One big resolution: world’s fattest man aims for half

Mexican 32-year-old Juan Pedro Franco, who weighs almost 500 kilograms (1100 pounds) answers questions during a press conference at the hospital in Guadalajara, Mexico on December 21, 2016.
Franco, who suffers from extreme obesity and has remained six years confined to bed, unable to walk, is being assessed by doctors and will begin a special diet and exercise routine with the aim to lose 59 kilograms before undergoing a by-pass biliopancreatic diversion in two times in June 2017. AFP PHOTO

ZAPOPAN, Mexico—A Mexican man believed to be the world’s most obese plans to undergo gastric bypass in the new year and reduce his 590 kilos (1,300 pounds) by half, his doctor said Wednesday.

The man known as Juan Pedro has diabetes, high blood pressure and chronic lung obstruction, and needs to reduce his weight dramatically to reduce his health risks, doctor Jose Castaneda Cruz said.

He said the man, who does not give his family names to media, would actually undergo a couple procedures along the way.

“It’s surgery that is going to be done in two parts. That is because of the high risk of complications he faces. So it’s going to be done in two parts, six months apart,” Castaneda told reporters.

READ: ‘World’s fattest man’ to undergo life-saving treatment

In the first procedure, surgeons will remove more than three-quarters of the patient’s stomach.

And in the second procedure, his remaining stomach will be partially blocked, helping to give a feeling of fullness. Juan Pedro would also undergo intestinal surgery, his doctor said.

Castaneda wants him to lose 59 kilos in the first six months, which alone reduces his risk of obesity-related cancer by 52 percent.

Juan Pedro, 32, has a good chance of losing half his body weight by about six months after his first surgery, according to his medical team.

“Slowly but surely, I’ll get there,” Juan Pedro told reporters./rga