The one-time "World's Fattest Man" Paul Mason has lost over 400 pounds. Mason's weight loss is thanks to bariatric and skin removal surgery and changing his crazy, high calorie diet. So his story ends well but it began with a lot of blaming and responsibility shifting. You'll never guess who the ex-fattest man blamed for his obesity and 20,000 calorie a day diet. It's the very people and healthcare providers who tried to help him lose weight.
World's Fattest Man to sue NHS for obesity
The formerly 792-lb Englander says that Britain's National Health Service failed him and made him into a morbidly obese person.
After his weight loss, Paul Mason planned to file a lawsuit against the NHS for not fixing his weight problem. That same health system spent 100,000 pounds yearly--almost two million pounds in all--to treat his many obesity-related conditions. Mason argues that if they'd treated him correctly he'd have been able to avoid getting so big. He also faults NHS dieticians for his humongous appetite.
World's Fattest Man claims eating disorders, not diet were his problem
So the NHS did try to help Mason lose weight but not in the way he wanted them to. He was advised to exercise, which, at nearly 800 pounds he says he couldn't do. On the U.S. Reality TV show "My 600-lb Life" gastric bypass surgeon Dr.
Nowzaradanruns into this problem all the time--he tells bariatric patients that they need to move or die. Many who can walk don't or won't. Mason was also eating about 10 times what he should have been--his daily intake was 20,000 calories (yes you read that correctly). Mason claims that instead of the eating disorderspecialists he asked to see, NHS care providers made him see a dietician.
Why dietician was appropriate for World's Fattest Man's problems
Mason was sure that an eating disorder was his problem and overeating is disordered eating to be sure. But it is the opposite of what drives obesity. Anorexia is the starvation and avoidance of food and bulimia is binge eating and then purging. Bulimarexia is a condition where patients do both.
The treatment is helping ED patients get over food phobias. Mason certainly didn't have a food phobia. He needed help to overcome his food addiction and regulate his dietary intake, not help to eat more. A dietician was the correct placement.
World's Fattest Man's responsibility issues
It's easy to see with avoidance, denial and lack of self-control like this, how Paul got so heavy. It was never made clear whether he followed through on threats to sue the NHS, but the fact that he wanted to was indicative. When Mason was able to admit that only he could change his eating habits, when he started working with instead of against the dietician, he was able to get to a healthier weight and happier place in life.
