Paul Mason was born in 1960 in Ipswich, England. Sadly, he went through an abusive childhood whose effects followed him into adulthood in the form of extreme food addiction. At one point in his life, Paul Mason was considered to be the fattest man in the world, and he is, to date, the heaviest person ever recorded in the UK. This is the story of Paul's journey through weight ups and downs, relationships beginning and failing, and the ultimate realization he's come to to help him win his battle once and for all.
Who Is Paul Mason?
We often hear about addiction and how it can ruin your life, but it’s usually used in the context of drugs and alcohol, not food. For Paul Mason, food was his source of comfort during a difficult childhood. Instead of working through what happened to him and what he’s had to endure, he ate...and ate, and ate.
Paul Mason is now in his 60s and once again finds himself struggling with his addiction to food. At his heaviest, Paul weighed in at 980 pounds and was known measured as being the heaviest man in the world. Like it has for most of us, the pandemic has been hard on Paul. But, let’s take a step back and take a look at his food journey together.
His Poor Eating Habits Started Young
For many children, their childhood memories bring a smile to their faces. However, for many others, it only brings tears and nightmares. Sadly, Paul’s childhood memories bring on the latter. Throughout his childhood, he suffered years of child abuse that left him traumatized. Children are strong and have the ability to bounce back from anything. However, this is only possible if they receive the correct care.
Unfortunately, Paul never received the care needed to help put healthy coping mechanisms in place. Instead, his twenties involved binge eating as a form of emotional detachment. As he got older, it only got worse.
His Weight Cost the Country Millions
As you can imagine, there isn’t much that a person Paul’s size can do on their own. He was never able to bathe himself, dress himself, or even go buy groceries. However, worst of all was that he was unable to work and earn an income. So how has he survived and how was he able to keep up his eating habits?
Unfortunately, the answer may make you angry. Paul needed continuous care that cost United Kingdom taxpayers £100,00 (~$133K) a year! To put that into perspective, that means that up until now, £1.5 million (~$2M) of taxpayers' hard-earned money has been spent on Paul Mason.
Paul Realized He Had a Problem
Paul knew that he had a problem with eating, but he never felt the urge to do anything about it. That was until 2002 when he needed help and nobody could get him out of his apartment. Paul Mason was 42 years old when medical emergency teams and fire crews were called to his home. The only way to get him out of the apartment was through the window.
So emergency teams removed the window and some brickwork. This allowed a forklift to gain access to Paul and he was lifted out. By 2009, Paul’s obsession with food was at its peak where he was consuming 20,000 calories a day. It was determined that if he wanted to survive, he had to have surgery.
Desperate Times Calls for Desperate Measures
As shown by what happened in 2002, Paul admits that leaving his house had become extremely difficult. So he reserved it for emergencies only. To any of us, severe tooth decay would be considered an emergency. However, Mason was used to being by now and knew how to handle it.
From his diet of 40 chocolate bars a day, it's easy to understand that his teeth were suffering. Paul revealed to The Sun that when a tooth crumbled or was cracked, he would just pull it out himself. He would start the process by heating up needles and sterilizing his mouth. After that, he would just insert the needle directly into his gum. He claims to have removed at least a dozen teeth this way.
Mason Made News Headlines
You may be wondering, how does someone like Paul Mason get found? He’s just an average person like you and me, except that he doesn’t leave his home unless it’s to go to the hospital. Well, it was during an incident that took place at the hospital that the world found out about Mason and his situation. He made headlines when he spoke out about the inhumane treatment that he received during a visit.
According to Mason, hospital employees handed him a form and asked him to sign it. The form gave them permission to cremate his body in an abattoir designed for animals should he pass away. The hospital explained that this would need to happen as they wouldn’t be able to handle his size themselves. Paul was “disgusted” and ran straight to the media.
What Paul Ate in a Day
How is it possible for a person to reach 980 pounds by the time that they’re in their 40s? Well, you may find your answer in the list of food that Paul ate in a day. For breakfast, he would eat a whole packet of bacon, 12 slices of bread, two eggs, and ketchup. After breakfast, he would snack on boxes of chips and $20+ worth of chocolate. Lunch consisted of take-out in the form of either pie and fries or pizza.
