Half-ton Mexican man loses 200 pounds

MONTERREY, Mexico — Health officials said Manuel Uribe weighed 1,235 pounds when he made a desperate plea for help on national television in January.

Unable to leave his bed for five years, the 41-year-old mechanic in the northern industrial city of Monterrey longed to move again.

His plea was answered by doctors and nutritionists who prescribed a high-protein diet, helping him lose about 200 pounds since then.

Gilberto Montiel, health secretary for Nuevo Leon state, said medical officials have been monitoring Uribe’s weight and confirmed the loss.

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“I feel better now, I can stretch and move a bit more,” Uribe said Monday, flanked by Dr. Barry Sears, creator of “The Zone” diet, who came to check on his progress.

Still, Uribe said he has just enough energy to sit up and move the sheet that covers his body. His goal is to lose another 770 pounds.

Uribe was a chubby kid, weighing more than 250 pounds as an adolescent. Starting in 1992, he said, his weight began ballooning further.

Uribe drew worldwide attention when he appeared on the Televisa television network in January.

For the last five years, Uribe has been bedridden. He keeps a television and a computer he uses to update his Web site near his iron bed.

“People think that I can eat a whole cow but it’s not just overeating, it’s also a hormonal problem,” Uribe said. “For now, I’ll keep doing the diet and if I get stuck I’ll consider the surgery.”