands of people. There is no chance here. But I went home later that evening and I got a call on my phone and it said Los Angeles. I'm like, who's calling? And little did I know it was a call that changed my life and they, I answered the phone and they said, are we speaking to the next biggest loser? Three months later of auditioning, I got to meet my trainer, Jillian Michaels, whom, um, at the time was not my favorite person. But after, after, you know, working sometime with her and she literally beat it out of me.

KG: Tough love.

DA: Exactly. Exactly. But we created a bond.

DA: My season was quite unique where, you know, we were definitely slapped right in the face of working out eight to 10 hours a day, which I do not condone for the average person every day. So we were on a reality televislon show. But I got to know Jillian more and more. And unfortunately my season, my, my entire team got kicked off in the first four weeks, so I was riding solo with her for the entire remaining six months of the show. But I really got to see a side of Jillian that she truly cares. She's hard for a reason and you know, 3,000 people just in my Chicago audition came, but over 300,000 auditioned that season alone. So we had, I was the miracle 15 that actually made the show and she just wants to make sure you work for it. And you know, six months later I was being crowned the champion dropping 120 pounds and you know, having a lot of fun over the last five years.

KG: Was there any hesitation on your part at all when you got the call or were you, did you have a gut feeling that says I have to do this for me?

DA: Oh, absolutely. I was terrified. And especially I told you, I actually went to the audition with a friend and we thought we were auditioning together and I was the one that got the call back and she didn't. So there was a part of me and you know, my mom always says I have the disease to please, I worry about everyone else before I take care of myself and I know I'm not the only one that's like that. I was ready not to do it. And then I'd seen, you know, my first after my second call audition, you know, they make you do the awesome turnarounds with just like a sports bra showing off your belly

KG: Oh, I have nightmares about that.

DA: And they're like, oh wait, no, we need to pull it out a little bit more and you can't see my hand gestures right now, but they're literally like pulling your tummy fat out of your pants so you can like see how much weight you truly need to lose. And it was quite a mortifying experience if I might say. And it really made me question. And then of course, you know, day one you're slapped in the face with our first workout doesn't end for four hours. So. And Jillian was just a spitfire. So I didn't even know once I made the show if I could even last more than one more day. But I did do, I took it one day at a time, sometimes one minute at a time, and then we created a family there on the show, so I was thankful for the contestants that were on our season. I think it's different than other reality TV shows. We're not there to take each other down. We're actually there to hopefully support and push. And then every once in a while you hope you've got five extra minutes in the gym just to get that leg up. But we wanted to be there for each other.

KG: That's amazing.

CK: Hey, it's Cindy Kuzma, the co-host and producer of #WeGotGoals. We'll get back to Kristen's interview with Danni in just a minute, but first I want to say a special thank you to our sponsor this week, Chicago Sport and Social Club--and want to let you know that they're special discount code for beach volleyball. It's been extended through March 31st. That is good news because with Chicago Sport and Social Club, it's more than a game. It's a social sports experience. When this Chicago winter finally ends, you're going to have a lot of reasons to play. It might be feeling the sand between your toes and maybe meeting people and moving your social life outside for season. Whatever your goals are, whatever your reasons for playing. There is a beach volleyball league at Chicago Sport and Social Club for you, so to sign up you can do it as a team of all women, a team of men and women, or you can sign up on your own and get set up with the team. Do that by going to www.chicagosocial.com and use the code goals. That's g o a l s when you register, you'll get five percent off now through March 31st. Thanks so much to Chicago Sport and Social Club. And now let's go back to Kristen and DannI.

KG: This is a good time to ask the first question that we ask everyone who comes on our podcast. What is a big goal that you've achieved in the past and why was it so important to you and how did you get there?

DA: You know, since winning the show, my life has flipped upside down and I think in a generic sense, what I've learned is that there's no supposed to be. That was like my biggest thing to realize is, you know, I think we matriculate through school, we go from high school hopefully to college, then you get a job and then what the show taught me is things can shake up that you need to take your life and your personal story in your own hands and it might not go the direction that you want, but to take it and, you know, just kinda jump with it.

DA: So immediately after the show I ran the Chicago Marathon, which I never thought I would do. Everyone's like, oh, did you want to be a runner? I'm like, no, I thought running was stupid. I really did. Um, but you know, I found one goal with this show and I liked the finish line analogy, is that, you know, as you're running, you can always go a little bit further. So it started with a 5k and then a 10K. And I really wanted the opportunity being from Chicago to run that marathon and the funny part is I did sign up in their lottery and I didn't get in initially and so luckily if you're ever having trouble getting into the marathon, just win a national television show and tell Savannah Guthrie on NBC Today Show that you didn't make it in and then you'll get calls the next day, so.

KG: That seems like a reasonable way to get in.

DA: Everyone can do that, right? No problem. So that was one of my biggest goals just as far as being a Chicagoan and feeling like I embraced something that is so huge and culturally diverse here, running through all the neighborhoods that Chicago has. So that was one of the big things I had. But also secondly, which is also my future goals, is working with a company like Planet Fitness that really gets the opportunity to change lives and make people feel more comfortable. And I think especially in today's day and age, we need to make sure that we are doing our best to have as many people feel comfortable in their own skin. I like to work with a lot of programs that help people just feel unique and great in their own bodies and though I lost 120 pounds, that doesn't mean that I am defined by my weight.

DA: I am not defined by my scale. So over the last five years it's using platforms like Planet Fitness to help people realize that, you know, scale weight tells you the relationship with gravity and that's, that's about it. And since then I've had great opportunities to work with other platforms like Girls on the Run, which is great here in Chicago as well. And if I can continue doing that, I think everything will be great.

KG: You mentioned Planet Fitness as being a judgment free zone, which is something that we don't feel oftentimes when we're walking into a gym. How did you feel that first day when you walked in to The Biggest Loser workout warrior coliseum is how I think of it.

DA: So I will say I didn't know it quite at the time until I first walked in, but it's actually a Planet Fitness. So yes, it's The Biggest Loser private gym, but it's supplied by Planet Fitness, so it hasn't the gears and the purple and the yellow, so you'll see that.

DA: So I wish I had known that at the time. I might have had some sort of comfort level with that, but walking in for the first time now, mind you, I was an athlete my whole life. I wasn't oblivious to what equipment and gyms were, but I had been over 200 pounds since I was 14 years old. I was heavy but I knew how to move it. I was all state in, in Illinois for soccer, I was a goalkeeper, you know, and I was getting ready to go college bound and I think I disappointed my poor father's heart, but I ended up playing water polo in eventually in college as well. And so I was really extremely athletic. I just could never figure out why my body wasn't losing the weight. So when I walked into that gym for the first time, I kind of knew what everything was.

DA: And I think if anything it was more impactful because I'm like, I also know what these things can do.

KG: Yeah, you know what you're in for.

DA: Exactly. And then you know, when you meet Jillian Michaels, she gives, you know, second to think. In all honesty, there wasn't a minute to think before she had you on the treadmill running. People were falling off. It didn't matter. You just had to stay on and pray for the life that she was going to go away soon.

KG: You said that you guys spent eight to 10 hours in the gym a day when you were on the show, but at the same time we call this a reality show and that is not realistic for most people. So once you got out of that environment and came back to the real world, how did your personal fitness and health goals for yourself change then from what they had been while you were on the show?

DA: Yeah, I would hope to say like it was simple and easy, like a light switch. Turn it on and turn it off. With the show, like any reality show, you're not watching a TV show to see someone lose one or two pounds a week, right? That's the safe and more healthy way to do things, but at the end of the day they want to make an impact and a splash and you want to see the most extreme makeovers, which is great for that scenario, but that's not real life. So after the show, it did take me some time to realize how much can I work out to try and maintain and in all honesty, maintenance wasn't even an option for me right at the beginning because I lost so much weight so quickly. Your body needs that time to adapt. So luckily I did create a great relationship with Jillian and I actually joined her on her tour for a little bit, so she was able to give me that mental strength that I needed, knowing that I didn't need to spend that much time in a gym and she was trying to dwindle me down to about 45 minutes to an hour at a time though, you know, it took time to get to that.

