Gabbi Tuft, a former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar who medically transitioned into a woman, has opened up about the drastic changes she needed to go through with her weight loss.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Tuft, known by the ring name ‘Tyler Reks,’ revealed she had to shed a whopping 280 pounds of muscle.
“I was a guy who [sic] dreadlocks down to my butt. I’d shaved the side of my head,” she said. “I looked like a cross between Ragnar Lothbrok and the Mountain from Game of Thrones with tattoos. You couldn’t miss me.
“Then I was walking up and down the street in heels and women’s clothes.”
A former WWE superstar revealed the dramatic weight loss she had to go through when she medically transitioned into a woman from the “alpha male of alpha males”
It was jarring for the athlete, that’s for sure. But there was also a “powerful” kind of freedom Tuft found.
“I was the protector. I was the alpha male of alpha males, and everything I did revolved around that. But when I made the decision to medically transition, it was so powerful that I was truly ready to release all of it.”
She continued, “It’s been a sobering year to six months,” adding that taking estrogen was similar to “going through a second puberty.”
Tuft’s physical transformation before her transition can only be described as “literally a full-time job.” For a while, the gym was all Tuft knew.
At her “biggest,” the former wrestler was 280 pounds with 6.2% body fat, eating about 10,000 calories. Every 90 minutes or so, she’d have to eat, feasting nine or 10 times per day.
“It was a chore… [to consume] sometimes 300g of protein a day,” she told the outlet.
Now working as a counselor for people to achieve their fitness and nutrition goals, Tuft said the key to weight loss and fitness is more of a mental game than some would think.
Sometimes, two hours at the gym with a healthy mindset is all it takes.
“We call that your why,” Tuft shared, adding that she frequently works with her clients to focus on why they’re on this journey in the first place. “It’s the emotion behind why you want to achieve what goal it is.”
She added, “It just goes far beyond fitness and nutrition… all the way up to professional athletes… if it’s not a strong emotion [guiding you] what we see is the moment hunger cravings kick in and you’re [off the game].”
Shedding all that weight was a “release” for Tuft
Many of the motivational reasons the 46-year-old hears go along the lines of wanting to be healthy or achieving one’s “best self.” But these, according to Tuft, are simply not enough.
“We got to dig deep. We got to find the true deep emotion behind it. And once you have that, it drives everything,” she said.
For Tuft, her journey stemmed from her insecurities.
As a fitness counselor, Tuft works with her clients to dig deep on why they wish to lose weight
Getting bullied in high school was the catalyst for her to start her journey at the gym, especially as a “skinny, scrawny 4.0 GPA student.” Over the course of the summer, however, Tuft began lifting and putting on muscle weight.
The bullying then stopped.
“It was like a defense mechanism,” she recalled, “so I wouldn’t get picked on. But as I got older and older, I began to understand it gave me a platform to help people. And so that’s why I continue with it.”
Commentors were in awe of Tuft’s transformation
