Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabbi Tuft.
Hi Gabbi, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
It really started when I was very young, but I wasn’t able to put the pieces together until after I started transitioning. I would sneak into my mom’s closet when no one was home and put on her clothes. I also gravitated towards girls’ toys like My Little Pony, Care Bears, dolls, and Cabbage Patch Kids.
Back then though, “transgender” wasn’t a word that was in our vocabularies. There was no internet, no cell phones, and you couldn’t just go to a library and look up why you felt better living life as a female. As I got into my teens, I recognized that even the slightest bit of female behavior, as a male, resulted in being bullied and ostracized.
I buried my feelings deep down and embraced my masculinity throughout most of my adult life.
It wasn’t until I was about 36 that I was comfortable enough in my marriage to express my desire to present female to my wife. Even then though, it was for short moments and late at night after my daughter was fast asleep.
During the COVID lockdown in 2020, I began to dress up and present females every night. Eventually, I recognized that being Gabe during the daytime was the show, and being Gabbi at night was me living my truth.
It was September that year, after battling with a severe bout of depression, thinking I could never live as a female due to my massive muscular stature and balding head, that I confessed to my wife, “If I can’t live my life as a female, I don’t want to continue living.” She took my hand, looked me in the eyes and said, “Sweetheart, I know. I love you and we will figure this out. Everything is going to be OK.”
The next day I booked my appointment for my hormone consultation and began the process of setting myself free.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely not. Transitioning from male to female has been the most difficult challenge I’ve ever faced, both physically and emotionally.
I was a very handsome man, an alpha male in peak physical shape. I was 280-lbs of muscle with about six to eight percent body fat year-round. I had neglected my skin, my hands were tough as nails, and I had aged myself due to being in WWE as a pro-wrestler and also being such an intense bodybuilder – BUT I looked like the ultimate alpha male.
To see that in the mirror every day with the vision of being a much smaller, softer, gentler female posed as a massive hurdle. There were many times I thought the task was simply impossible and that I’d never reach my goals physically. I felt as though I’d never be accepted and would be stuck living life somewhere in between. Seeing masculine facial features in the mirror, the aspects of the face that can’t be changed without surgery was overwhelming at times.
Realizing that no matter what outfit I wore, I still looked masculine due to my physique, was also another struggle. I hated photos of my from the backside. My back was so wide that I just looked ridiculous and I would feel my heart sink into my stomach with despair whenever I saw photos like this.
Finances for surgeries were also a struggle but so far I’ve found a way every time. It just takes goal setting and works to get there.
Also, I never dreamed it would be this difficult to lose this much muscle mass. I had been bodybuilding for nearly 30 years, eating six to nine times a day. Here I was hoping to reduce that down to 50-lbs or so of overall muscle mass. Almost two years later and experimenting with every diet, exercise plan, or lack or exercise for atrophy purposes, I still have a long ways to go.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My wife, Priscilla, and I were really the first to bring the ketogenic diet to the internet back in 2012. I had started a fitness company after I retired from WWE and with my knowledge of weight lifting and Priscilla being a Master Sports Nutritionist, we launched our first eBook called “Genesis.”
From there the company grew immensely. We turned our eBook into an online program with instructional videos, nutrition calculators, and more. As popularity grew, we created more programs and branched out into supplements and apparel. Eventually, we migrated everything to an app that we designed and launched that phase of the business several years ago.
I was the poster boy for Body Spartan and used my skills as a motivational speaker to help change millions of lives. Some of our videos had garnered well over 20M views back in 2016 on Facebook and we became known for being the company that truly cared about making a change in people’s lives.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Honestly, I think I owe a lot to my wife, my daughter, my family, and my friends. Everyone in my life has been incredibly accepting of my transition and has continued to love me for WHO I am.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.gabbialontuft.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/gabbituft
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabbialon
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabbituft
