Heavyweight loses half his weight
<p>By He Na (China Daily) <br /><br />
Changchun -- Yang Chang stands 1.7m tall - and tips the scales at 120kg. <br />
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That puts him in the very, very obese category but the 34-year-old Beijing native is still very, very happy. <br />
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That's because only last year, Yang weighed in at 240 kg - and was dubbed the Fattest Man in China. <br />
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That was the time, Yang recalled, he had to enter even broad doorways sideways; and took up three seats in a bus. <br />
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"When I took taxis, the drivers always made fun of me and said I was tilting the balance of the car," Yang said. <br />
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Because of his condition, he lost his job as a mechanic at a steel company last year, and had to subsist on the minimum living allowance granted by the local government. <br />
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His 2-m waistline was greeted with curiosity and amazement wherever he went. People pointed to him and sniggered behind his back. <br />
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Possibly born with an obesity gene, Yang said he easily outgrew his classmates at elementary school; he weighed 170 kg when he graduated from a technical school in 1997. <br />
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The following year proved to be tragic: His mother died, and his girlfriend dumped him and went abroad. <br />
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Reeling under the double blow, Yang found solace in eating more and confined himself completely to his room for months. <br />
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"I could easily wolf down half a kg of rice and 1.5 kg meat at a time." <br />
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His weight started soaring, and peaked at 240 kg, making him the fattest man in China. <br />
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"I hadn't noticed the change until one day I suddenly found that I couldn't put my leg in my trousers." <br />
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He tried many ways to lose weight; but soon after he shed a few kilograms he would then put it back on again. <br />
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He even adopted desperate measures. <br />
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"Somebody told me that staying up late at night could help lose weight, so I kept doing that for 10 days. Finally, my friends took me to hospital." <br />
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He was at his wits' end when last November, he entered a national competition for "charming fat people", where one of the prizes was free treatment at Changchun Kangda Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital. <br />
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He hasn't been the same since. <br />
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"We worked out a special treatment plan combining acupuncture with 'fire treatment'," said Yu Shuzhong, a doctor who explained the process <br />
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"We place a wet towel sprinkled with fat-reducing herbs on the belly. Then the herb is burnt, which produces heat and spreads into Yang's skin through the towel, helping reduce fat little by little. <br />
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"Meanwhile, we forced him to go to bed and wake up early everyday. We controlled his diet, devised a nutrition menu and cut his food intake to the amount eaten by normal people, and gradually increased his exercise," Yu said. <br />
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"Yang is a determined man. Our treatment wouldn't have been such a big success without his collaboration," Yu said. <br />
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Symptoms which usually accompany obesity, such as angina, high blood sugar and fatty liver have also eased greatly, and Yang's organs are functioning normally, the doctor aid. <br />
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"Losing weight is a painful and boring task, I almost gave up when I spent the Spring Festival alone in the hospital this year. But after a rethink, I decided to stick to the end," Yang said. <br />
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Now that he has almost succeeded, Yang has raised the bar. "I plan to continue the treatment for another six months to cut my weight to 90 kg," he said. <br />
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Yu said the goal is realistic and practical, and could even be 70 kg. <br />
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To share his experience and help provide hope to more people like him, Yang set up a QQ chat group and made many friends. <br />
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During his long and lonely struggle, Yang said one piece of news brought him great cheer. <br />
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Mexican Manuel Uribe, listed the world's fattest man in the 2007 Guinness Book of Records, got married last month after shedding 230 kg from the original 590 kg. <br />
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"I hope I am as lucky as him and find my love," Yang said. <br />
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China's overweight population has reportedly doubled in the past 11 years, and stands at 325 million this year.<br />
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