Low-Carb Loving Manuel Uribe Passes The 500-Pound Weight Loss Mark

Manuel Uribe has now lost over 500 pounds since January 2006

If you were to hear that someone weighs 750 pounds, most likely you wouldn't be cheering and applauding that person in regards to doing something about their health. But when your name is Manuel Uribe and you were once dubbed "The World's Fattest Man" weighing in at a hefty 1257 pounds, you can't help but smile at seeing the scale flash 7-5-0!

Yes, this former half-ton man has been working hard using a low-carb lifestyle and nominal exercise plan to shed the pounds and save his life. He even set up a web site for people to track his progress and to be inspired by his amazing story.

In March 2007, about one year after starting on the low-carb Zone Diet by Dr. Barry Sears, Manuel had already shed over 400 pounds off of his body and has been pursuing breaking another world record distinction by this time next year--the most weight loss ever! As I reported last month, he's still at it and going strong in 2008 and has just passed another remarkable milestone--500 pounds lost!

Manuel has set for himself a goal weight of 265 pounds which seems a whole lot more plausible NOW than it did when he started this journey. He's prepared to take four more years into the year 2012 to lose the remaining weight--about 125 pounds a year. It's certainly not an unreasonable goal especially seeing how well the low-carb lifestyle is working for this man from Monterrey, Mexico who is getting a second chance at making a life for himself.

He's 42 now and Manuel is even engaged to be married to a woman who is supporting his efforts to lose weight and get healthy. It's a heartwarming story that you can't help but feel good about because he is proving that quite literally ANYONE--even "The World's Fattest Man!"--can make weight loss happen if they simply commit to a plan, follow that plan exactly and then keep doing that plan. For Manuel, the Zone Diet has him well on his way to enjoying a long and fulfilling life. Can you imagine the stories he'll be telling his grandchildren some day if he sees this thing through to the end? WOW!

Manuel told AFP, "I feel great. The doctors say I'm healthier than ever."

Indeed you are, Manuel, indeed you are! You're the world's healthiest 750-pounder ever! Keep at it buddy and don't let anything deter you from making this a permanent lifestyle change that will keep you around for many years to come. We're all cheering you on to the great success you deserve in weight loss and in life. GO GET 'EM!!!

See all of my previous blog posts about Manuel Uribe by clicking here.

Manuel Uribe Still At It In 2008 With His Low-Carb Weight Loss

Now that 2008 is here and everybody is thinking about weight loss and health, I thought I'd update you on a very heartwarming story about a man once dubbed as "The World's Heaviest Man" who decided to start livin' la vida low-carb about two years ago to shed the pounds and save his life. He is Manuel Uribe from Monterrey, Mexico and what an awe-inspiring story of dedication and determination to transform himself from a 1200-pound one-way ticket to an early grave into what he hopes will be a normal weight man within the next two years.

Beginning his amazing journey at the age of 41 in February 2006, Manuel quickly implemented the lower-carb strategies found in The Zone Diet by Dr. Barry Sears and experienced great success. He created a web site for people to help keep him accountable and follow his progress.

As of March 2007, Manuel had already lost 400 pounds--an INCREDIBLE one-third of his starting weight! He was hoping to lose about 200 pounds a year, but livin' la vida low-carb greatly accelerated this total. For a man of his size, the quicker he can lose it, the better!

In July 2007, Manuel Uribe earned the distinction by the Guinness Book of World Records as the "fattest" man in the world, but they are already watching his weight loss progress to see if in 2009 he will set a new record for weight loss. Maybe he will be able to duplicate the success of Patrick Deuel who used to be the world's heaviest man. We're rooting for Manuel to succeed!

He's lost a total of around 500 pounds so far and part of his routine besides his low-carb diet includes as much exercise as his morbidly obese body can handle right now. Here's a YouTube video showing a little bit of what Manuel does:



Anyone who says they're "too big" to exercise needs to watch what Manuel is doing. Sure, it looks like he's just wiggling around in the bed, but those pull-ups, twists, turns, and spinning work will build muscle, burn calories, and help him reach his eventual goal. I'm proud of Manuel and he's even willing to make fun of himself during this journey.

Watch these segments from the late night talk show "Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!" to see what a good sport he is because he's now doing something about his massive weight problem:









And here's my favorite one of all:



At least he's having a sense of humor about all this. And I couldn't think of a nicer guy for this to be happening to. YOU KEEP AT IT, MANUEL!!! We'll be cheering you on at you work your way down below 700, 600, 500, and beyond! GO GET 'EM!!!

Former 1200-Pound Manuel Uribe Has Shed 400 Pounds On A Low-Carb Diet

Manuel Uribe is a much happier man now thanks to low-carb living

Remember when I blogged about the tragic story of the 41-year old half-ton man named Manuel Uribe last year? YES, I SAID A HALF-TON MAN! You may have even seen him featured on television shows and in magazine articles about obesity over the past few months because he has been doing unbelievably well in his weight loss efforts--and he's livin' la vida low-carb to do it, too! HA!

