Before he joined the Army, Jimmy Tiberi was the stereotypical happy fat guy. He ate what he wanted, drank what he liked -- "whatever I felt like doing."

Once an active, healthy child who dreamed of becoming a Soldier, Tiberi ballooned to 300 pounds after leaving school -- far too overweight to wear the Soldier's uniform of his dreams.

Then one day three years ago, as Tiberi ate out with a friend, he overheard a rude conversation from the booth behind him. If he maintained the weight he had, the guys at the other table said, he probably wouldn't live much longer.

The speakers weren't anything special, Tiberi recalls, although they looked as if they were "physically capable of doing way more than I was."

But they got Tiberi thinking. Which led to walking.

"Walking turned into jogging, jogging turned into running," and the weight began to come off.

Now a 190-pound S1 actions clerk with the 193rd Infantry Brigade, Spc. Tiberi eats healthfully, works out almost daily at the Vanguard gym and probably is "capable of doing way more" than those other guys.

From fit kid to 'fat guy'

Growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Tiberi always knew the military life was for him. Already, he was surrounded by it.

His father had been in the Air Force. Other relatives told tales of life in the Army, Navy and Marines. A fit child, Tiberi never doubted he would follow in their footsteps.

But after high school, he spent 12-hour workdays on his feet, taking quick breaks at snack machines or lunch trucks. His weight rose from 190 pounds to 225 and then, to 250.

Tiberi ignored the changes, assuming that increasing age brought with it more weight. Anyway, he had no time to think about such things.

By age 22, he tipped the scales at more than 300 pounds.

One day in 2012, he joined a friend and her mother for a meal -- and Tiberi overheard a conversation about his weight. When he turned to see who was talking, he met several pairs of eyes gazing back. He turned back to his own table, his mood disturbed.

Clearly, he had become the butt of jokes from the other table, and what really hurt was that the jokes were behind his back and not to his face.

For the first time, he understood the ridicule of overweight people, the slang used to describe them and the nasty way some people entertained themselves at the expense of others.

He controlled his increasing anger but could not keep the conversation out of his mind -- that night or the next day. Memories of the guys at the restaurant, their words and snickers threw him off the entire day.

That day -- Feb. 12 -- he decided he had had enough of being "the fat guy" held up to ridicule.

The road to success

On Feb. 13, he called his dad, who had been a physical trainer. When Tiberi asked his father what he was doing, he replied that he was on his way to the gym.

He told his father about the night before and said he needed advice. His dad asked to meet at the gym, a place Tiberi had not visited for six years.

Tiberi was nervous. He wasn't sure he could face setting foot in the gym -- but he did.

Without thinking, he told his dad he wanted to join. At first, his father thought Tiberi was joking, but when he looked at his son's face, he saw his determination.

As Tiberi toured the gym with an instructor, he began to feel at home. Nobody was looking at him. Nobody was talking or laughing. He was not being singled out for being overweight.

Almost everyone there was doing the same thing -- getting into shape.

Tiberi started exercising the next day, with his dad giving him the basics: light weights and lots of reps, even though he might think a big guy could handle more.

The next 11 months were some of the hardest of his life, but he sucked it up, knowing what the end result could be.

As more months went by, he began to see positive changes. The exercise became almost addictive. He knew he could do it. He was doing it.

A dream achieved

By August 2012, he had lost more than 100 pounds. His childhood dream of being a Soldier resurfaced, and along with it came the knowledge that it could be more than just a dream. His body was toned.

He was proud of himself. He had done what he needed to do himself, without surgery or a fad diet.

His parents supported him, so he went to talk with a recruiter, who ran with him weekly so Tiberi would pass weight and tapes.

On Aug. 25, 2012, Tiberi signed the paperwork to join the U.S. Army. Weighing it at 210 pounds, "I made tape by barely 2 percent body fat."

In the Army, he continued to work out, losing 30 more pounds to meet his goal of 190.

Now, he says, "everything's easier. Breathing's easier. Just getting around is easier.

"It's just a better way of life (because) everything's more attainable."

Next February, Tiberi will put his "Everything's easier" theory to the test. That's when he'll report to Fort Benning, Georgia, for Ranger school.