With the dawn of fast food, unhealthy eating and lifestyle, human beings have been putting on weight since the ancient times. While the imbalance between energy release and calorie intake makes a person gain weight, most of extreme overweight cases are caused by genetics and hormonal imbalance.
Below is a list of the most obese people who weigh 440 kilograms and beyond, as documented in history.
25. Andres Moreno
Andres Moreno of Sonora, Mexico weighed 444 kg at his heaviest. Born in 1977, died in 2015 due to a fatal heart attack.
In his life, he tried his best to lose weight and was eventually successful – he lost 120 kg through natural methods. Cristiano Ronaldo, a Portuguese football player, even gave him a signed shirt in support of his slimming down.
He also underwent an operation with the hopes of losing 79 kg and finding a partner in life. Moreno was rushed to San Jose hospital on Christmas day of 2015, from his residence in Sonora, Mexico and died in the ambulance.
24. Denny Welch
Danny Welch from Hamilton, Ohio is considered as one of the heaviest men in the world – he weighed 444 kg at some point in time.
Born in 1960, he became famous when Jerry Springer arranged for him to be treated in a hospital after suffering from breathing ailments, high blood pressure and diabetes because of his obesity.
Due to his size, a wall from his house had to be torn down to get him out and had to have help from 10 people because he could not walk. Before reaching the hospital, however, Welch died in the ambulance. He was 37 when he died in 1998.
23. Paul Mason
Paul Mason is a 54-year-old man from Ipswich Suffolk,United Kingdom that, even with his immense weight, still lives to this day.
At his heaviest, he weighed an astonishing 444 kg. He underwent a gastric bypass in 2010, and within five years he was able to 292 kg. When he lost weight, he flew to the United States to re-unite with Rebecca Mountain, his fiancée.
Since then, however, the couple have broken up. He blamed his inability to get motivated in his relationship with his fiancée. In 2014, he weighed 140 kg, a 304 kg loss from his heaviest. He then decided to undergo an operation in 2015 to have his loose skin removed.
22. Keith Martin
Weighing at 444 kg, Keith Martin admits that his weight problems had to do with eating large amounts of cheap fast food.
He was bedridden for many years because of his enormous size. In 2014, he had a gastric sleeve operation which successfully reduced his weight to 247 kg.
However, he succumbed to pneumonia 2 weeks after the operation and died in March 2014 at the age of 44.
21. Jose Luis Garza
Jose Luis, in all his 449 kg glory, once said that he had always had difficulty with dealing with his weight after his parents died only 2 weeks apart.
He became depressed and resorted into binge eating to cope. He suffered a complication in 2008 and to be able for him to be brought to the hospital, rescuers had to break down his bedroom wall be placed at the back of a large truck. He did not reach the hospital and died on the way there.
20. Michael Edelman
Michael Edelman’s weight peaked at 451 kg, and was considered as one heaviest man in history. His mother, also suffering from obesity at 181 kg., asked for help on a December night because his son fell on the floor and couldn’t get up.
This scene was reported on tabloid the next day when reporters and cameras took pictures of him and his mother. Since that day in 1987, their lives were ruined – they were shunned by people and evicted from their home.
Michael stopped eating because of shame, and was able to reduce his weight to 272 kg. He succumbed to pneumonia and malnutrition 1992 at 28.
19. Catrina Raiford
Catrina Raiford weighed a staggering 454 kg at one point in her life. She was bedridden for five years. She, since then, has lost an unbelievable 228 kg.
At present, she’s working hard to lose the 63 kg of the excess skin and fat.
She says that she feels more confident and has a happy outlook in life now that she has lost weight.
18. Sylvanus Smith
Born in 1941 in the US, Sylvanus Smith died in 1995 after weighing 454 kg. To bring him to the hospital, he had to be transported using a forklift truck.
Upon his first confinement he lost 136 kg. but gained it back at home.
He wanted to marry his fiancée and tried desperately to lose weight, but due to his many health problems, he died in his sleep.
17. David Ron High
This man from Brooklyn, New York had his heaviest at 454 kg.
He was born in 1953 but eventually died in 1996 because of health issues less than a month after a weight-loss program.
His greatest success story was when he lost weight and weighed 196 kg. After a year of fasting complemented with a diet of fruits and vegetables.
He said he was fat since he was born and only ate one meal a day – a meal consisted solely of pizza with spaghetti on top of it.
16. Mills Darden
This guy from North Carolina born in 1799 and died in 1857 had his heaviest weight at 463 kg. He suffered from a genetic disease known as acromegalic giant, thus he was called as the tallest man in North Carolina.
He was energetic and active until he was forced to remain at home in 1838. Darden was six times as heavy and 30 percent taller than the average male American. He got married and had 3 children.
15. Mike Parteleno
Struthers, Ohio’s Mike Parteleno’s heaviest was recorded at 464 kg. He was born in 1957 and was a favorite of many people in belly-flop contests.
He said he managed to decrease his weight to 159 kg after one year of fruit juice diet and the use of Bahamian Diet Powder regimen.
He was even awarded for losing the most weight among the participants.
14. Andre Nasr
This heavyweight Australian weighed 468 kg. At his heaviest and is still living today.
He was determined to lose weight after he was hospitalized and had to be lifted out of his house because he was bedridden.
He went on a diet and in a year, he lost 199 kg. As of 2015, he weighs 269 kg. His goal is to trim it down further to 118 kg.
13. Kenneth Brumley
This man from the United States recorded 468 kg. on the weighing scale. He was born in 1968 and is still living because of his determination to lead a healthy life.