DA: That's what I've gotten to today. If you can work out about 45 minutes to an hour, four to five days a week and it doesn't have to be in a gym. Trust me, I work with the gym and I love going to the gym, but just going outside like for the first time here in Chicago, it's what like 50 degrees out?

KG: It feels like spring outside. So I saw a guy in shorts and a tank top riding his bike last night.

DA: I didn't bring my jacket. It was fantastic. So utilizing just your basic scenarios, going out for an extra walk or instead of you know, if it is nicer like it is today, you know, taking that opportunity to, to move more and at the end of the day move more and watch what you eat. That's the real, you know, the real solution to what we, we've got to get to.

KG: What else do people not see happening on The Biggest Loser that might surprise them?

DA: Oh, there's a lot. We always said we wanted to have a show called The Biggest Loser After Dark and there are little things, like you said, I can say what I want. We had a, we had a food porn jar so when anyone talks too much about like, oh, I could really go for a chocolate sundae with some--you had to put money in the jar, so we called it our food porn jar, so we would have food porn our where we could talk about it for just an hour, get it all out there, all the foods that we thought we were missing, but I will say as it started to evolve it and go in your body change and your taste buds honestly do change. It will happen. It's not overnight, but that food porn jar got less and less and less and we always said whoever was going to win the show is going to get the pot in that, in that jar. But I never saw any of that.

KG: Someone broke a promise.

DA: Exactly. But you know those. Those are the little things and at the end of the day, I don't think what they necessarily showed is all the different ways that we worked out. Yes, we definitely went to the gym, but we're lucky enough to be in Calabasas, California, in the in the valley, which was beautiful, so we went hiking almost every single day so that I said we were working out eight to 10 hours a day. It wasn't always in the gym, so we went hiking. I got into yoga and that's actually how I met the love of my life now, David, he was a yoga instructor here in Chicago that I met, so all you ladies that go into those fitness studios and see that cute instructor, it can happen.

KG: Like a fairy tale come true.

DA: But what they also don't show, like I said, it's a lot of the nutrition as well.  Many people think we have a chef on the show. That is not the case. We have to cook all of our own food. In the beginning they did bring a nutritionist in to kind of help us. We also had Devin Alexander, who's a great chef out of LA as well. She came in a couple of times just to show us a few things, but really at the end of the day, if they could've shown what we were eating now, sometimes it was very basic and boring because all you have time for is--

KG: Chicken and greens.

DA: Exactly. But she taught us. Things like spaghetti squash pizza casserole, and you know, turkey roll ups. All these different things that you could eat and kind of have variety in your food because you're eating the same thing everyday. Now some people are black and white. They can do that. I'm not. I needed a change, so when I learned how to make sushi out of cucumbers, right?

DA: All these little things that you can still indulge, it's really good food, but it's. It's not. It's not bad for you. Those are the things that I wish they would show in the show because I think I would say you get the size you want to be from what's on your plate. You get the shape you want from the gym.

KG: Oh, that's interesting. I'll remember that. What was your approach to goal setting like before The Biggest Loser and how has it changed since then?

DA: Oh man, before The Biggest Loser, I think I was so lost in the world of what's the right thing to do, right. And I would try so many different things and probably not give it the length that it needed before I was ready to give up and try something else. So before the show, at least when it came to my health and health and fitness, I was always trying to figure out what's the quickest way for me to lose this weight and if I had just taken a step back and realize that weight was something I struggled with my whole life.

DA: So it wasn't something I was going to fix overnight. And that's why like I actually really do appreciate kind of the mindset that Weight Watchers comes from. I think it comes from a good angle, but I was all over the place. I was trying one thing and then jumping to another and then doing this or setting myself up. I kind of call it the Eeyore effect where you set this goal that is just so unattainable. I knew I had well over a hundred pounds to lose, but if I had taken it like five pounds at a time, I probably would've been more successful than realizing, you know, that cloud is following you, that Eeyore cloud, saying a hundred pounds, a hundred pounds, you gotta lose it. And then before you know, losing five pounds at a time, I was actually gaining five pounds at a time. Where after Biggest Loser and especially like I will always, you know, talk about how much Jillian was a big part of, of changing my life.

DA: She really helped me break down goals and finding goals in different ways. You know, at the time it definitely was about a scale. We were weighing, you know, in those cute little outfits on this show in front of millions of people. But she, she helped me find successes outside the scale. So like I said, running became a huge part of why I was doing what I was doing because I felt like the easiest thing you could do is put on a pair of gym shoes and just go. And with that we started to focus on those goals. You know, when I did my very first push up, that was huge for me because I didn't think I could ever do that. I'm like, my butt's too big, my stomach's huge. There's no way I can push up and down a 300 pound body. But actually it wasn't very long until I was able to.

DA: And I was still probably like a good to 60 pounds when I did my first push up. So your weight doesn't define you and being on the show, it helped me choose smaller goals, hit those, find those successes because that's going to launch you into the next goal versus thinking, what's the big picture goal? Let's find the little pictures and make a movie out of it.

KG: I love that. You also mentioned that the group you were with, your other classmates were really impactful in helping everyone work towards that goal rather than be competitive. How did that group mentality and the community support drive you guys all to the finish line of your own stories?

DA: You know what I think it was, I was so grateful for it because at the end of the day we are removed from reality. I know it's called reality tv, but we are taken out. There was no TV, no cell phones, no Internet. You're completely cut off from the outside world. Everything that you knew that was home to you was ripped away and when you met 15 or 14 other strangers, you got to know each other pretty quickly and because we had that support and we were all taken out of our own elements, we were really able to support and I think push each other as well. There was one of the contestants Francelina that was on my show is someone that I'm still very close with to this day and she and I, we, we really bonded in the beginning and so when we wanted to get to the gym a little bit extra earlier and then wanted to stay a little bit later, she was always there. She was a driver. She had a force that just like, it was slightly competitive but in the best way, right?

DA: Because we wanted to outdo each other, but like strengthening each other at the same time, so when we're in that environment, it really helped knowing that you had a support system because in all honesty there were producers, there's film, everything's going on around you. You felt like you had no control. We were the ones that felt like that constant control.

KG: Let's switch gears a little bit and talk more about how your professional goals have changed. So coming off The Biggest Loser as the winner, you have a ton of opportunities. You can really sort of change your life's direction, not just in terms of your physical fitness, but also how you want your professional life to go. Can you talk a little bit about what you wanted to do coming off of that show professionally and how you've worked to achieve that since then, and what goals you've set for yourself in that arena?

DA: Yeah. Not too much prior to the show, I had graduated from Clemson University with a degree in architecture. I was ready to be an architect. I was so excited, but I definitely, I think bit off a little bit more than I could chew. When I was in college. I did a five year program in four years, so when it came to that, I was so burned out, but I did have the opportunity of, you know, right away after college you got to start paying those loans off as soon as possible. So I started waitressing and I ended up working for a great restaurant company that I became very quickly the national trainer and got to travel all over the world, opening up restaurants in London all over the US, which was really great as well, and using my architecture degree to help actually do the floor plans.

DA: They would send me to a new location and I would be the one to draw that up and then also be the one to train a train the entire team. So it was kind of a little bit of a basket in each. And then after that I started to be a working on the marketing team for Camping World and Good Sam, which was a really great opportunity for me to really dive into marketing and graphic design, which I didn't realize how much my architecture degree would really impact that. I'm like, Ooh, I've really love graphic design. So that's where the trajectory was headed when I had the opportunity of Biggest Loser. Now mind you, when you're in the audition phase of Biggest Loser, they make you sign a contract that you're liable for up to $1.5 million if you say anything. So I was terrified, right?

