Britain's Fattest Man

Ipswich man Paul Mason, is Britain's Fattest Man and was the main focus of a documentary on Channel 4 last night.

Last year he was in the news for being the world's fattest man at a reported 70st, and caused outrage when it was reported that it was costing the public £100,000 a year to look after him.

I know that what this man had done to himself was self inflicted and to be honest he only has himself to blame, I mean eating three 24 packs of crisps and 30 bars of chocolate on a daily basis wasn't going to give him the title of Britain's Slimmest Man; but I couldn't help feeling sorry for him. When he was telling us how he had no friends and his only company came from the 12 hour carer he had was so heartbreaking. The scene where he received a phone call telling him that the money he got that was used to pay for his care was to be slashed in half was hard to watch. Just knowing that he wouldn't be able to rely on his carer for company any more was shown through his devastated tears.

Watching the advert previous to watching the show I must admit I had preconceived ideas about him. I believed that I would find a man that was getting bigger and bigger and eating more and more. When the show opened and I saw that he had 3 slices of toast, all I could think was well there I stand corrected. But as the show went on I saw a side to him that I was not expecting.

This man wanted to lose weight and he was serious. Unlike other super obese people that had been the subjects in other documentaries, he did not have a family bucket of KFC strapped to his hand whilst in his hospital bed, he was eating milk jellies and expressing to us all that he no longer had cravings, he told us that if someone came in with steak and chips, he would keep to those milk jellies. Seeing him in a supermarket planning to eat mince filled peppers and looking at lean meat, made me feel so triumphant for him.

Seeing the transformation, from start to finish, was so heart-warming. I wish him every success in his future and hope that he continues of his journey to shed the weight, to become more health and go on to live a normal life.