A transgender man has revealed how he managed to overcome all his insecurities by becoming a bodybuilder.
Alex Tilinca, 18, from Long Island, New York, was born female and was known as Alexandra before he transitioned to a male as a teenager.
At the age of 12, he started hormone therapy to block puberty and then began taking testosterone and had surgery to remove breast tissue a few years later.
Yet despite the surgery, Alex was insecure about his appearance and felt he looked 'very skinny' and 'weak'.
As a result, he joined a gym where he developed his passion for bodybuiling.
Alex told Today: 'If people ask me, I always say I'm not a transgender bodybuilder. I do not want to be labeled as a transgender bodybuilder. I'm a bodybuilder that happens to be trans.
He explained that when he first transitioned, his 'biggest insecurity' was the fear that he would never look the way he wanted to look as a guy.
Bodybuilding helped him, along with the support of his parents, Florin and Monica Tilinca, to overcome his insecurities.
He said: "I really started realising there was something wrong when I started to feel societal expectations of being a female, and that made me very uncomfortable.
"Not to be morbid, but it's like complete and utter disgust with yourself and your body, and you get anxiety from other people seeing you a certain way."
When he told his mother he was transgender, she simply said 'you're my child and I love you no matter what'.
With her support, Alex went on to come first place in his first ever men's bodybuilding competition at 18.
He called the moment he got on stage 'empowering' and said it was a 'sign' that he was on the right path.
Alex, who now has nearly 20,000 followers on Instagram , says he want to continue helping people in similar situations by sharing his story.
