Paul Mason, formerly called “the world’s fattest man,” has shed nearly two-thirds of his body weight after gastric bypass surgery in 2010. At his heaviest, the 52-year-old from Ipswich, England tipped the scales at an astonishing 980 pounds. Mason used to be so heavy that he was unable to leave his room. When he needed a hernia operation in 2002, the fire department had break down the front wall of his home and load him into an ambulance with a forklift. At that time, he weighed 784 pounds. 

 

Paul Mason before and after his dramatic weight loss.

 That humiliating ordeal was one of many low points for Mason, who became “an object of fascinated horror, a freak show exhibit,” reports the New York Times. Now that the 6’ 4” former postal worker is down to 336 pounds, he’s hoping for a second chance at a normal life.
No longer trapped inside his home—and an enormous body—Mason has ambitions of launching a jewelry business, learning to drive, going on a vacation, and finding a girlfriend, all of which would have been impossible in the past.