Dancing queen Alyson Hannigan loses 20 pounds: her life after 'How I Met Your Mother'

She just finished a thrilling season of 'Dancing with the Stars,' where she made it to the final with her dance partner Sasha Farber. Before that, however, it had been kind of quiet around Alyson Hannigan. What did she do after 'How I Met Your Mother,' and what did the dancing contest mean to her?

The actress, for her roles in 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer', 'How I Met Your Mother,' and 'American Pie', revealed to her Instagram followers that she had gone through a remarkable physical and emotional change during 'Dancing with the Stars.'

Here we see her at Kelly Clarkson's show in 2021, right after the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Hannigan put a before-and-after picture of herself on Instagram in December 2023 and revealed that she had lost 20 pounds over the course of 'Dancing with the Stars.' She noted: "The before and after says it all. I lost 20 pounds of both weight and emotional baggage during my time on @dancingwiththestars."

"I can’t thank @sashafarber1 enough for helping me shed my insecurities and getting me to the confident and strong place I am today!" she added, praising her dance partner Sasha Farber.

In response, Farber posted on his Instagram account, "how proud and hard working my partner was during the season!!!!" He added that "dance is the best way to exercise, stimulate the brain, and have fun in the process!!!!!"

Some may remember Alyson Hannigan from her role as Willow in 'Buffy, the Vampire Slayer,' while fans of teenage comedies will know her for playing Michelle Flaherty in 'American Pie.' Yet, most people will remember the actress as Lily Aldrin in the series 'How I Met Your Mother.'

Her career started when Hannigan was just a child. First, she modeled for various ad campaigns, and at age 11, she debuted in the film 'Impure Thoughts' (1986).

Hannigan's big opportunity came just two years later, with the film 'My Stepmother is an Alien.' The teenage actress worked with Kim Basinger and Dan Aykroyd, who played her fictional dad.

For nearly the entire decade of the 1990s, Alyson Hannigan worked on TV. We could see her in the show 'Free Spirit' (1989-1990) and in TV movies like 'Switched at Birth' (1991) and 'A Case for Life' (1996), among others.

But her big TV hit was the show 'Buffy, The Vampire Slayer.' There, she played the role of the witch Willow Rosenberg, Buffy's best friend and one of the main characters of the show. The actress appeared in 144 episodes between 1997 and 2003.

On the set of 'Buffy, The Vampire Slayer,' Alyson met her now-husband, the actor Alexis Denisof. They married in 2003, coinciding with the end of her role as Willow.

An iconic film role of Alyson's was that of Michelle Flaherty in 'American Pie' (1999). It didn't stop there, cause she came back for the comedy's three sequels: 'American Pie 2' (2001), 'American Wedding' (2003), and 'American Reunion' (2012).

Finally, the role that carved Alyson Hannigan's name into Hollywood's history books definitively was that in the acclaimed sitcom 'How I Met Your Mother.' The actress began to play the role of Lily Aldrin in 2005 and enjoyed the success of the series throughout its nine seasons.

By 2014, the show ended and things became quieter for Hannigan. What did she do after the immensely successful sitcom?

Well, to many people's surprise, the actress took a rather unlikely path in Hollywood, even though she did some acting here and there. Her main profession became a real estate agent.

In her new business, Alyson began buying, selling, and renting luxury properties in places like Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Atlanta.

In fact, along with her husband, Alexis Denisof, she bought a luxury property in the Encino district of L.A., known as the Sherman Residency, in 2016. According to Los Angeles Times, the couple bought the house for 8 million dollars and they sold it for… 16 million dollars!

Hannigan also reduced her workload as an actress so she could spend more time with her daughters: Satyana (2009) and Keeva Jane (2012), both from her marriage with Alexis Denisof.

However, Alyson Hannigan was never entirely absent from the screen. From 2016 to 2022, she hosted 'Penn & Teller: Fool Us,' a TV show in which a bunch of magicians try to fool the comedians Penn and Teller with their tricks and magic.

We also saw Alyson in two movies. First of all, there was the live-action Disney adaptation of 'Kim Possible' (2019), where she played the role of Ann Possible.

In addition, we saw Alyson Hannigan in another Disney production, 'Flora and Ulysses' (2021), where she played the character of Phyllis Buckman. The children's comedy tells the story of a girl and a magic squirrel whose worst enemy is played by Hannigan.

Meanwhile, there is also a movie with Mina Sorvino and Hannigan in pre-production: 'Dodie & Cheryl Get Hitched'. Hannigan will play Cheryl, a woman who wants to marry her girlfriend Dodie (Mira Sorvino), even though Dodie is dealing with her own doubts and the hypocrisy of her neighbors about gay marriage.