Half Ton Man

Half Ton Man

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Ratings: 7.00/10 from 27 users.

Half Ton ManWeighing the same as five baby elephants and a shade less than a Mini Cooper, Patrick Deuel is one of the heaviest men ever and a medical miracle. His heart and other organs should have collapsed long before he reached his record-breaking weight of 76 stone 8lbs. A wall has to be knocked out of his home so he can be taken to hospital – in a reinforced ambulance – where he is kept on a strict diet and loses a staggering 30 stone. After a gastric bypass operation he is sent home. It is now up to him to decide if he wants to live or carry on eating himself to death.

One of Patrick's supporters has been Rosalie Bradford, who was once the world's fattest woman. She was eight feet wide and could not leave the house. It was only when she realized her addiction to food was a response to being abandoned as a child that she lost an incredible 900 pounds.

Through the remarkable stories of Patrick and Rosalie, Body Shock anatomizes the science of extreme weight loss and the bewildering lives of the growing number of people who seem intent on eating themselves to death. Scientists think that years ago some people developed this fat gene to help them survive famine, but with today's high fat diet and couch potato lifestyle, that helpful gene has become something that can kill us.

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Whose eyes see. ?
Whose eyes see. ?
8 years ago

I understand the weight problem,it for some of you that don't want to understand ,be very careful with drugs ,sex ,tobacco,alcohol,porn,etc.it is all the same be more understanding .it might sneake up on you one day and bite you on the butt so good luck with your outlook on other people

Turtlegirl
Turtlegirl
8 years ago

I can't figure out how a person can feed someone to death. Honestly, if someone was so fat they couldn't get out of bed, I'd tell him or her to get up and get it himself/herself.

Someone
Someone
9 years ago

After watching this, I don't feel like eating for a week.

POZZIMYSTIC
POZZIMYSTIC
11 years ago

This guy wasn't alive....laying there literally bursting at the seams. It should of never got that far. Sad

she
she
12 years ago

Part of the issue is these people also know nothing about nutrition. Please stop with the diet coke. I hate it when I go to a store and see somebody at the store with diet cookies, diet this, diet that. Dude, if you're on a diet you shouldn't be eating cookies. When I became a vegan all my cravings went away. I don't eat anything that comes out of a can or box. I make all my food. Stop shopping the isles people. Real food doesn't have a label.

Dw Neeks
Dw Neeks
12 years ago

there's millions of people on this planet suffering from starvation coz they have no choice, these people are obese they suffer their whole life then they die from overeating, God blessed us with a body to be able to navigate through life and understand its meaning but instead these people are destroying the body that God gave them and then turn around and say I love living and why did God do this to me when they are only eating out of boredom (why not cut ur wrist out of boredom, at least u wont suffer as much), people who eat out of boredom have no consideration or respect towards anyone who is starving on the other side of the world and as a result God implements Karma upon their eating addiction and they suffer their whole life then die in vain never knowing what the purpose of life was, as for me the purpose of life is to help the next human and in order to do that i keep my body and mind as healthy as possible, i live in Australia and have enough money to eat all day every day, but i only eat twice a day or sometimes if i'm being selfish i eat three times a day, The key is willpower and strict principles which is what most Americans lack due to the device that sits in the corner of their room which controls them, some call it "the hypnotist in the corner" others call it T.V i call it "a replacement for the average american brain" compliments of their government.

oh_so_screwed
oh_so_screwed
12 years ago

Fatties are going to be the "other" white meat when ZPOC goes down.

lemidona
lemidona
12 years ago

I was actually planing to eat cookies, but needless to say that no cookies were harmed during the watching of this video. I mean, it almost made me go on a diet. Almost! :)))
But really, the guy is very hard to empathize with: foul temper, completely dependent on mercy of other people, but he seems to think that he's in control and that they are acting out of fear of him. And the wife complements him perfectly to make sure that catastrophe is not avoided.
Very interesting story, I highly recommend it.

