Hi
My name is Alexandria. I live in Orlando, Fl. I am a fitness Coach, Kickboxing/yoga/pilates instructor. So far I have lost over 85 lbs doing different workouts regiments My goals is to open my own fitness studio with in the next 3 years. I have a puppy named havoc. I also used to DJ professionally, and I been legally allowed to fly a plane, longer than I been able to drive a car. I am also a huge geek and star trek fan.
Childhood – My childhood was happy, I would have to say I was a normal happy kid. I had supportive parents, family and friends. We were very close. That being said from an early age I knew that there was something else about me. I could not articulate what it was until much later in life. I always found excuses to play with my sisters barbies. From an early age I was able to very quickly compartmentalize and filter any feminine behavior. I grew up in Chile, which has a very strong male chauvinistic culture. I honestly did not know what the words gay or transgender meant, but I knew they were bad. Once puberty started to happen, I began to cry often at nights, everything just felt wrong. It was a crazy amount of dysphoria. I can not even count the numerous times I feel asleep crying, praying to god, that I could wake up the next day as a girl. I am not sure why it took me so long to connect the dots.
Ignorance – To say that I was ignorant would be an understatement. I did not even know the proper terminology or what Transgender or Transsexual actually meant. As side note, I really dislike the word Transsexual, as I feel that it has so many negative connotation. Growing up, and being scared of being bullied in school I did my best to not be a "->-bleeped-<-". Writing this article has really made me realize how deep of a meaning so many of these words have and how uncomfortable I am to using them. I feel that for this story, it helps to paint a picture of my level of ignorance at that point in life. I had no idea that there was a difference in the definitions for gender and sex. As well as gender identity and sexual orientation.
What triggered me to take action – I was at work, it was very slow day and one of my co-workers showed me a picture of this girl that had transitioned. The post was made at a very popular internet website, which showed the timeline progress of her transition. This blew my mind, in so many levels. This was something I was already considering, but I did not know about Hormone Replacement Therapy. I did not not know what transitioning was, I did not know that you could get real results. I did no know that you could achieve amazing transformation without having to have any surgeries. At this point in my life I thought that a "Transsexual" was just a person who did not like themselves and changed their sex. I know what you are thinking, I was so ignorant, trust me that I know better now. It was at this very moment that everything clicked in place and I knew I had to transition. Today, thinking back, if I would have seen a Transgender role model in TV or in the media, I probably would had started earlier. This is the reason I am very open about my process, because I want other people to be educated. To not wait so late in the game to transition due to ignorance. At this point I knew I had to get started ASAP. I went on a research binge, that made me stay up many nights reading everything I could find online. I was still very scare, vulnerable and did not want to tell anyone due to shame, guilt and fear. I came out to my sister,
Finding my drive for weight loss – My drive was clear and simple. I wanted to "pass". For those of you that are not familiar with the term. To "pass" is a term used in the Transgender community that describes ones ability to go out in public without being mis-gendered by others. Today, the concept of passing is not nearly as important to me. But early in my transition, it was the drive that motivated me to keep losing weight and staying consistent with my hormones and prescriptions. Today, thanks to my lifestyle I am so happy to wake up every morning. I am working hard everyday to reach my goals. I am helping as many people as possible to reach their goals. I want to be the support and motivation that I did not have.
To say that fitness is my passion would be an understatement. I believe in paying it forward. If you need help with getting your body there, please count on me for support
