A blogger bravely shows the reality of a dramatic weight loss.

Losing a large amount of weight is a massive commitment – and it doesn’t always end with a body like a Victoria’s Secret model.

Two and a half years ago, then 19-year-old New Zealander Elora Harre was a size 24.

Prompted by fears she was eating herself to an early grave, Elora overhauled her diet and lost more than 50 kgs to become a healthy size 14. She shared her journey on her blog, The Shrinking Violet.

While she was proud of her physical transformation, Harre still suffered from the pain and discomfort of carrying around loose skin on her stomach, thighs, back, arms and breasts.

“Despite being young (you’d think a 21-year old would have better skin elasticity), having lost the weight over a good amount of time and lifted weights and done everything I could to reduce the possibility of excess skin, it still happened,” she wrote on Facebook.

“I had lost so much weight but was left with a crippling amount of loose skin. Not only was it hard to look at but it gave me medical problems; nasty skin infections and daily pain. I had to tuck it into my clothes.”

It’s a side of weight loss that people don’t talk about enough.

But Harre wanted to change that.

Now 21, she has recently shared the good and bad of her weight-loss journey over the past few years with her tens of thousands of followers, proudly displaying the harsh realities of a massive body transformation.

Together with her sister, Elora raised $14,000 NZD to put towards surgery to remove the excess skin. And after catching the attention of Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr Cat Huang Begovic, she was offered free surgery if she could cover the hospital and anaesthesia costs.

Last week, she underwent the six-hour procedure.

“I am 5 days post op which removed 2.5kg of skin and has changed my life,” she wrote.

“I will no longer have to tuck my skin into my clothes, nor face the health risks that I would’ve if I stayed obese”

“I started this page to share my journey with and inspire women and girls my age. I wanted to show that it is possible to turn your life around, that even if you have loose skin, it is not the last corner you have turned. You can get your health back and you can make a change.

“I am in love with my body and my health thanks me for it!”

Thank you, Elora, for sharing your story of hard work and dedication and for showing us weight loss isn’t all compression tights and Instagram filters.