Steph Baron
Steph Baron
12 years ago

Patrick and his wife are despicable!!!! "Eat your chicken (KFC) it's protein" they deserve to be obese miserable and missing out on life when they're breaking the recommended nutritional guidelines like that. IDIOTS!!!!!

Steph Baron
Steph Baron
12 years ago

Patrick and his wife are despicable!!!! "Eat your chicken (KFC) it's protein" they deserve to be obese and miserable missing out on life when they're breaking the recommended nutritional guidelines like that. IDIOTS!!!!!

Jo Kent
Jo Kent
12 years ago

I watched 10 min of this and had to stop. As a health care professional I see my hospitals and aged care facilities filling up with people who refuse to take care of themselves, people who do things to their bodies to ruin them, and then they cry out for sympathy as if they have had no choice here!. I have dealt with eating disorders on both ends before and can empathize with the mental disorder that is anorexia, bulimia and over eating. After all, they all stem from the same mental issues. The thing that sickened me the most was he smoked!!! With everything the health system done for this man, he was smoking after all that! And whats with the friends and family. If he was laying in bed cramping up with dope sickness, would they bring him a shot of heroine? They may as well, it would cost the rest of us alot less to treat

emvoneuw
emvoneuw
12 years ago

I want to run into these peoples' homes and feed them raw food! This situation is a perfect example of American culture: depressing and pathetic; everything in excess EXCEPT education. There poor people know nothing about nutrition or really anything else. It all begins with education.

Godsclaws
Godsclaws
13 years ago

I understand this is a disorder and I tried to feel empathy for this man while watching this but I have to acknowledge that in reality all I could think was "what a sick fat bastard, how the hell could you be so weak???"

McBootster
McBootster
13 years ago

Why Why Why has this documentary not brought up the subject of the enabling people who feed the Obese? How could these supposedly loving spouses of these obviously obese and bedridden people keep plowing the food into the bedroom? These spouses should let the Fat yell and scream for more and ignore them!

sam
sam
13 years ago

I have a lot of empathy for people who struggle this way... except for this guy. He is big because he is an ignorant jerk and his wife is passive and submissive. He is an idiot. FEcal matter under his fingernails... is that someone else's fault too?

rkdus
rkdus
13 years ago

Obese people shouldn't justify their weight gain and elephant appetite on genetics. Otherwise we would see obesity all over the world. Really, it's not a coincidence that obesity is rampant in developed countries where food is cheap, and can be delivered right to your front door.
This man, however, can't really be compared with most of us. He probably has some deep-rooted psychological problems and should see a psychiatrist because his weight will most likely not be fixed solely with gastric-bypass. Something made him eat that 15,000+ calories daily, and when he reached a certain limit, he just gave up. I mean, this man is bleeding from his hands, and is drowning in his own fluids... He needs to talk to someone to find his motivation to live life. He's not happy. No one at 1000+lbs is happy, how can you be happy when you can't even talk, or barely breathe.
It's such a number of factors which added to his weight gain... his wife is obese too. They need counseling because, that pastor is right, it's practically assisted-suicide. They all just watched as he kill himself, and even fed him the poison. Just watch, he'll blame everyone but himself; his parents, his wife, his genetics... This man needs help to help himself.

Kumamori
Kumamori
13 years ago

To Michael and everyone else who want to lose weight: cut the bad carbs, mainly from cereal grains, and trans-fats out, sugars too, I'm talking about paleo diet. I excluded those three the best I could and lost 10-15 kilos even though I was trying to gain weight. My daddy took the same diet with a bit less natural fats than me and lost the same. Losing weight becomes harder the more you age, and you can't appreciate physical exercise enough in losing weight. Yet, what it's all about, is a lifestyle change and getting rid of an addiction, and it's way harder for you since an alcoholic doesn't need to drink in order to stay alive, a druggie doesn't need to use in order to stay alive, but you gotta eat in order to stay alive. You must recognice that difference and deal accordingly, whatever works for you.

Matt Kukowski
Matt Kukowski
13 years ago

Warning: Human situations consisting of disturbing and graphic images of total and absolute fat human people thingies. Do not say I didn't warn you.

stacy
stacy
13 years ago

who feeds him? how does he afford the food? I can barely afford to eat and I weight 135 and I work.

Anonymous
Anonymous
13 years ago

.... what a vile, ungrateful man.

Rislow
Rislow
13 years ago

Genetics my ARSE

Average guy
Average guy
13 years ago

Do you not notice at the 200 pund mark that maybe you should cut down on food intake and go for a run?
The calories does not sneak up on you, noone has ever gained weight whithout knowing. Eat less, move more, do not jojo-diet or give up, just turn it into a lifestyle!

Heather
Heather
13 years ago

to Suzie

Sadly it's complicated. From an outsider view it's always easy to point and make judgments. But when you can understand all the psychology behind it.. the partners are being like how anyone else would be with enduring a relationship like that. My mind is a bit rusty since I haven't seen this doc in a while. But With a pretty thorough understanding of eating disorders.. please just realize it's easy to point and judge without living through it.I do not blame the partners.

Suzie
Suzie
13 years ago

Why are the spouses of these people allowing them to eat all this disgusting food? My thoughts on that is that they enjoy the control factor. They like having their partner be completely dependant upon them to fulfil all their needs. Both the wives seemed less than happy when their partners were getting smaller and more independant. I don't care how much they are hassled to buy food, its still their choice when their partner is bedridden to sit by their bedside and hand feed them the poison they put into their mouths. Both the obese people and their partners have issues, and they are matched because they both get their needs met.

Bryan
Bryan
13 years ago

He doesn't eat high fat or high salt and he says this after finishing a notoriously high-fat, high-sodium KFC meal. hmmm.. I would be super curious if people with compulsion to eat were given leafy greens and fruit and nuts, like a rawfood diet, would they pack on the pounds? I seriously doubt it. I would like to see that experiment where a compulsive pleasure eater was given nothing but a Raw-food diet, even as much as they could eat. I bet the fat would drip like melting water as there is so few calories in a whole BULKY head of broccoli or celery. I would pay good money to see that action.

Bryan
Bryan
13 years ago

Poverty helps keep the weight off. I am out of a job and let me tell you, I have cut my calories big time. I'm leaner than I have been in 10 years.

Alex
Alex
13 years ago

Also, at 15:00 when he's talking about the easiest way to alienate him is to forbid him something and he'll rip you to shreds, I was like: that's a lotta vinegar from someone who was wallowing in his own blood and s@#$ until they removed a wall to get him to hospital.

Alex
Alex
13 years ago

I agree with what some people have stated above. This guy seems to be in serious denial, blaming his insane weight on genetics.
Throughout human history, genes have remained relatively static, yet obesity, heart disease and the other so-called ailments of affluence have skyrocketed in developed societies in the past two generations.

Sure, genetics determine basic body type and fat deposition, but mr Deuel is FAAAR beyond that, as are a significant portion of the wobbling masses in the developed world.

Blaming others is a typical symptom when in dire straights, but I think we all know that by using our bodies and eating reasonably (i.e. NOT the quantities that this guy feasts on) we can all enjoy relatively good health.

Also, his relationship with his wife shows elements of codependency, which I think played a big part in how he ended up.

Son Of Scotland
Son Of Scotland
13 years ago

Bad State Tae Get Yerself Into

Heather
Heather
14 years ago

You have to not forget that food does things for the brain. It lifts serotonin levels and will make someone feel much better.

If you can imagine how depressed and unhappy you would feel about your self...well then food can become the drug that makes you feel good. The problem is after your done eating it and the pleasure receptors are not receiving all that goodness you feel very crappy again. So then you need more food. It's a terrible cycle. You start living for the food, because thats basically the only time your feeling content. It really starts working like any other drug.

