This woman is redefining the classic 'before and after' picture

Allison Kimmey used to suffer with body dysmorphia, “crippling” shyness, and she would swing between restricting her diet and yo-yoing.

Now, she her goal is to inspire other people to be more confident with the skin they’re in - after battling a long journey with body positivity herself.

One of the ways she’s doing this is by subverting the typical “before and after” shots filling our social media timelines.

A person loses weight and they’re happier and healthier, or so it goes - but Kimmey has a different message, and uses photos of her body when she was five dress sizes smaller to illustrate her point

She writes on Instagram, alongside her own “before and after”:

A few sizes bigger and a million times happier.

This can be scary for people, that if they stop dieting and obsessing about their body and everything they hate about it that they will turn out like I did.

And to that I say: I could only wish that for you. Because what you see here is so much MORE than a physical change. Weight gain and loss do not and NEVER WILL equal happiness.

The transformation I made was on the INSIDE. Something that never clicked with any 30 day program or 3 week quick fix or diet fad. A complete mental shift, a soulful reset.

Here she is again:

She adds on her Instagram:

After seeing one too many transformation Tuesday photos of a grumpy fat woman turning into a happy thin woman, I looked back at my own journey and realized it happened to be exactly the opposite of what we are taught to believe.

Kimmey said the turning point for loving herself was when she said her insecurities out loud to her daughter.

In one post, she wrote:

After the birth of my daughter in 2012 I had visions of her growing up and looking exactly like me. I verbally said that I wished that she wouldn't look like me. And at that moment I realized that I needed to change...not only for myself, but for my entire family- especially my children.

You can follow Kimmey on Instagram here for more inspiring messages.

More: Plus-size model hits back at people who claim she’s ‘promoting obesity on Instagram’