UNILADMegan Bound, a trans woman from Bucks County, Philadelphia, like many transgender people, never felt comfortable or like she fit in as a child.
In the last year she began transitioning with hormone replacement therapy and decided to take control of her diet to lose almost half her body weight.
Now Megan looks almost unrecognisable and posted photos on Reddit showcasing her journey and transition from a ‘groomsman to a bridesmaid’.
UNILADSpeaking to UNILAD, Megan said:
I grew up with three brothers and a baby sister. I never quite feel like I fit in with them or guys in general.
I always felt more comfortable hanging out with girls. When I was around 12, I dressed up as a girl for Halloween. I remember it feeling so right but I never really thought much of it after that. The following years, I would often try on my mom’s clothes or use her makeup and nail polish.
I never got caught surprisingly. Up until the last 6 years or so, I didn’t know what transgender was or that there was anything I could do about those repressed feelings. Once I learned more about it, I spent years fighting with myself about accepting it and starting my transition.
UNILADShe continued:
I finally accepted it a little over a year ago and started making steps towards getting onto hormone replacement therapy and starting my transition.
From that point on, I knew that in order to go through with accepting myself and traveling down this ‘not so accepting’ journey, I would need to love myself first and foremost.
It was then that I decided to tackle the excess weight I accumulated over the prior years of feeling miserable.
UNILADSpeaking about her weight loss, Megan said:
At first, I struggled to walk a mile on the treadmill, but with time, I slowly worked my way up to running five miles 4-6 days a week.
My diet changed to include more home cooked meals and more heart healthy whole foods. My transition started the beginning of September 2017. At first I hadn’t told anyone I was transitioning . I was terrified family and friends would view me differently and disown me.
In October, I realised I needed some kind of support so I told a friend who has a trans uncle and might be more accepting of it. After that I slowly started talking to more people. Because of the overwhelming support I had gotten from my closest family and friends, I decided to come out publicly at the end of November.
UNILADIt wasn’t a decision family members accepted off the bat, but with time progress has been made.
Megan continued:
Since then, I lost a few great friendships and things were a bit of a struggle with some family for a long time, but my family slowly became more accepting and I realised those that couldn’t accept the real me, didn’t care enough about the real me anyway.
I’ve managed to stay on top of eating healthy (despite plenty of cravings from the hormones) and running consistently to finally get to a weight I am happy with. I’ve had plenty of ups and downs especially over the last few months but overall, I’m happier and more comfortable with myself than I have in my entire life.
Before transitioning, Megan said she was ‘only ever into women, however about five months into transitioning she has started ‘to find men attractive too’, so she considers herself bisexual.
She also has a five-year-old son called Jonah whose mum she’s not in a relationship with anymore but maintains a very close friendship with.
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