Abby
Abby
14 years ago

I've gotten interested in why people become so obese and from a layman's point of view it appears to be a combination of addiction to food, denial about that addiction and the accompanying weight gain and having someone who enables them. Everyone profiled in this video has a partner who feeds them who is also in denial about their weight. Billy Robbins, the Half Ton Son, has a mother who can't stop feeding him. It seems that for these enablers food = love. I love him/her so I provide lots and lots of the food they love.

I'm heavy, but its a combination of a love of food and an inability to exercise enough due to a mild handicap. I get up to a certain point, feel uncomfortable and go on a diet. My ex-husband and his brother don't seem to have anything that says "stop eating." Both are very obese and my ex is headed upward rapidly in spite of having his weight cause him nearly constant back pain. The brother lost weight after a severe illness but is still very heavy. They have a mom who equates food with love (ex lives with her now.) She can't seem to see the damage she has done and is doing to her "boys." It would appear that the entire family needs counseling and emotional support in order for the morbidly obese person to lose the weight and keep it off. You can't help but gain when your wife is bringing you buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken, even if she does only think of it as "protein."

Maestro Sierra
Maestro Sierra
14 years ago

I want to know why are families letting their love ones get this big? Don't they love this individual enough to help him before it got worse. Of course I'm going by the notion that this is a long road and not an overnight phenomenon. Clearly this man had let himself (and possible everyone in his life) go.

There is also the reason that maybe no one truly loved or cared for him so he found comfort in food. This is why I tell everyone I meet how nice they look or how beautiful they are. Everyone has beauty in one way or another so f*ck off you pessimists. Some people can't understand or can't believe how powerful of a tool a complement is against any addiction. We're so focus on flaws or commenting others so negatively we forget that for some people (like the man in this documentary) it can trigger that emotion to eat more or become addicted to something else.

I don't feel bad, pity, resentful or hateful towards this man, because I don't know him personally. However I do feel that people need to calm down and find in their heart to help/love a fellow human being before it's too late. I truly believe that the eating habits of people can be easily triggered in both ways due to being alone or unloved... or being with someone or loved. I know before I found my mate I was really heavy I was 150, then after having my mate and being with him I lost most of it. I'm now 130-35 because of him and yes I'm still losing the weight. Due to his love for me, I wanted to lose more weight, so I could be with him longer (diabetes, high cholesterol, cancer and heart disease run wild in both my mother and father side). Love does a lot of good, so the next time you meet your co-worker (who you know is exercising and being healthy)complement him or her and say "Wow you look great." it'll change both of your lives.

BTW to the poster of this video, thank you so much for posting this video. Peace be with you.

Maestro Sierra
Maestro Sierra
14 years ago

To Heather
I don't know what to say to that... it's really a first for me to read someone whose been on both ends. All I can say though is good for you for seeking treatment and fighting this. Also don't believe in the BMI mythology because each clinic and site has a different number and that can screw your mind (believe me one BMI chart stated I should be 90 ibs), so don't go by it. Again I'm happy that you're recovering. It's no easy task... no matter what one is recovering from.