In fact, this former 1230-pounder, who was once dubbed "The World's Heaviest Man," has his weight moving at a rapid pace in the right direction and has dropped an eye-popping 400 pounds in one year--losing over a pound a day and has already lost ONE-THIRD OF HIS STARTING WEIGHT! WOW, now that is truly amazing!

It sorta puts this discussion over the past few days about the study showing the low-carb diet is better for weight loss in the proper perspective now, doesn't it? Manuel is a living, breathing example that it REALLY works!

I've been keeping an eye on his official web site periodically and have been so proud of Manuel for getting his weight and health under control while he still can. Although he's not out of danger yet still weighing in at just under 850 pounds, the fact is he is doing something about it and learning there are healthier and more satisfying ways to eat and live. That's an unheralded message of livin' la vida low-carb that far too often gets lost in the debate over diets.

If all the doom and gloom about low-carb diets beyond one year that have been bantered about by various low-carb opponents these past few days in all the media accounts about this remarkable nutritional approach are indeed true (they're not, but follow the logic for a moment), then I suppose there's not much hope for Manuel Uribe to reach his ultimate goal weight of of 265 pounds sometime in the next few years. He should just give up now and call it a day for giving it the old college try.

How absurd! Obviously, livin' la vida low-carb is working to help him lose weight and get healthy when just one year ago he felt there was no hope left in the world for him at all. But look at what is happening for Manuel Uribe NOW--with assistance from friends and family, he was able to get out of his house for the very first time since 2002 on Wednesday and it was an event worth celebrating!

You can sense the gratitude he has for life now:

"The sky is beautiful and blue and what I want is to enjoy the sun," he told reporters. "My goal is to leave the house on my own but I know that will be a long process."

You WILL do it, Manuel, because you've found a plan that is working for you and you are making it happen!!! CONGRATULATIONS and here's to another 400 pounds lost in the next year! Keep at it, buddy, and NEVER EVER GIVE UP!

Where are all the alarmists low-fat diet apologists now? Are they going to claim it was better for Manuel Uribe to remain at 1200+ pounds rather than going on a low-carb diet? How about it, Dr. Ornish? Dr. Katz? Or anyone else who has thumbed their nose at this healthy lifestyle change? Wouldn't you agree he's better off today than he was one year ago BECAUSE of livin' la vida low-carb?

The answer is obvious to everyone--OF COURSE HE IS!

I'm pleased to hear Manuel is getting ready to use his newfound worldwide fame to start a foundation dedicated to giving overweight and obese people financial assistance for medical care as well as classes on what a healthy diet looks like. How much you wanna bet it won't be a low-fat diet?! It's livin' la vida low-carb instead, baby!

**READ UPDATES ON MANUEL URIBE'S LOW-CARB WEIGHT LOSS SUCCESS, INCLUDING BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES, BY CLICKING HERE**

Half-Ton Man Losing Weight On Low-Carb

Most people would be thrilled to lose an impressive 200 pounds in less than one year. As someone who used to weigh over 400 pounds, lost almost that much weight and did it in a year's time, it literally changed my life for the better.

But for 41-year-old Manuel Uribe, aka "The World's Heaviest Man," that 200 pounds he has lost since February 2006 was only the beginning of a long journey back to any semblance of a "normal" life again. You see, he weighed an eye-popping 1,235 pounds when he finally cried out for help on Mexican television back in January this year.

You heard me right: ONE-THOUSAND TWO-HUNDRED THIRTY-FIVE POUNDS!

Wanna know what that much weight LOOKS like? Check this out:


This is no doubt a miserable existence that no human should endure

Just thinking about THAT much weight for a moment, that's the "old" Jimmy Moore when I weighed 410 pounds in January 2004 -- TIMES THREE! Yikeseroo! As bad as my weight problem was, I cannot even begin to imagine what living inside the body of well over a half ton person is like! How do you breathe? What about going to the bathroom? Is the floor strong enough to hold up that much weight? You can't help but think about these kinds of questions.

But that's exactly what Uribe has had to deal with which obviously left him immobile and unable to do even the most basic living tasks since 2001. His life has basically been laying down in his bed since that time which has led to the development of lesions and bed sores on his legs and other parts of his body. I can only imagine what his cholesterol numbers, blood pressure, and overall health is like at that weight. On second thought, I don't even want to THINK about it!

Wanna know how bad it had to get for Uribe before he wanted to change? He put duct tape over the lesions on his legs to help contain them from getting any more infected. He was stuck laying down flat on his back looking up at the ceiling all the time because the fat build-up in his midsection prevented him from even sitting in an upright position. He has been through the humiliation of having his family and friends feed him, bathe him, and change his clothes as if he were a baby.

