We recently connected with Melyssa Allen and have shared our conversation below.

Melyssa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

It is interesting to write this now, as I’m about to take the leap of faith into full-time entrepreneurship! I originally began my business as a way to do local pop-up fitness events, and since I officially started my business in 2019, I have expanded it to include a virtual fitness studio, group coaching community, and corporate health and wellness programs. After writing my book, Healthy Living Doesn’t Have to SUCK, I felt called to start dreaming bigger and imagining myself speaking on stages worldwide and creating positive lifestyle transformations for individuals, communities, and organizations. It is both terrifying AND exciting as I move into working for myself full-time and building my tiny team to support my big dreams, but I’ve realized that if I want to impact the world the way I desire…then it is time for me to take the risk, let my faith be greater than my fear, and turn my small business owner dreams into my full-time reality!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Melyssa Allen and I’m a double board certified lifestyle medicine coach, author and podcast host of Health Living Doesn’t Have to SUCK, and size inclusive fitness specialist. I founded my company, Melyssa with a WHY, to help educate and empower my audiences to create a healthy lifestyle they can enjoy…AND one that lasts!

My career has a lot of twists and turns – but it began in animal training, where I achieved my childhood dream job of working at SeaWorld as a marine mammal trainer working with dolphins, sea lions, otters, and walruses. After a few years, I began exploring a new dream job where I could help people change their lives, and decided to apply to graduate school where I received my masters in Clinical Psychology from the University of Central Florida (Go Knights, Charge On!). During graduate school, I fell in love with fitness while working at the on campus Recreation & Wellness Center and eventually became a certified group fitness instructor and personal trainer. I discovered the field of Lifestyle Medicine while completing my clinical internship with the Orlando Health Cancer Support Community and it was the perfect compliment to my passion for fitness! Once I discovered the field of health and wellness coaching, I knew it was the path for me to expand my services beyond fitness classes. I obtained my board certifications in both lifestyle medicine and health and wellness coaching so I could provide the most evidence-based, gold standard services to support my clients with their lifestyle change goals.

My services include…
-Fitness Classes: Through my Move with Melyssa virtual studio, I provide size inclusive fitness experiences that every BODY can enjoy! My musically driven formats range from mindful movement sessions, to cardio kickboxing, to high intensity interval training and metabolic conditioning…and more! My goal this year is to add Barre into my format portfolio! I also provide special event classes for companies who want to bring wellness activities into their scheduled programming for local retreats, conferences, and corporate trainings.
-Group Coaching Community: The Change Maker Collective is our exclusive community dedicated to providing support, accountability, and coaching for lifestyle transformations. With monthly goal setting calls, mid month check ins, and special guest speakers, our community provides a space for our members to celebrate successes, share struggles, and brainstorm together to overcome challenges faced with working to build a healthy lifestyle.
-Speaking Engagements: My high energy speaker sessions are the perfect addition for an event or conference that is looking to educate, empower, and engage audiences in adopting more health promoting habits. With humor, entertainment, and inspiration all rolled into my signature sessions, I thoroughly enjoy delivering memorable and impactful experiences for my clients and their attendees to leave feeling motivated to design a sustainable, healthy lifestyle they can love!
-Employee Health & Wellness: Through presentations, workshops, and retreats, I collaborate with organizations who desire to provide their employees with a transformational experience in making realistic lifestyle changes that enhance their health and performance.

What I’m most proud of is creating the kinds of experiences and resources I wish had existed when I was beginning my own health journey. My book, programs, and services provide an opportunity for us to heal from the toxic fitness and wellness fads that we have been bombarded with over the decades, and instead teach us to truly pursue a path of lasting health and happiness. It was so difficult for me to learn how to accept my body, and for many years I was fighting incredibly hard to change it – and that was the driving force behind trying to get “healthy,” which resulted in exercise addiction, disordered eating, and a massive amount of insecurity about how I looked. This lived experience is what inspired me to write my book to have an approach of measuring your successes based on your engagement of health promoting behaviors and how you FEEL – instead of trying so hard to change how you look. I pride myself in taking a weight neutral approach to my coaching in order to help people heal with the damage that some of our societal standards around the numbers on the scale being a definition of beauty and/or health. I strive to create a safe space for people to truly appreciate what our bodies do for us on a regular basis, and cultivate attitudes of self-kindness, self-compassion, and self-acceptance…all of which the research demonstrates are linked with longer, lasting healthy lifestyle habits!

The title of my book is exactly what I aspire to teach others – you CAN create a healthy lifestyle you enjoy…one that doesn’t require extreme sacrifice, miserable deprivation, or unsustainable restriction. And THAT is the Healthy Living Doesn’t Have to SUCK way! ;)

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Back in October 2023, I found out my team at the hospital was being eliminated. I absolutely LOVED this job, the people I worked with, and our mission to support the health and well-being of the hospital team members…and we were all completely caught off guard with the announcement of this restructure and how our department was affected. I was so grateful for this team experience, because it showed me how I aspired to run my own business and my future team – with intention, strategy, integrity, and passion! It was this moment when I decided that I was finally done being an employee for a corporate entity, and was going to focus on building my business while working for a friend part-time until I could take the true leap of faith into running my business full-time…which I am doing now!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn – thanks to societal norms – was that health can be found at every kind of body size. Many of us believe that thinner bodies automatically equate to “healthier” bodies, while bigger bodies equate to “unhealthy” bodies…and that just isn’t true. We live in a society that promotes weight bias and thin privilege, but the times that I’ve been at my healthiest were the times where I wasn’t my skinniest. Even as far back as 6th grade when I was enjoying ballet classes, my dance teacher -who was also my grandmother’s best friend – told me I needed to start watching my weight! Even though I was one of the best dancers in my class, I didn’t “look” the part of a stereotypical ballerina. Being a curvier girl throughout my lifetime meant that these kinds of stories and body image issues stuck with me for quite some time. It even kept me from pursuing my group fitness instructor certification for a while, because I didn’t feel like I “looked” the part. I didn’t have bulging biceps or a six-pack like you would see in traditional fitness promotions, so I didn’t think that anyone would want to take classes with an instructor who looked like she was overweight! To my surprise, that is actually my instructor superpower – I help people feel more comfortable in classes, because they are not intimidated by my own appearance. We work right alongside each other in classes, empowering ourselves to express appreciation and gratitude towards our bodies – just as they are, right now.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.healthylivingdoesnthavetosuck.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melyssa_with_a_why/ and https://www.instagram.com/healthylivingdoesnthavetosuck/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MelyssaWithAWHY/ and https://www.facebook.com/HealthyLivingDoesntHavetoSUCK/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melyssa-allen/ and https://www.linkedin.com/company/melyssawithawhy
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@melyssawithawhy

Image Credits

Yoga & Fitness Poses: Jessica Bosshardt Photography

Coffee, Podcast, and Cell Phone Poses: Branding by Jo Photography