To Kell Brigan
Though I agree with you on that people need to be educated and not judge/shove people into a single category, as well as to be informed that doctors themselves are puzzled by Obesity and are heavily underfunded in this branch of research, because lets face it breasts are sexier than something as complex as genes, brains and fat... I disagree that Obesity is a myth or that it's healthy. Obesity is anything but a myth and healthy. It's not a myth because we see it everyday. Shoot I see it when I walk the hallways of my university. It's mainly men who have eating disorders... either eating too much or eating too little. It's disgusting really. I could see why female students rather have a vibrator for a boyfriend. Anyways Obesity is also not healthy. I know this from my experience with my grandmother. She develop diabetes due to her weight and is now losing her sight.
Now with that said... I think you're heading for a good direction in the sense that people have to stop pointing fingers and say that being overweight (yes there is a difference between overweight and obesity)can be easily solved just by eating less and exercise more. I've tried the starvation diet and it doesn't work. I also tried propositioning my in-take sizes and exercise like a lab rat (3 hrs a day which pissed my mate off). At the end of it all, all I manage to do was to kick start my body in storing more fat and developed schizophrenia, which shocked my doctor btw. He never knew schizophrenia can be triggered by switching diets, but apparently you can. At least there is a pill to control the voices, but not the fat, huh? :D Just a little humor for ya. Anyways being Obese and being overweight are completely different. Overweight is harder to control, whereas Obesity is a life choice. Sorry but it is. Obese people can lose a little bit of weight on their own simply from eating less and excising more... HOWEVER when they do loss the weight and they stay at an overweight range it'll be harder for them to continue to loss that weight in order to be at a normal weight range... watch the documentary "Fat: What No One Is Telling You" for more info on that.

Again you're very right that people need to inform themselves a bit more on the topic and not jump into any conclusions or be judgmental.

Heather
Heather
14 years ago

All this is more complicated then it appears. Everyones body is different. Everyone has a different set point weight, every one has different genetics. Then you add the fact there is all the terrible foods that have been manufactured. Then you take into account emotional issues different people have. for some people things just line up that they are far more prone to becoming extremely over weight.

I have a food addiction and it is complete hell. I have been in counseling and now in a rehab group for addictions. I always say that it's crazy that i am not over weight. I have been suffering with an eating disorder for a very long time. For most of the time I was suffering with bulimia and anorexic tendencies. Then for the last year I have not left my house except to counseling. I was only sitting around sleeping and compulsively over eating uncontrollably.

The highest my weight went up was around 140 and i'm 5f5. It's insane the amounts I can eat and i can't control it, even my insides would bleed and i would be in some much pain. my body felt very ill. It was a coping mechanism to numb emotional pain. my eating disorder has shifted back into bulimia and anorexic tendencies now because unless i am under 120 i will not leave my house. I emotionally under stand allot of the hell that compulsive over eaters are faced with even though I have never been very big to societies standards. But i suffer from a food addiction. For a drug addict you can try to get your addiction out of your life but with food you have to have it to survive.

It would be so much easier if i didn't have to eat and i could just avoid food. It's easier for me to not eat at all then to try to eat normal amounts of food. By looking at me, people would have no idea the crap I go through. I hate it when friends i would be out with would make fun of someone who was chubby or overweight. As much as i hate to have any fat on my body I can't stand when anyone insults someone who is bigger.

I have known large people who ate less and healthier then someone who was very thin who ate lots of junk food. I guess what i am trying to say is food addiction affect all kinds of people sadly certain people it shows and they get all this negative mean attention. Where i get compliments all the time about having such a great body and being pretty yet it's because they don't know how messed up i am and how Food had taken over my life.It affects my family and anyone close to me. My body has to be fit and thin otherwise i don't want to be seen at all.

I can't live with food, but at the same time I wouldn't be able to live without it. It's just hell and i wish this madness would stop. I am going to keep going down my the road to recovery but it's very slow and i know i will still have to deal with aspects of it my whole life. I just have to keep fighting through it if i want to live.

Garth
Garth
14 years ago

Kell who are you trying to convince...yourself maybe? the proof is as easy as eating over your calories that your body burns and you gain weight. You eat under that number of calories you lose weight. And the smoking gun is when his wife in the documentary says he isn't on a special diet but is suppose to eat only a certain amount of calories a day and when asked how many are in his breakfast she is making for him and she sais she doesn't know!! Seriously..OMG

Charles B.
Charles B.
14 years ago

That's good advice. That MSG is just in everything now. It's so hard to stop eating when you still feel "hungry". I wonder if it's in the school cafeteria food? I bet it is. What a depressing thought.