When you've reach this point where your weight is paralyzing your very existence, it is WELL beyond the "breaking point." Uribe was desperate to do ANYTHING he could to lose weight and said as much when he appeared on the Mexican network Televisa pleading for help.

An Italian doctor rushed in and offered to do gastric bypass surgery on him, but Uribe received encouragement and hope from a very unlikely source in this day and age of counting calories and fat grams for weight loss -- a low-carb diet doctor!

Dr. Barry Sears, renowned author of the low-carb diet book "The Zone," said Uribe needed to lost weight more naturally by starting on a low-carb, high-protein diet to help him begin losing weight immediately. So far, he has lost 200 pounds in the first five months (an astouding 40 pounds per month average -- my first five months on the Atkins diet I lost an average of about 20 pounds a month) and hopes to lose another 770 pounds or so pounds to reach his ultimate dream weight of 260 pounds.

As someone who has gone through the process of losing weight (albeit not as much as Uribe, but still a large amount), each 100-pound mark that he reaches will propel him and motivate him to keep it going. When he gets down to triple digits again for the first time in a very long time, he'll see that 999 number and jump for joy ... well, figuratively speaking, that is. It's a great feeling when you reach these tiny milestones in your weight loss and I took full advantage of them to help me succeed.

While he used to eat a breakfast consisting of 4 eggs, rice, beans and tortillas, Uribe realizes he can't eat that way anymore if he wants to lose weight.

"Now, I'm learning to eat the right way," Uribe said in a press conference about his weight loss. "I feel better now. I can stretch and move a bit more."

The lack of mobility he has had for so long has undoubtedly taken its toll on him not just physically, but emotionally as well. He probably felt helpless, trapped, like a prisoner inside of his own body, strapped down to a bed that probably reeks of smells I don't even want to think about. People cannot fathom how and why someone could ever get to this point, but I could just have easily been like Uribe had I not found my out with livin' la vida low-carb. My brother Kevin is halfway there to where Uribe is at his current weight of 600+ pounds if it doesn't kill him first.

For Uribe, life is looking better now that he is on the downward trend with the scale although he still has a long, hard road ahead of him. The lesions on his legs no longer need any duct tape on them and have completely healed. He feels well enough to sit up and move around for the first time in many years. Over the past 14 years as his weight was rising and rising, Uribe's weight problem got so bad even as his doctors just acted like nothing was wrong.

"I saw a lot of doctors and did a lot of tests but they never found anything wrong," Uribe said.

THEY NEVER FOUND ANYTHING WRONG?!?!?!?! What about his OBESITY?!?!?!?! THIS is exactly what I was talking about the other day when I blogged about doctors needing to confront their patients about their weight problem more often. Can you imagine if Uribe's doctor stopped this reckless cycle of weight gain when he reached 400? 500? 600 pounds? It wasn't until he tipped 1,200 that HE even realized he needed to do something. What a sad commentary on our society!

How does a responsible doctor EVER EVER EVER allow their patient who they see on a regular basis reach a weight of over a half ton? Can ANYONE explain to me a good reason why a good doctor wouldn't say or do something to help a patient of theirs in this condition to stop the downward spiral? Don't give me this "we don't want to hurt their feelings" mumbo jumbo either because that's not gonna cut it! If you can't rely on your doctor to tell you when you have a health-threatening weight problem, then who CAN you trust to reveal this to you?

Dr. Sears noted that Uribe will need to keep on livin' la vida low-carb until about 2010 to reach his goal, but every 100 pounds he loses at this point makes him that much healthier and ready to take back control of his life again.

Weight loss surgery is still not out of the question, although the low-carb lifestyle seems to be working very effectively right now for Uribe. As long as it's working and shedding the pounds, gastric bypass or even the popular LAP-BAND surgery is off the table.

"For now, I'll keep doing the [low-carb] diet and if I get stuck I'll consider the surgery," Uribe explained.

That sounds like a great plan, man! CONGRATULATIONS to Manuel Uribe for realizing he had a problem, earnestly asking for assistance, and then following the advice he was given to change his life. He's not out of the woods just yet, but he is well on his way to making himself and his family very proud of what he has accomplished. I wonder if insurance would pay for his excess skin to be removed! LOL!

If he sees this thing through to the end and even gets down to my weight of 230 pounds, I do believe he will become the first human being in the history of the world to lose over 1,000 pounds! And he could say his did it by livin' la vida low-carb! Wouldn't that be AWESOME?!!! I'm cheering for Manuel Uribe and fully expect him to continue losing lots of weight the low-carb way.

Where are the headlines on this one? "Morbidly obese Mexican man dropping weight thanks to low-carb!" I know, I know, wishful thinking on my part. But it is truly one remarkable story that should make low-carbers everywhere very proud and cheer loudly for this miraculous way of eating helping yet another person restore his weight and health. WOO HOO!

**READ UPDATES ON MANUEL URIBE'S LOW-CARB WEIGHT LOSS SUCCESS, INCLUDING BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES, BY CLICKING HERE**