DA: But I did have to tell my boss that what was going on because I had been taking a lot of time off. And then I got to the point where I'm like, I need the next 10 days to six months off is that going to be OK? And my company in Camping World was so supportive of it. They let me do what I had to do and told me I would have a job when I came back and you know, after the show and the confetti fell, you, like you said, I had the world in front of me. So many opportunities, but it actually got almost too overwhelming. You're like, what do I do? What's my next platform and how do I not make this, you know, wasted effort, right? Where can I go? So luckily I met an amazing publicist, Daphne Ortiz, who I still work with today, and she really helped me find goals that I can put my platform before Biggest Loser because I was a good person before Biggest Loser, you know, I was on the trajectory of really making some, I think impactful things and when I got the chance to work with Girls on the Run and specifically Planet Fitness at this point, I've actually helped open over 200 gyms across the country and even at the lowest end of maybe, you know, working out with 30 to 40 people, multiply that by 200 and I've had the opportunity to impact thousands of people.

DA: And in doing that I knew that's what I wanted to do and it's only been the last couple of years that those two things kind of came together for me. They allowed me to take my creative direction with graphic design and marketing and merge that into an opportunity to help more people. At the end of the day, like I said before, Biggest Loser, I was so overwhelmed by what's the right decision, what's the path that I need to do to lose weight or to get healthier or--not everyone has to lose weight. They just want. They want to feel better. I always say there's something called skinny fat too, it doesn't--you don't have to look a certain way not to be healthy and what I think Planet Fitness affords people to do, especially like I said, it's only 10 bucks a month and I'm not trying to sell here. I'm just saying it's so affordable for you to do that it just gets you the step in the right direction and whether it's, you know, Weight Watchers or South Beach Diet or all these different things that are over, you know that you can choose from. Pick one thing and that's what I think Planet Fitness helps you do. Pick one thing, let that settle and then find your next ambition instead of being overwhelmed by all these opportunities that you could do. And I think I very long windedly just said that like, you know, over the last five years it's been a great, great run on March 18th is actually exactly five years since the confetti fell. So I'm really excited to cross that finish line and see what else I can do.

KG: You mentioned that planet fitness was the sponsoring gym for The Biggest Loser and here in Chicago you don't necessarily see a lot of people gravitating towards big box gyms. There's a lot of studios. How have you seen the balance of studios versus gyms play out in terms of, are people heading more towards these big box gyms that were recently out of trend? Are they stepping away from the more expensive classes for the more affordable? How have you guys seen that reflected in Planet Fitness's popularity or their representation here in Chicago?

DA: I actually welcome studio fitness to the areas because I think studio like select fitness can go really, really well with the big box gyms. The problem with that is how do you afford both. And I think Planet Fitness gives you that great alternative. Like I said, it's only $10 a month, so you can still go to that boutique studio. We actually have one in Lincoln Park, SoulCycle is one of my favorite studios to go to right on Clybourn over there, but even though I go to a boutique studio, I go to Planet Fitness as well because I can choose anything there, right? There's a big open platform and you know here in Chicago we're expanding tremendously. We just did our big grand opening at Broadway and Addison, kind of an iconic area of Chicago near Wrigley and we're doing really, really well there. We're headed to Crestwood and a few other neighborhoods in Chicago as well, just expanding, so I hope that shows that, you know, Planet Fitness is doing pretty well in the world of boutique fitness and I think they go hand in hand together for 10 bucks a month. You can still afford to do those boutique fitness, or ClassPass is a great opportunity for it as well.

KG: Let's go into the second big question that we ask everyone who comes on the podcast, and you've kind of touched on this a couple of times, but we'll make it explicit. What is a big goal you have in the future and how do you plan to reach it?