He was bedridden for 4 years in a Texas Renaissance hospital where he underwent a bypass surgery. He lost 76 kg. in 40 days and was on a restricted diet of 1,200 calories per day.
12. Mayra Rosales
Another woman from the United States who weighed of 470 kg. in her peak. Now, she has gone down to about 98 kg. in weight.
Mayra was once called as the “half-ton killer” after she took the blame on the accidental killing of her nephew to protect her sister.
After investigations, her sister Jamie admitted to the crime and was sentenced to be in prison for 15 years. Since then, Mayra promised to get healthier so she can take care of her sister’s other children.
11. Rosalie Bradford
This woman born on 1944 in the United States and weighed 477 kg. at her peak. She was actually an exercise trainer, but continued gaining weight despite the exercise activity.
She underwent an intestinal bypass surgery which resulted in serious complications. After the surgery she steadily gained weight but after she experienced heart failure, she was finally persuaded to go on a five year diet by Richard Simmons.
She went down to 136 kg. and this put her on a world’s record for losing weight. She died in 2006 in a hospital in Lakeland at 63 from complications of obesity.
10. Robert Earl Hughes
This 485 kg. gentle man from the United States was born in 1926 and died in 1958 due to kidney failure after having measles.
Although he started his life at 5 kg., he slowly increased in weight until he reached 429 kg. at age 27.
He became a national celebrity because of his weight and of his custom-made blue jeans.
9. Patrick Deuel
Peaking at 486 kg is American Patrick Deuel. He was born on March 28, 1962 and had a normal weight of 3 kg. However, his appetite grew through time.
His doctor put him on a crash- diet but he often cheated. He underwent gastric bypass surgery to reduce absorption of calories which lost him 54 kg. He hopes to have a decrease of 45 kg. once his excess skin will be removed.
8. Michael Hebranko
Michael Hebranko weighed a staggering 499 kg in his peak. Hebranko was born in 1953 and died in 2013. He had a normal weight at birth but at 16 he already weighed 158 kg.
Richard Simmons, a diet promoter, helped him go from 411 kg. to 90 kg. Hebranko underwent panniculectomy to remove fat tissue from his chest, legs and arms and lost 22 kg. He died in 2013 due to complications of obesity at the age of 60.
7. Francis John Lang aka Michael Walker
538 kg. was Francis John Lang’s record weight. He was born in 1934 and was a soldier in Korea when he was only at 68 kg.
He said that the cause for his weight gain was due to his abuse of prescription drugs. He was hospitalized in Houston in 1972 due a suspected heart attack.
Doctors found out he had an inflamed gallbladder, resulting from his attempt to lose weight. Lang had reportedly reduce his weight to 167 kg. in 1980.
6. Walter Hudson
At 543 kg., Walter Hudson surprised everyone. His waist circumference was at 9 ft. 11 in., the largest ever recorded.
He was born in 1944 and died in 1991 spending most of his 27 years in bed because he suffered agoraphobia. According to doctors he was extraordinarily healthy even with his massive weight. Diet promoters and celebrities claimed to have helped him to lose some amount of his weight.
In 1991, however, he died in his sleep after many years of irregular starvation dieting. He was planning to get married.
5. Robert Butler
Robert Butler weighed 544 kg in his peak. He was born in 1972 with a normal weight, but when he was a teenager he got addicted to eating.
In 2006, Butler’s weight soared to 408 kg. He had been moved to a nursing home as he tried to reduce his weight before he can undergo the gastric bypass operation.
Instead of losing weight at the nursing home, he gained weight. Doctors would not agree on doing the surgery on him. He died in 2015 of complications brought about by obesity.
4. Carol Yager
727 kg! Carol Yager weighed such in her peak. However, she was also known to have lost most the most weight naturally in the shortest recorded time: 236 kg in a span of 3 months.
According to Yager she had this eating disorder as a result of being sexually abused in her younger years. Yager died in 1994 of kidney failure, with her weight at 544 kg. and at the age of 34.
At the time of her death, rescue personnel had to take out the picture window in her room, which was located at the front of her house in order to get her body out.
3. Manuel Uribe Garza
Manuel Uribe Garza was born in 1965 and died in 2014 with his peak weight of 597 kg. He was bedridden since 2002.
He lost about 230 kg., which is close to half of his body weight, when he went on a diet program in February of 2008.
People all over the world knew him after he made a request on television that encouraged assistance from the public and private sector. Despite his effort to lose weight, he died of liver failure, weighing 394 kg.
2. Khalid Bin Mohsen Shaari
610 kg garners Khalid Bin Mohsen Shaari the second place on this list. His BMI was the highest ever documented at 204.
King Abdullah ordered for his transfer from his home to Riyadh to undergo treatment for his severe obesity.
In Riyadh, he was able to lose 320 kg. in just 6 months.
1. Jon Brower Minnoch
Jon Brower Minnoch is the heaviest person ever recorded in history, weighing a shocking 635 kg. He was born in 1991, and at 12 years old, Minnoch already weighed 133 kg.
At 22 his weight was 178 kg. He continued to gain weight until he was hospitalized in 1978 because of respiratory and cardiac failure. In the same year, he got married and had 2 children. However, later on he suffered massive general edema and was again taken to a hospital.
He recovered from this and was put on a diet, and was able to lose 419 kg. However, after a year, he gained weight again and suffered edema which was not curable. He died at the age of 41, weighing 362 kg. with a BMI of 105.3.