KISSIMMEE, Fla. (WKMG/CNN) — A Florida father of two wanted to join the military, but one thing stood in his way — his weight.
Christian Montijo, 28, dropped more than 150 pounds to follow this dream.
“At the beginning, my goal was to join the Army that was it. I wanted to lose weight and join the army and now we are here,” Montijo said.
Montijo is now ready to serve in the U.S. Army. For years, it’s been a dream to serve but his weight was holding him back.
“I got to a point to my life that I thought if I keep going on this path, I’m just going to keep gaining weight and get to a point that I’m either going to die or be in a wheelchair something like that,” Montijo said.
A year ago, Montijo weighed more than 230 pounds. The father of two said enough was enough and figured it wasn’t too late to get recruited.
“I started meal prepping and drinking water and cutting the sodas and cooking at home on Sundays for the whole week,” Montijo said.
Once he started noticing the difference in his body, he went to the recruiting station in Kissimmee, and even then, he still had 30 more pounds to lose. And he didn’t give up.
“You don’t gain weight 100 pounds in a week or in a month — it’s overtime, so the same way that it takes time for you to gain weight it’s going to take time to lose the weight.”
He dropped 165 pounds, and in October, he got the call he was waiting for.
“My kids are the biggest thing. They’re young, so I know they have a lot of energy so I want to keep up with them,” Montijo said.
Montijo is headed to South Carolina for training.
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