Paul Mason of Ipswich, England, once held the title of "World's Fattest Man." At his heaviest, Mason weighed nearly 70 stone or over 900 pounds. The nearly half-ton Brit shed over 700 pounds in one of the most remarkable transformations ever. There are bizarre plot twists in Mason's story, however. He blames Britain's National Health Service for letting him get so huge. In obesity he found love with an American Rebecca Mountain but lost love the more weight he shed. Odd or not, it's not an uncommon story as TLC's "My 600-lb Life" shows. Why the obesity blaming and responsibility shifting, and what's up with partners splitting after extreme weight loss?

World's Fattest Man sheds 2/3 of himself

No thanks to the NHS, says Paul Mason, he was able to trim off 700 pounds or about 2/3 of his body weight. The former morbidly obese man went to the United States to have skin removal surgery which helped. In September, 2016, Paul had another such surgery. But as for the original weight gain, Mason says that's down to doctors not helping him when he asked for help witheating disorders. He claims he was told to ride his bike more often and was sent to a dietician instead of the eating disorder specialist he wanted to see.

World's Fattest Man costs Brits over 1M pounds

Mason felt the dietician couldn't help him shed the weight that was snowballing at a cataclysmic rate.

At the height of his obesity, he was eating 20,000 calories per day or about 10-15 timesthe normal caloric intake. Doctors differ on recommended daily allowance of calories for adult men but 2,000 a day for an active person is average. Mason planned to sue the NHS for failing him. The NHS might not have been able to make him lose weight, but they certainly didn't fail on healthcare.

An NHS spokesperson estimated that Mason cost taxpayers 100,000 pounds a year and in the millions in the last 20 years.

World's Fattest Man loses fiance with weight

An American woman Rebecca Mountain took a shine to Mason and felt sorry for him when she heard that he weighed 900 pounds. She saw him through weight loss and the couple had planned to be married.

But after the former world's heaviest man went to America for skin removal surgery, the relationship cooled. It isn't clear why but this same problem has occurred with patients of Dr. Nowzaradanon TLC. The Reality TV show "My 600-lb Life" shows that as they start to get normal lives, this intimidates spouses who were used to being caregivers.