How Danni Allen, Winner of The Biggest Loser, Learned Goal-Setting Tips from Jillian Michaels

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. --- 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 wh...