As a snack between meals, Paul ate sausage rolls and pork pies. Dinner was similar to lunch in that it was takeout, however, it was usually Chinese, Indian, or kebab. Before dozing off, Paul ended his night with a snack of boxes of chips and more chocolate.
Life-Saving Gastric Bypass Surgery
Paul knew that his weight had become dangerous and that he needed to undergo surgery if he wanted to keep living. For those of you who don’t know, gastric bypass surgery is when a doctor operates on the stomach and intestines to help reduce obesity. During surgery, the stomach is divided into a small upper pouch and a much larger lower pouch. The small intestine is then rearranged and connected to each pouch.
While the people who need this surgery are classified as obese, their size can make the surgery extremely risky. To minimize the risk, patients have to have a BMI of 35-39 with specific significant health problems. If these conditions are not met, patients will not be allowed to receive the surgery.
Paul Wanted (and Needed) Surgery
Paul was desperate to get the life-saving gastric bypass surgery. It would not only save his life but would give him the kickstart that he needed to turn his life around. Unfortunately, for years, he was unable to meet the requirements and his applications were turned down by the National Health Service. Thankfully, Paul never gave up hope.
After 10 long years, Paul’s application was a success and he underwent surgery in 2010. The impact that this had was unbelievable. In that same year, he lost a total of 644 pounds and by 2014 was weighing in at 308 pounds. This meant that the surgery had helped him shed almost 672 pounds!
Love Was in the Air
In 2013, Paul had recovered from his surgery and was well on his way to living a normal life. Just when he thought that life couldn’t get any better, he received a Facebook notification from a woman named Rebecca Mountain. She had seen a documentary about him and had fallen in love. Despite being 13 years his junior and weighing only 112 pounds, love was definitely in the air (or in their case, on the internet).
In January of 2014, the couple took their relationship to the next level and got engaged. They seemed happy and in love. Unfortunately, one bad decision tore it all away.
One Loaf Cost It All
The couple were smooth sailing, with Rebecca helping Paul to meet his goals and stay on track. But one day she came home and there was a loaf of bread in their kitchen - something that was against the strict diet Paul was meant to be on. As Rebecca recalled it, that was a turning point where Paul started reverting back to old habits.
"He said he was getting bored with what we were eating, and his portion sizes more than doubled. His bedroom was the living room and he was eating at night," she said. The relationship ended and Mason decided to move back to the United Kingdom - alone.
Getting Rid of Dead Weight
Before his relationship with Mountain crumbled, Paul underwent further surgery while living in the States. The gastric bypass surgery had been a success, however now he was left with excess skin that needed to be removed. Unfortunately, the surgery cost a pretty penny totaling around $40K. For this reason, the NHS refused to pay for his operation until his weight had been stable for at least two years.
In May of 2015, doctors performed a nine-hour procedure and removed excess skin weighing around 50 pounds. Paul said that once the skin had been removed, that “I didn’t really feel any benefits from it in that way, of course moving around was a lot easier but I still felt the same as before in my mind.”
Following a Post Surgery Diet
The surgery had been a success, but now it was up to Paul to carry on the weight loss process through a diet change. When he was at his lowest weight of 266 pounds, Mason would have one piece of toast, a banana, and a cup of coffee for breakfast. This would be followed by fruit as a snack and a small chicken breast with salad for lunch.
A snack of yogurt came before pasta with a side salad for dinner. After having seen what he used to eat in a day, one can understand just how difficult this transition must have been! Was he able to keep it up?
Getting His Life Back on Track
Paul decided to process his failed love endeavors with Mountain back in the United Kingdom. He had not been attending therapy sessions while in the States and Mason felt that his weight was proof of that. Sadly, his weight went back up to 546 pounds after their relationship ended. This weight brought on chronic arthritis and caused Mason to lose most of his mobility.
At this point, he needed multiple surgeries to regain mobility. Mason needed new knees, a hip, and multiple hernia surgeries all of which would cost the NHS over £100,000 (~$133K). In 2019, Paul was ready to undergo the necessary surgeries and get his life back on track. However, the COVID-19 pandemic had different plans.
COVID-19 Threw the World a Curveball
Paul’s weight was back up and he was in a lot of pain. To relieve his pain, he would have to undergo a number of surgeries, all of which were canceled when the pandemic hit. During the pandemic, all non-urgent elective surgeries were suspended. While these surgeries would have made Paul’s life more comfortable, they weren’t life-saving surgeries.
