Posted on 04/03/2008 6:27:53 AM PDT by BGHater
A Mexican man who once weighed half a ton is looking forward to the simple things in life after shedding half his body weight.
Manuel Uribe, 42, of Monterrey, Mexico, reached a peak weight of 1,225lb - 87 stone - after years of unhealthy living, including a diet of pizza and tacos.
Bed-bound and unable to look after himself, in January 2006, after five years of isolation, Mr Uribe made an impassioned plea on Mexican national television for help.
Doctors and dieticians the world over responded to his appeal, with a team of medics from Italy, the United States and Mexico leading the attempt to restore Mr Uribe to a healthy weight.
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Mr Uribe has been following the so-called "Zone Diet", a high-protein regime pioneered by Boston biochemist Dr Barry Sears.
If reports are accurate, he has so far lost 570lb (41 stone), or almost half his body weight.
His stated goal is to reach 220lb, or a little less than 16 stone.
If he succeeds it would be his lowest weight since he was a teenager.
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Mr Uribe, whose story will be told on Extraordinary People: The World's Heaviest Man at 9pm on Five tonight, said he enjoyed the simple things in life.
"I like doing my hair, looking nice," he said. "To pee and make love are the best things. Ah, to go to the toilet."
In March, Mr Uribe ventured outside for the first time in five years.
A forklift lifted Mr Uribe's bed onto a truck and the 41-year-old rode through the streets of San Nicolas de los Garza, a Monterrey suburb.
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Mr Uribe was on his way to meet his girlfriend for a date to celebrate his weight loss and her birthday. But unfortunately a road accident and Mr Uribe's health got in the way.
One of the posts holding a sun-shielding tarp over his bed hit an overpass. Mr Uribe's blood pressure then dropped so much his doctors advised him not to go on and the celebration was cancelled.
"We were going to celebrate that I've been losing weight for two years and that it was my girlfriend's birthday," Mr Uribe said at the time.
"The saddest part was that I couldn't fulfil my dream of taking my girlfriend out to eat."
If reports are accurate, he has so far lost 570lb (41 stone), or almost half his body weight.
His stated goal is to reach 220lb, or a little less than 16 stone.'
Good job. Keep it up.
570lbs, wow, my family weighs less.
If Mother Government would just ban pizza and tacos, we wouldn’t have these kinds of problems. *SMIRK*
Good for him. I can’t imagine being that “trapped” in a non-functioning body. I wouldn’t make a very good invalid, to say the least!
His goal is to reach 220 lbs...so he can make it across the border.
There is so much irony in that statement, it's hard to fathom
That being said: as one who needs to shed a few pounds myself, I'm glad he is getting control of his life
I resent the implication that pizza is unhealthy.
Or fattening! I eat it all the time and I’m 95 lbs.
His girlfriend is a divorced woman with at least one child who is a hairdresser. She came to his apartment and cut his hair and over the course of time got close to him. Yes, she does take care of him (along with his mother) and she may be an enabler. At one point they broke up (her family did not approve) but she came back to him.
There was a TLC show about him a while back....
These folks always seem to have someone enabling them. Cause it sure seems like if someone is too big to get out of bed or even move, then they are not able to make the fridge. So someone is bringing these folks the massive amount of food, not to mention paying for it.
If this guy has been house-bound because of severe obesity, how in the world did he end up with a girlfriend?
I guess they had to lock up the person who was feeding him all these years.
Words to live by.
In a related vein, my dear late, long-suffering mother-in-law once said, “There are some days when the best thing that happens to you all day is a good bowel movement.”
I saw that TV show and his girlfriend was very loving and kind to him. She tried to make him as comfortable as possible. I’m happy this man is making this change in his life. I’m surprised he has lived this long. I admire him and I hope he gets down to his goal weight. I hope he is able to have surgery to take care of all the excess skin that will be left and then I hope he can live out the rest of his life with his loving girlfriend. I am sure they will marry when possible and I hope he can experience the joy of fatherhood as well. He has courage, kindness, a great personality and a good heart and soul. I wish him well.
I’m surprised Guinness hasn’t paired him up for a photo op
with what is probably the world’s thinnest (adult) man, that 20 pound (at 2 foot
9 inches tall) dwarf bodybuilder from India. (This probably eats that much food every day...)
(This GUY probably eats that much, that should say)
Well, good for him. Let’s hope he can inspire those a little over weight to show the discipline and strength to change their eating habits. The modern diet is full of calories; it’s calorie dense with lots of sugar (corn syrup), carbs, grease and huge portions. Staying healthy is a great thing. This man is going to feel physically like the born again person.
“I like doing my hair, looking nice,” he said. “To pee and make love are the best things. Ah, to go to the toilet.”
He probably hasn’t even seen his . . uh . . .in years!
Well...He could have it cut'n stitched up to where as he would have a large flap between each arm & side and connect the two legs and take up sky diving in a *natural* flying suit.
Then we could watch him on Youtube.
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