DA: Oh, man in the future, I definitely, I mean, I think I'm making my footprint here with Planet Fitness, especially in Chicago and across North America and as we expand into Canada as well, but what I really want to make sure I do is keep my platform of I'm the girl from Mundelein, Illinois and though I appreciate being here to help be a spokesperson. I still want to always stay that real person that was able to get her life changed. Whether it's weight or finances. We all have our problems, right? If I could help be that advocate that you can do it, that's my biggest goal. It's not a personal goal. That's, you know, maybe a little geared towards, uh, you know, selfish ambitions. It's really there to help as many people as I can and be real about it. By no means have I ever said I've kept the same weight from when I lost the show.

DA: I've always been very real and honest that it's been a struggle in every day you make a decision and if I can help other people see that as well, that'd be a great goal. But, and you know, on a personal level, the more I can travel, the more I can impact, but honestly just see beautiful places, something I've done in the past as well as with Run Like a Girl, which is different than girls on the run. I did host a yoga retreat in Costa Rica so that twice. So that was amazing. So being able to like just see the cultural differences that we have across the world. I would love to just travel more and more and see new places and show people that health and wellness is not just about the food on your plate and the exercise you do. It's about discovering new places and discovering different things that you and your body can do once you hit those goals.

KG: That leads in perfectly to another question I had for you. On aSweatLife, we try and show our readers different ways to live their best lives possible. What does that look like for you?

DA: Oh, that's a loaded question. Um, you know, I think at the end of the day, you live your best life possible when you can sit down at the end of the day and say, I did one thing right. I think we get so consumed by all the things that we should have done that we didn't get to or you know, you started your day with a list and you got through the first three things when 10 more things got added. But if you could at the end of the day, just take a deep breath and look at what you did well, that's going to help advance you into the next step or the next day or on the next hour, whether whatever's getting you to that next step.

DA: And I think that will really help. That's what I tried it. It's not perfect, right? It's idealistic, but at the end of the day I keep a journal and I always write three things down that I did well that day because I think that shows me that I'm making progress. You always get bogged down, like I said, by the negativity or the things you wish you could've done or the supposed to bes, you don't see my air quotes on the "supposed to bes"

KG: She's doing air quotes, you guys.

DA: It's about you know, seeing what you did right? Because everyone is. It sounds silly, but everyone is amazing in their own unique way and if you could remember that and be reminded and a month later, look at that journal that you wrote down to the three things every single day. That's 90 things that you did well and it hopefully will make you feel better about the person that you are and what you can bring to this world.

KG: I love that as a twist on a gratitude journal because that's something that we hear recommended a lot and we hear a lot of our high achievers talking about how important gratitude is as a part of their life and of course still is very important, but I love the like self props that you get by listing things that you did well because I think a lot of people suffer from a minor case of imposter syndrome and comparing themselves to others and that's such a tangible way to have a record of yes, I am just as great as everyone thinks I am. I'm not fooling anybody. I'm not faking anything.

DA: Absolutely. And I think you brought up to the point like authenticity is key and it's really hard to feel like you're an authentic person when you're trying to figure out who you are. You're like, what is my mold?

DA: And I think that was a thing, a struggle that I had with the show is like how am I Dani Allen, Biggest Loser and how am I just Danni? Right? And how do I, you know, eat a cupcake from Sprinkles down the street and not feel the most guilty about it because honestly that's happened to me before someone takes a picture and posts it on Instagram is like, well, look at Danny eating a cupcake and I'm just like, I'm the most terrible person. I'm supposed to tell people to eat healthy. But you know, every once in a while eat a damn cupcake. It's OK. And so that's where I, I try to find the balance of authenticity of who I am and also know that I'm going to screw up and make mistakes too. And I think you honestly, you learn more when you fall.

KG: I love that. I think we can end on that note. Danni, thank you so much for coming in to the #WeGotGoals podcast today.

DA: Thank you. And it's been a lot of fun. And to meet you guys as well.

CK: This podcast was produced by me, Cindy Kuzm. And it's another thing that's better with friends, so please share it with yours. You can subscribe on Apple podcasts, stitcher, overcast, wherever you get your podcasts, and if you could also leave us a rating or review on apple podcasts, we would really appreciate it. Special thanks to J. Mano for our theme music; to our guest this week, Danny Allen to Texas for the recording studio.