Half-Ton Man Leaves House After 5 Years

Man Who Once Weighed 1,235 Pounds Leaves House To Greet Neighbors, Enjoy Mariachi Band

(AP)  A man who once weighed well over a half ton left his house for the first time in five years Wednesday, wheeled outside on his bed to greet neighbors and enjoy a mariachi band.

"The sky is beautiful and blue and what I want is to enjoy the sun," said Manuel Uribe, who had once been certified by doctors as weighing 1,235 pounds.

Though still unable to leave his bed, Uribe has lost 395 pounds since he began a high-protein diet a year ago. He now weights about 840 pounds.

To celebrate the milestone, six people pushed Uribe's wheel-equipped iron bed out to the street as a mariachi band played and a crowd gathered. Then, a forklift lifted him onto a truck and the 41-year-old rode through the streets of San Nicolas de los Garza, a Monterrey suburb.

With dozens of reporters and photographers in tow, Uribe traveled along, passing the town's plaza and church and waving at clusters of people eager to get a glimpse of him.

"It fills me with joy to see he's getting better and getting a little sun," Uribe's neighbor Guadalupe Guerra said. "I would go crazy if I had to be inside my house for so many years."

Uribe was a chubby kid and weighed more than 250 pounds as an adolescent. In 1992, he said his weight began ballooning further.

Since the summer of 2002, Uribe has been bedridden, relying on his mother and friends to feed and clean him.

He drew worldwide attention when he pleaded for help on national television in January 2006. Afterward, an Italian and a Spanish doctor both visited and offered gastric bypass surgery.

But Uribe chose to accept help from Mexican nutritionists working with the Zone diet. He says he will stick to that diet until he reaches his goal of 265 pounds.

"My goal is to leave the house on my own but I know that will be a long process," he said. Doctors say it may take between three and four years for Uribe to reach his goal.

Uribe said he plans to start a foundation to help overweight people get medical assistance and teach them about healthy eating habits.

[agnim]

"Any one ever see a fat person in Hitlers camps ?

Posted by beehive21 at 04:09 PM : Mar 08, 2007"

Proves that this fat man's problem is FOOD, and to much of it, right? LOL

No pantry .. err.. body gets this big without MUCH FOOD AND GLUTTONY!

[hermit22]

on the dr.phil t.v. program there was a huge woman who just laid in bed and snapped her fingers and waved her arms like a gastapho guard bossing her children around so bad it was obvious their spirits were crushed! they had feet and could walk away, but she was a freaky friday, scarey, control freak that scared me and i don't even know what state she lived in.

[noaanhc]

I wish him all the best,

[beehive21-2009]

Any one ever see a fat person in Hitlers camps ?

[agnim]

"I'll bet he's a better person for his travails than most of you.
Posted by jetauma at 01:13 PM : Mar 08, 2007"

Yes a food ADDICT is "a better person" for his addiction. Tsk-tsk

The only way to treat an addict is not to cuddle his addiction; TAKE AWAY THE ADDICTIVE SUBSTANCE!

People like you are no doubt fattening up this 'fat pig' to death through your silly sympathy! LOL

[anopinion1]

I agree once he layed down in bed and didn't get up for a week or less someone should have done something about it.
I mean *** did he do all day and how did he have the money to do nothing all day?
Did he just play video games all day or something????"WOW"
If his family cut off his tv or whatever he did to say occupied and only feed him salad, rice, and water i think he would eventually be able to get up....
and damm tho what did that room/house smell like i cant even imagine.............nor want to.....

give it a year we will see this guy on subway commercials with jared...ooogod

[petesis]

Good luck to him. Many people who make fun do so because they are secretly full of fear. They are incapable of sympathy because they get none themselves. I hope this guy, who admits he has a problem and is brave enough to accept the help of his friends, neighbors and professionals, continues to lose weight and enjoy his life. Which is more than can be said about some of those who make fun of him behind his back.

[jetauma]

To all of you sneerers. How 'bout some compassion and sympathetic joy? You cannot know another ma's life...so snug in your own. I'll bet he's a better person for his travails than most of you.

[kaffers-2009]

Once he was bedridden, who the heck kept feeding him so much that he stayed that fat? If that were one of my relatives and I was his caretaker, he would have gotten salads and healthy stuff - and not that much of it. It isn't as if he was able to get his own food at that point.

[ladyephesus1]

Youre mean Agnim..hehe