‘World’s Fattest Man’ Loses 728 Pounds, Leaves Bed, Walks on Own 2 Feet for the First Time in 10 Years

(Getty Images | HECTOR GUERRERO)

From the archives: This story was last updated in December 2019.

Juan Pedro Franco, once the holder of the title of World’s Fattest Man, has battled to turn his life around over the course of three years. Today, the 35-year-old from Mexico has shed over half his body weight and doesn’t plan on stopping there.

Best of all, Franco has been able to leave his bed and walk again. This milestone marks the first time that Franco has supported his weight on his own two feet, with the assistance of a cane, in almost a decade.

©Getty Images | HECTOR GUERRERO

Weighing in at 1,302 pounds (approx. 591 kg) in 2017, Franco was bedridden, and his weight entailed an inevitable death sentence. Diabetic, hypertensive, and with serious lung damage, Franco was suffering in solitude.

The Mexican man’s bodyweight skyrocketed after he was involved in a serious traffic accident as a teen, followed by pneumonia. “At 17 I weighed just over 36 stone,” Franco told Telemundo show “Al Rojo Vivo.“ ”That was when I had an accident and broke half my body and spent a year and a half in bed.”

©Getty Images | HECTOR GUERRERO

Franco’s struggle hit international headlines in November 2016 when pictures circulated of the young man being transported to a clinic in Guadalajarain, 100 miles away from his home in the central Mexican city of Aguascalientes, for critical treatment.

According to the Daily Mail, Franco had appealed for help four months earlier, announcing publicly that he weighed just over 60 stone (approx. 381 kg) and hadn’t left his room for six years. Franco feared he would die after his elderly parents ceased to be able to afford a tailored diet that he had been following.

©Getty Images | HECTOR GUERRERO

After being hailed as the World’s Fattest Man by Guinness World Records in 2017, Franco, rather than take insult, used the loaded accolade as a wake-up call. His epic weight loss journey kicked into high gear with surgery, therapy, and a brand-new diet regime.

After undergoing three stomach-reduction operations, Franco was able to lose 60 percent of his body weight. The diabetes, hypertension, and lung damage he had been suffering due to his weight were finally stabilized.

The specialist surgeon who performed Franco’s gastric bypass surgeries, Jose Antonio Castaneda, has been credited for helping save the 35-year-old’s life.

“Just raising your arms, getting up every day, standing by a glass of water, going to the bathroom, stopping to bathe [...] It feels very good,” Franco told Al Rojo Vivo, speaking of his weight loss. “Fantastic that one can move more and be self-sufficient.”

As of November 2019, Franco is a shadow of his former self.

Weighing in at 574 pounds (approx. 260 kg), he is 728 pounds (approx. 330 kg) lighter than when he clenched the title of World’s Fattest Man. Photos show the accomplished guitarist walking with a cane and smiling broadly in the presence of supportive medical staff and family members.

According to a 2017 study published in the journal Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity, the prevalence of obesity in Mexico has risen significantly since the 1980s; as of 2017, obesity affects over 30 percent of Mexico’s adult population.

The study’s authors projected that by the year 2050, the proportion of obese men and women in Mexico will rise to 54 percent and 37 percent respectively. More people, they say, will be “obese” than “overweight,” owing to increased consumption of calorie-dense foods and sedentary lifestyles.

Today, however, Juan Pedro Franco is breaking the mold. He is even looking to improve his life and mobility even further by planning for another operation, this time to remove excess skin on his body, which will make additional improvements to his quality of life.