Like many others, Paul struggled during the pandemic. However, it wasn’t due to loneliness as he said that “I am used to living in sort of isolation.” For him, the struggle came in the form of delays. Despite trying to be positive, all he could do was lie around and wait.
Repercussions of the Virus
Feelings of helplessness and depression crept back into Paul’s mind and overtook any progress that he had made up until this point. He reverted back to his old ways of coping and once again found comfort in chips. According to Paul, “Crisps [chips] because that’s always been my go-to snack. I use them to keep the edge off because I’m in terrible pain through the arthritis.”
His lack of pain management and unhealthy coping mechanisms heightened his depression. The harder that Paul tried to focus on recovery, the harder the pandemic hit and the slower every process became. Paul took it in his stride until it all became too much and he didn’t know what else to do.
Paul Was Pushed Past Breaking Point
During the global pandemic, Paul felt as if his life was in limbo. Despite knowing that everyone else felt the same way, he was running out of ways to cope. His weight was up, his body was in pain and his mind was in a dark place. In May of 2021, it all became too much to handle and he overdosed on a cocktail of his own prescription drugs.
He was desperate but as soon as he swallowed the pills he knew that he had made a mistake. He called the ambulance and was carried out of his apartment in a sling because the lift was broken. Two fire trucks and eight men later, Paul was out and on his way to the hospital. After two weeks he had made a full recovery and was discharged.
The Key to His Success
Too often, people underestimate the power of the mind. However, over the years Paul has realized that therapy is the key to his success. According to him, “They can fix your body really quickly with all the surgeons but your mind, that needs more, and it’s vital too because it’s the mind that obviously controls everything.”
He realizes now just how much of a setback moving to the States and giving up therapy had been to his process. Mason believes that the NHS could save a lot of money by investing in long-term therapy for patients rather than pills.
Where Is Paul Mason Now?
Paul has made a full recovery from his overdose and is committed to his journey of living a healthier life. This is not only limited to his body’s health, but also that of his mind. It is never too late to work through the hardships that life has thrown your way, something that the 61-year-old chooses to live by.
At the moment, Paul is living by himself in sheltered housing in Plymouth. Here he has access to round-the-clock care and is focused on getting “through it.”
The World’s Fattest Man: 10 Years On
All 61 years of Paul’s life have been a rollercoaster journey, one that is being told through a documentary on ITV. The documentary is called The World’s Fattest Man: 10 Years On and has been filmed over the course of a decade. It demonstrates everything that he has been through and had to overcome throughout his life and weight loss journey.
During the documentary, Paul reiterates how important mental health is and how therapy has helped him to tackle his demons. He hopes that this documentary will help others like him realize that they need help before it’s too late.
After Being Bullied and Cheated On, This Single Mother Achieves the Ultimate Revenge Body
Revenge bodies aren’t just something seen on reality television shows. They are something that women are achieving every day!
For one single Californian mother, her motivation for a revenge body was a boyfriend who only wanted to see her in secret. After he hid her from his family and cheated on her with another woman, she had had the last straw. In total, she lost 204 pounds using tools such as a gastric sleeve, diet, exercise, and plastic surgery to create her ultimate revenge body! Keep reading to see exactly how she did it!
Simple Origins
Samantha Rawley is a 30-year-old mother who lives in Orange County, California. As a single mother of one, she always has her 11-year-old daughter, Alexis, in mind.
When she became a single mother, she knew she needed a new way to make money. So, she followed in her family’s footsteps and entered real estate. Rawley had struggled with her weight for the majority of her childhood. She was even bullied for her weight. That’s why, as her daughter grew older, she knew she had to make a change. You might be surprised though, that Rawley was, in fact, quite confident. Read on to discover why...
A Long Journey
Since Rawley had been struggling with her weight for many years, she was already pretty confident in her own body. In fact, she considered herself very confident for a “big girl.”
When reflecting on her journey, she realized that even though she is much happier now that she has lost weight, she was never really sad or upset before. She just knew that she needed to improve her health so she could be around for her daughter as she got older. Rawley also says that it’s important to love yourself wherever you are in your weight loss journey because reaching a certain number on the scale isn’t going to magically make everything click into place. Of course, given the world we live in today, things wouldn't be so simple as far as love life goes...
No Luck in Dating
Rawley said that dating was no picnic when she was at her largest. In fact, her last boyfriend before her dramatic transformation is what inspired her to get the ultimate revenge body.
She had been dating a guy for about a year and a half in secret. No one, not even friends, knew they were dating. He even went as far as to hide her from his family. Rawley said, “It was hard because I felt like I was always trying to make him happy and never living for myself.” There was one final thing that was just too much...
The Final Straw
Rawley’s final straw with this relationship came in 2018 when her secret boyfriend started publicly dating another woman while they were still a couple.
He didn’t keep this woman a secret and would even post pictures of her all over his social media. It was only then that Rawley realized that something needed to change and she finally got the confidence to make a big change in her life. “That's when I realized I could finally do this for myself,” she said. And like all personal journeys, the most important thing is your mindset...
The Right Mindset
Even though it took a bad relationship to give Rawley the confidence to finally lose weight, she was more than ready to hit the ground running with a good attitude.
She said that she was just emotionally exhausted after being kept a secret from his family for so long because of her weight. Rawley said, “I was always a pretty confident big girl, but deep down I wasn't living to my highest potential. I felt like I reached my 'ceiling' and I didn't have anywhere else to go.” So, how did Rawley begin her journey?
Starting With Her Diet
Now that she was ready to get the ultimate revenge body, she had to start somewhere. So, she chose to start with her diet.
Before she decided to lose weight, her diet was far from healthy. Her go-to order was two cheeseburgers and a 10 piece box of chicken nuggets from McDonald’s. Rawley said that she could eat all that food by herself in just one sitting. She would even sometimes go all day without eating just to binge eat fast food in the evening. Diet wouldn't be enough for Rawley, so it was time to add something to the process...
The Gastric Sleeve
Next, Rawley chose to undergo surgery and get a gastric sleeve in September of 2018 to aid in her weight loss. Her mother had gastric bypass surgery in 2002 and Rawley saw the complications her mother had and knew it wasn’t for her.
She chose the gastric sleeve because it was less invasive and she could use it as an extra tool in her weight loss journey. Even so, there were other complications that Rawley eventually ran into with a gastric sleeve, and perhaps she should have been better informed...
Before the Storm
To get her gastric sleeve surgery, Rawley had to meet with a psychiatrist to get approved. It only took her one 20 minute appointment, which she thinks isn’t enough.
She had to deal with quite a bit after her surgery and she wishes she had been better prepared for the aftermath. Rawley thinks more therapy can better prepare patients for their surgery. The only complication she was made aware of was eating solid food immediately after surgery. The doctors told her about a man who ate a burrito right after his surgery which made his stomach rupture. Rawley's stomach didn't rupture, but there was something else!
After the Surgery
After Rawley had her gastric sleeve surgery, she could only eat liquids for three whole weeks afterward.
Abstaining for food wasn’t hard as she said nothing was appetizing to her while she was recovering. She even had a hard time keeping water down for a while. In fact, Rawley got to the point that she was drinking so little water because of how it made her stomach feel that she developed a kidney stone! She said that the pain was worse than being in labor for 22 hours!
Complications and Back to Hospital
After developing a kidney stone after her gastric sleeve surgery, Rawley had to go to the hospital. Her kidney stone ended up lasting nine days and she had to go back to the hospital twice more before getting it under control.
Rawley was throwing up between 20 and 30 times a day, even though there was nothing in her stomach to throw up. She felt so bad that she started writing a will for her daughter because she thought she was going to die.
What Else Could Go Wrong?
Besides the kidney stone, Rawley had another complication: she was starting to go numb from the waist down.
One day, when shaving her legs before a doctor’s appointment, she realized that she couldn’t feel the razor on her skin. The numbness soon began creeping up her chest and she really began to worry. At the time, Rawley had been smoking cannabis to settle her stomach so she wouldn’t throw up everything she ate or drank. But, the doctors blamed her numbness on the cannabis.
A Work in Progress
However, with a couple of extra blood work panels, it became clear that Rawley was not experiencing numbness from smoking cannabis. She had a thiamine deficiency and her B1 was dangerously low.
Rawley had to start going to the doctor to get shots in her butt three times a week. Even so, it took her body a year to get back to normal. She was so sick during this time, that she lost a whopping 67 pounds in one month!
A Tragic Realization
After her almost dangerous vitamin deficiency following her surgery, Rawley started spreading awareness of the complication. No doctors had warned her of it and she came to find out that many doctors didn’t even think to check for it.
Rawley found a post in a Facebook group for gastric surgery patients where a 23-year-old woman listed the same issues Rawley had been having. When she reached out to provide help, she tragically found out that the woman had died. Now, she tries even harder to warn people of this potential side effect.
A Healthier Diet
When Rawley’s life returned to normal after fixing the complications from her surgery, she was able to get back to making lifestyle changes to help her continue to lose weight. She started by making sure she ate nutritious and wholesome foods all day long instead of waiting to binge eat fast food at night.
After her surgery, Rawley noted that it hasn’t affected her appetite as much. She stays pretty hungry, but now she knows what and how to eat. She starts by eating all the protein on her plate before moving on to her veggies and then her carbs.
Daily Routine
While she was losing weight, Rawley’s breakfast consisted of one egg white, half of a piece of toast, and some fruit.
For lunch, she would eat a chicken wrap with spinach and buffalo sauce on a low-carb tortilla. And for dinner, she would eat either salmon or chicken with a side of sauteed vegetables. Rawley also began taking walks around her neighborhood for exercise and eventually, she began to incorporate weight training by going to the gym several times a week.
Lots of Changes
Rawley went from 326.6 pounds to 156.6 pounds. That’s a total loss of 203 pounds!
She said all of her friends and family have been very supportive of her on her weight loss journey. It has been very different when it comes to going out to eat or going on dates, but she said that she has adjusted easily. And Rawley says she still recommends gastric sleeve surgery to people, even after all of her complications. She even said she would do it all over again if need be because it made her a stronger person.
Final Touches
After she had lost all that weight, Rawley spent $20,000 on reconstructive plastic surgery to help her get rid of all that loose skin and tone her arms, legs, and stomach.
Overall, she said the arms were the easiest to recover from and the pain was about three out of ten. Her tummy tuck was just as easy at a four out of ten and the breast lift was about a five out of ten. However, Rawley said that her thighs were the most painful at an eight out of ten. She even said it felt like her thighs were ripping with every step she took. It was the largest incision, so it took the longest to recover from.
Mind Over Matter
After finally completing her revenge body, Rawley said that her mindset has been the biggest change of all. Once she made the changes, she realized just how dissatisfied she had been the whole time.
She said, “My mindset has shifted 100 percent and I'm much happier and positive now, because at this point, I feel like I have broken through my ceiling and it's only up from here!” Rawley even said she didn’t think she’d be able to lose all the weight that she wanted to at first. She said, “I was bullied in high school, and of course the random remarks from people, but I think my biggest obstacle was myself and the mindset behind the scenes.”
The Best Result
The best result from Rawley’s weight loss has been everything she can now do with her daughter, Alexis. She can now go to Disneyland and get on rides that she couldn’t before because of her weight. She even coaches Alexis’s softball team!
Rawley said, “My daughter and I have always been very close but I feel like her watching my transition and seeing me go through everything has made us closer.” She also said Alexis has been so sweet and helpful to her during her weight loss journey, supporting her every step of the way!
Happier Than Ever
Now, Rawley happily admits that she is the happiest she has ever been!
She said, “I can't even put into words how grateful I am for these kinds of experiences and what this journey has provided and taught me.” Even though she got a lot of flack for “taking the easy way out” and worries about gaining the weight back like a lot of gastric surgery patients, she is still happy that she got the surgery because she used it as a tool, not a quick fix.
What’s Next?
Next, Rawley is taking on spreading awareness of VSG surgery and the complications that could arise from it. She already has tens of thousands of followers on Instagram under the handle @therealslimsammii and posts videos with her friend on the account @VSGTea giving information and answering questions about her gastric sleeve surgery.
She started her Instagram after being inspired by other peoples' progress and started sharing her own before and after photos. Soon, she will also be a part of a confidence panel at a conference for people who have had gastric surgery. Rawley said, “I would love to make a difference in the weight loss community regarding mental health. So, that's my main focus right now and educating the community!”