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Sunday, January 2, 2011

First picture: World's heaviest man is mobile again after losing an incredible 20 stone through gastric bypass surgery

This is the first picture of Paul Mason after he lost an incredible 20 STONE in just a year.

Mr Mason, 49, weighed about 60st before undergoing life-saving gastric bypass surgery.

Now he has celebrated his success by making a rare trip from his home in Ipswich, Suffolk.

He told a friend:'All I want to do is be able to walk again and live like a normal human being. I've got a second shot at life and I'm not going to waste it.

Mobile: Paul Mason sits in his motorised chair on a rare day out near his home in Ipswich after losing 20st

Mobile: Paul Mason sits in his motorised chair on a rare day out near his home in Ipswich after losing 20st

'I don't want to go back to the old me. I'm determined to carry on losing weight until I'm a normal size. I'm much happier and healthier now.'

He smiled and chatted to well-wishers last week as he headed towards a shopping complex with one of his NHS carers, according to the News of the World.

The former postman, who is is still believed to be the world's heaviest man, had part of his stomach stapled off so that all the food he ate went into a small 'pouch', vastly restricting the amount he could eat.

He was driven 143 miles in an ambulance with reinforced beds to have the operation at the specialist St Richard's Hospital in Chichester.

Doctors put him on a crash diet to bring his weight down to a safe level so the operation could go ahead.

Paul Mason languishing in a reinforced bed before he went on a crash diet after undergoing gastric bypass surgery to staple part of his stomach

Paul Mason languishing in a reinforced bed before he went on a crash diet after undergoing gastric bypass surgery to staple part of his stomach

Paul with friends: He used have a daily intake of 20,000 calories of food - eight times what most men eat

Paul with friends: He used have a daily intake of 20,000 calories - eight times what most men eat

Mr Mason admitted to eating 20,000 calories a day, eight times the amount needed by an average man.

His care bill costs taxpayers an estimated £100,000 a year and is believed to have topped £1million over the last 15 years.

Chubby baby: Paul Mason at about 18- months-old

Chubby baby: Paul Mason at about 18- months-old

Firefighters had to demolish the front wall of his former home so they could drive a fork lift truck inside to lift him out and put him into an ambulance when he needed a hernia operation in 2002.

At the time he weighed 56 stone and told doctors that he was desperate to lose weight.

He ended up slimming down to 45 stone before piling the weight back on with his junk food diet.

His clothes are custom-made and sometimes he goes naked to avoid having to get dressed. But now his frame has shrunk so much he can get about on a special motorised chair.

His diet of lean meat, fresh fruit and veg is strictly controlled, but he still has other health issues. In the weeks after his operation, he suffered a heart attack.

Close friend Stan Gladwell said: I'm pleased he's lost so much weight. I last saw him a fortnight ago and he's doing very well."

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