Page 3 | Britain's Fattest Man

singingcat · 05/01/2011 22:52

Yes, would nurses buy a lung cancer patients cigarettes??

PaulaYates · 05/01/2011 22:55

thousands die every day from obesity related illnesses
i think it's much much easier to die from that in our culture than anorexia (nervosa)

look at the figures

LovePinkBitsOfMyHorse · 05/01/2011 23:01

I remember feeling very confused by a decision taken at the ED unit my daughter was at, they wouldn't take a child with compulsive over eating problems even though that child was every bit as unwell as those with anorexia and bulimia - can't remember their reasons but wonder where the parents turned to for help then? It already felt like the end of a pretty long road for most parents. Plenty of children on the ward binged, why not admit a patient who didn't purge afterwards?

HaveAHappyNewJung · 05/01/2011 23:07

I couldn't bring myself to watch it. Like others though, when I've seen people like this I just wonder why on earth people bring them so much crap to eat. I know that someone so big needs more calories just to survive but 20000?

How did they address that in the show - who was bringing him food and why did they provide so much?

LovePinkBitsOfMyHorse · 05/01/2011 23:10

I thought that once he'd got to a certain size his weight was maintained on far fewer calories than the 20000 they kept quoting. Wasn't paying best possible attention during conversation though.

ILoveItWhenYouCallMeBoo · 05/01/2011 23:48

jsut seen this on 4+1.

horrific how incapable he made hismelf. i do have sympathy to a certain point. i also have anger at his carers bringing him o much food and his GP not imposing a diet. not sure of teh legality thouugh so perhaps his carers and Gp's hands were tied. can they legally refuse to bring teh food to him if they are there in a paid capacity to care for him? can't for the life of me work out how it took 12 hours a day to care for him/ 4 hours to wash him, yes and maybe 2 to cook and clean. his meals didn't all need to be cooked, breakfast stuff could be made available by his bed for him to sort himself.

i did lose sympathy for him when he threw the hissy in the hospital. yes disappointing that you aren't getting 12 hours of care anymore but throwing a glass and saying you wish you hadn't come through the operation? does he not get that the whole point of teh operation is so that he can do more for hismelf and cut the NHS care bill? and then saying he felt liek he'd been abandoned by maria when she moved to another job (resumably because she was on a 12 hour daily contract and he was reduced to a 6 hour requirement), she wasn't there to keep him company, she was there to cater for his physical needs, which as a result of his surgery were reduced.

bit dubious about the fact he still hadn't managed to stand a month after his second surgery. he managed it in the hospital, doing that a few times daily would have him standing after a month.

agree with others that suggest he hasn't been cured. he has a mental illness and it didn't seem to be addressed at all, unless he didn't want to discuss that aspect of it on camera.

not sure if he will continue to lose weight or not. he seemed very happy about getting his wheelchair and i sort of got teh feeling he was happy to stop there.

JeezyPeeps · 06/01/2011 07:12

I didn't see him as having a 'hissy fit' when he was told the care contract was reducing. I saw him as being upset, and not sure how he was going to cope. Which to be fair is understandable.

I was also a bit taken aback at his sisters - there is surely more to the story than that. His mother lost her house (through her own agreement, effectively), so the sister aren't speaking to him because, as far as I can tell, they are greedy too - just for money instead of food.

His mother could equally have left the house to a dogs charity, it's not a right!

But that may be an easy reason for him to use for them not speaking - he has obviously been very selfish before he is in the state he is in, and I think there is probably much more to the reason why his family are having nothing to do with him than that.

I don't see people being cruel on this thread (as another posted suggested). I see honest reaction to the programme - and although I do have sympathy (thats no life) - it IS self-inflicted and it IS a disgusting state to be in. And to say otherwise is to pander to the morbidly obese and that does nobody, especially not the morbidly obese, any favours.

thegoodishlife · 06/01/2011 08:34

Jeezy - I agree with everything you have written.

Nevereatyellowsnow · 06/01/2011 09:16

I didn't see it all but was at the bit where he was naked saying he'd lost 18 stone and he was still HUGE! It must be a miserable life to be that dependent on others and unable to go out but I don't really understand how someone gets to that size.

BellaMagnificat · 06/01/2011 17:46

I came in part way through and my main concern was the apparent lack of psychotherapeutic help being extended.

No amount of bands and slicing off of wobbly bits will get him well without some form of therapeutic support to help him get some insight into the 'why'.

My armchair psych reading of it is he is rendering himself helpless and childlike as well as physically unloveable ( the kindest way of putting it) therefore indcing feelings of rejection/abandonment over and over - hence his acute and distressed reaction to the loss of his 12 hr a day carer.

But of course, as a bedridden person, he wields considerable power also. Lsoing the weight and getting mobile will change this dynamic.

PaulaYates · 06/01/2011 20:09

the carer relationship was obviously more to him than just paid help

imo it was a good thing to break that cycle and change the nature of that particular relationship

he needs people to want to be with him becasue of him - not because they are paid to be there

his eating still looked unhealthy to me but that will need time to address

the one thing that sticks in my mind is that the consultant said he will NEVER be slim...why not??

flibbertigibbert · 06/01/2011 21:29

I watched that with friends who were all completely bemused as to how someone could get that fat, but I completely understood it. I've been in a position where I told myself I really didn't care if I got diabetes or had a heart attack because I hated myself so much.

I've suffered with a binge eating disorder and IMO the NHS is bloody useless at dealing with it. My doctor referred me to a dietitian who gave me extremely basic information that I already knew - eat less and go to the gym. Bit difficult to go to the gym and stop eating when you're too depressed to leave the house - other than to go to Tesco and buy crap food - and feel that food is the only thing that makes you happy. I have 3 friends who suffered from anorexia and they were all given counselling and a lot more support. I suppose anorexia is a more immediate threat to your health, whereas I'm just slowly doing myself damage. It also seems completely acceptable to ridicule fat people whereas people with anorexia are given more sympathy.

Monadami · 07/01/2011 00:01

is this Barry Austin from Birmingham, the one who's strange old girlfriend makes hims Shepherds Pie with Chillis? If it is, I think I've seen that programme a few times. He'll never lose weight as he likes being a minor celeb in his home town.

JeezyPeeps · 07/01/2011 12:02

No, it's a guy called Paul Mason. Who is apparantly going to sue the NHS!!! www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1344930/Former-worlds-fattest-man-sue-NHS-weight-gain.html

That is, IMO, completely out of order!!

JeezyPeeps · 07/01/2011 12:03

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1344930/Former-worlds-fattest-man-sue-NHS-weight-gain.html clickable link

mollymole · 07/01/2011 12:52

he put the crap into his mouth - it was his own choice - granted there has to be some element of mental illness here - he appears to be courting 'celebrity' but to sue the NHS is a disgrace -he should have had this, had that, been sent here or there to be helped but he did not help himself when he was able to.