This woman used to be a male US Marine....

Sona Avedian used to be a 240 pound, bearded, muscular U.S. Marine, but now at 33 years old, she has become someone much different. It wasn’t until 2012 that she decided to make the tough decision to transition to being a woman. Sona already had a wife and a kid, but she said she needed to do this to be happy and escape the deep depression she felt.

Sona has lost around 100 pounds, started hormone therapy, lasered away her facial hair, and had breast surgery in order to look like a woman.

Sona, who was previously known as Matthew, served six tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Marine, as well as a military contractor. She said this was a way for her to suppress the feminine feelings she was having at that time but it didn't help..

As a man, Sona bulked up to 240 pounds in order to counteract the feeling that he should have been born a woman. Today, Sona has become almost unrecognizable to those who knew her before:

Sona told Caters News that she’s had to make many changes to her life that aren’t just physical:

“Since I came out I have tried to live a normal life – it’s like anyone, there are good and bad times. There are certain things I miss, I lost a lot of friends but I’ve also made a lot of new friends. I was following the American dream – I don’t even know who I’m looking at in the before pictures, it was so depressing.”
“Personally I’m much happier, I don’t have any conflicts with who I am. I am definitely a tomboy and that’s okay. Before I couldn’t stand myself and I couldn’t interact with people."

 Sona lives in Texas and works for Uber and Lyft to make ends meet in her new life. She still maintains an amicable relationship with her ex-wife and spends plenty of time with her daughter.


Her Facebook page contains a number of powerful before and after shots: