A MAN who was once the world’s fattest person and weighed more than four baby elephants ,Juan Pedro Franco was so huge he couldn’t even haul his 93 stone body to the toilet – but he is now unrecognisable.
The 39-year-old Juan Pedro Franco set the world record for the most obese person in 2016. However, he has lost nearly 728 lbs of weight. This weight loss journey was not easy and needed surgery and other battles for keeping his health in check. The world record holder from Mexico was so heavy that he was bedridden. He also needed the help of 8 people to move. Then Juan finally saw that enough was enough and decided to get treatment.
Just being able to lift up your arms and get up every day, get up for a glass of water or to go to the toilet, makes you feel great. It took a team of eight strong people to move him and he was unable to go to the toilet unassisted – meaning he was forced to wear a nappy.
Juan told Guinness World Records: “My body just followed its own path without any control whatsoever.”
“I tried to diet day after day, but nothing worked and I became desperate.”
After realising that if he carried on with his way of life his body would soon give in a desperate Juan began to search for help.
An obesity specialist in Guadalajara, Mexico, threw him a lifeline and agreed to operate.
Juan was able to leave his bed for the first time in years to attend the surgery.
While in hospital he was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes, thyroid dysfunction, hypertension and liquid in his lungs.
He said at the time: “The most important thing for me is to walk again. I haven’t left the house for six years or even walked anywhere.”
By 2017 he’d already lost 26 stone and 10lbs, which was enough for him to be allowed to undergo a second life-changing surgery and have a gastric band fitted.
After the operation he had a new lease of life and went on to switch up his diet and exercise regime, continuing to shed the pounds and dropping a third of his body weight by 2019. After the treatment had commenced, Juan succeeded in losing almost 364 lbs by 2017 and this was healthy enough to undergo a gastric band surgery. In the recent photos from his Instagram, the young man looked unrecognizable from his previous pictures. He looked visibly slimmer, and it is evident that he lost a lot of weight.
In the last three years Juan had lost an incredible 52 stone and weighed 41 stone in 2023.
Speaking about the transformation to Telemundo in Mexico, Juan said: “Just being able to lift up your arms and get up every day, get up for a glass of water or to go to the toilet, makes you feel great.
“It feels fantastic to be able to move more and be more self-sufficient.”
It comes as a man who weighed 44 stone and lived on his sofa was found dead after he vowed to shed pounds.
Leonid Andreev had been a prisoner in his own home for five years but he had just started to turn his life around.
Only a day before Andreev died he had told local media how he was planning a new life of losing weight and moving to a city apartment.
The 60-year-old revealed that he had started a new diet with just a cup of light soup for lunch.
He said: “I tried to lose at least a little weight – I ate less and did not indulge in flour products.”
Andreev’s body was discovered in his village home in Armizonskoye, Russia, on November 17 after he suffered a heart attack.
Juan said it ‘feels fantastic to be able to move more and be more self-sufficient’
As a child, he was only overweight since he was six years old, so Juan was not new to the effects of obesity. After winning the Guinness Book of World Records, he told them that sustaining an injury at 17 made his weight spiral out of control. “My body just followed its path without any control whatsoever,” Juan said. He also added that he tried his best: “I tried to diet day after day, but nothing worked and I became desperate.” Juan started to become caged in his own body due to his weight. By the age of 32, he could not even move on his own.