Man loses more than 100 pounds for Army dream
PHILADELPHIA — At their first meeting, U.S. Army recruiter Sgt. Derek Melendez had bad news for Tashime Felder.
It was March of 2019 and Felder, then 28, wanted to enlist. The Cherry Hill, N.J., resident stood 5foot-8 inches tall and weighed 297 pounds.
Melendez, the station commander of the Cherry Hill Army Recruiting Center, appreciated Felder’s desire to serve his country, but the young man didn’t meet the Army’s weight standards, which are calculated according to age and height.
To successfully enlist, Felder’s weight needed to be under 190 pounds and his body fat less than 28% of his total weight. At the time, he was 107 pounds over the weight limit, and his body fat was 35%.
Melendez had dealt with prior potential enlistees who’d needed to lose 55 or 60 pounds in order to pass the physical exam, “but never close to 110,” he said. So while Melendez liked Felder, he had to decline his application. The recruiter said he didn’t expect Felder to return, given the enormity of the obstacle he faced to admission into the Army.
But it turns out that being turned down was the impetus Felder needed to begin a weight-loss journey that has led to an astonishing physical transformation.
Last month, he returned to the recruiting center to enlist. This time, he was 110 pounds lighter, and his body fat percentage was just 17%. Welcome to the Army. “I am really proud of him,” said Melendez, who was so impressed by Felder’s metamorphosis that he posted about it, including before-and-after pictures of Felder, on his Facebook page. “That wasn’t normal, what he did. A lot of people would have given up. He literally had to change his life in order to join the Army. It fires you up to see he was so inspired to serve and was ready to do what it took to reach his goal.”
Within weeks of his initial rejection by the Army, Felder committed to changing his body.
“I knew it would be one of the biggest hurdles I had to overcome in my life,” said Felder, now 29, who works in Philadelphia as a social worker.
Aiding Felder was Francisco Santos, a personal trainer who worked with him for the first eight months.
Felder’s exercise program entailed daily jogs on a treadmill, for at least an hour, and weightlifting.
“I wanted him to put on muscle, which he did,” said Santos, who also designed a regimen of circuit training for Felder: 10 different activities backto-back-to-back — like jumping jacks, push-ups, and quick sprints — without much of a break in between.