Just Me

Hi! My name is Allison but most people call me Allison. ;)  I allow a very few, select people to call me Alli - mostly my family and a couple of long time friends. I'm 27 years old and have two adorable fur babies: Roxie    and Cosmo. I don't have a favorite color

I first started blogging a few years ago with no focus in mind. It was a little bit of everything and extremely sporadic I was blogging under a different "name" but as you can tell, have changed it. I chose SkinnyElly because Skinny loosely describes my end goal and Elephants are my favorite animal (additionally Elly and Alli are similar).

I love watching weight loss shows like NBC's The Biggest Loser and ABC's Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition; however, both shows deal with adults that have 100+ pounds to lose. This wasn't me. Not only that but I questioned how successful the contestants would be if they would have to juggle working, eating right, and exercising. What I wanted to see was people like me. People that had less than 100 pounds to lose, that still worked a 40 hour week, had to juggle grocery shopping, cooking and eating right, exercising, and life. I want to know their success stories. How did they do it?

Here is the beginning of my story:

Here is me as a child -- only because I was ADORABLE! I love pictures of me when I was younger.

Starting at left: my brother, me, and my sister. (age 3)

Teenager:

Me and my friend Megan in Canada (age 15)

Age 18

During middle school up until age 22 I weighed anywhere between 110-125 pounds. And I'm 5'6.5". That is small for my height. The sad thing is, most of -- ok, time to be honest-- from what I can recall, I always said that I was fat! I seriously thought that I was. Somewhere around the age of 16/17, I became depressed and started starving myself. I drank water and had the occasional salad or few bites of food when my mom would press me. This continued for 4-6 months until a friend stepped in.

Early Twenties

Age 22 around 130 pounds

In 2008, I went from having two jobs - one full time desk job and a part time (almost full time most weeks) job at Taco Bell - to just one job. Working at Taco Bell kept me moving around, but once I went to only the desk job the pounds starting creeping on. I was less active and my eating habits started to get really bad.

By 2011 I had gained 41 pounds. I was aware of my weight and so were other people. I actually had a couple of people ask me when I was due. It was very embarrassing to be asked that. The first time it happened I said I was going to lose weight and I said the same thing after it happened a second time. I attempted to lose weight multiple times by dieting and exercising, but I wasn't really dedicated.

By 2013 I had gained an additional 9 pounds. I didn't feel good about myself before I put on all the weight and I certainly didn't feel good now. I felt disgusting.

Age 27 at my heaviest

I didn't try real hard to lose weight until the end of February 2013 when my family decided to have a weight loss competition. The rules were simple: Each player would pay $10 into the pot and the person with the highest percentage of weight loss would take the pot. The final weigh in would be July 4, 2013.

BEGINNING   /   HALF WAY POINT

At my heaviest I weighed 178 pounds. I currently weigh 153 pounds. I have lost 25 pounds and 16 inches off of my body!