Someone that lost weight
Someone that lost weight
14 years ago

doctors dont know that their diets are wrong, thats why the cravings dont stop.
The answer is: MSG (glutamate) , aspartame and sugar. They put msg in every food and it increases appetite. They drink aspartame and is does the same and sugar increases appetite by increasing insulin. Stop eating food with those 3 ingredients and your cravings disappear in less then a week. Beware that MSG can appear with different names like hydrolyzed protein, corn starch, search in Google for MSG hidden names. Aspartame is a sweetener. I lost a LOT of weight when i found out

Ian
Ian
14 years ago

I agree with Luke. The smoking gun here in this documentary is the part when Mr. Duels wife is making him breakfast and the crew asks her how many calories are in that breakfast, to which she immediatly replies "I have no idea." Go ahead, put two and two together.

Luke
Luke
14 years ago

Kell, you are the one who is misinformed. Even if there is a 'fat gene' as the documentary points out, it's effect is that it makes the individual want to eat more. From a biological perspective, there is NO WAY that Patrick Duel could have gained that much weight unless his calorie intake was enormous. He is delusional for telling the documentary crew that he eats average portions. It is irresponsible for anyone to consume that much food and lie about it. It only makes other overweight people rationalize their lazy, sedentary lifestyle. To Mr. Duel and others I would suggest going for a run instead of stuffing yourself with food. There are people dying of hunger everyday, and behavior like overeating is what makes Americans look ignorant and lame.

jkaz
jkaz
14 years ago

Richard, you are correct. Obesity has everthing to do with gluttony and very little to do with genetics. If you accept that obesity is genetic then the proportion of the popoulation that is obese should remain relatively stable. The fact is obesity rates are increasing rapidly. We are consuming more calories and buring less.

Obesity is NOT harmless, it is associated with cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis and certain types of cancer etc.

Kell Brigan, you are deluding yourself and you need to get help.

richard
richard
14 years ago

A well done microscopic view of an immense problem. Viewing this program has no doubt propelled me to move more and eat less, a lot less.
It's amazing to me how people really don't notice how big their getting while their getting bigger. Or the reasons they have been confined to a bed for years on end. Richard Simmons has used his celebrity to help people in serious trouble, he must be lauded for doing so. A comment to Kell Brigan. Your comment deserves little respect. You must be morbidly obese and need help. Don't feel bad. Just take those difficult steps to a new and different life. The only hurtful lie is the one your telling yourself.

Karenep
Karenep
14 years ago

This was an amazing documentary and it gave me a lot to think about! I have always been thin, by God's grace. No one gains weight overnight but it is over a period of time a little extra here and there without excercise or an active lifestyle would just pack in the pounds slowly but surely. Before you realize it, you end up obsese. It has and will always be a question of calories. Whether the reason is emotional eating, greed or whatever, you put on weight by eating too much calories and having too little activity and exercise in your life. I was really shocked and floored to see such frightening obsesity in this documentary. It is interesting to note that God puts greed and drunkardness in the same category which is sin. May God always give me the grace to have self control as it is the fruit of the Spirit!

Kell Brigan
Kell Brigan
15 years ago

There is no way this man is eating6-8000 calories a day, every day. That SOME people are accusing him of choosing to be fat, at any level, is absolutely disgusting. That those same bigots and fools would mutilate his body, in respose to some sick need of their own, is terrifying. Gastrointestinal mutilation, aka "bypass" IS MURDER. GI mutilation kills and maims and ruiins lives. The death rate for fat people who GI mutilated is 250% HIGHER that of people with the exact same profile who are left unmaimed, and thousands of more are left maimed and permanently disabled. GET EDUCATED. Fatness is primarily genetic, usually harmless, and has nothing to do with gluttony. NO ONE EVER ANYWHERE HAS PROVED THAT FAT PEOPLE EAT MORE OR DIFFERENTLY THAN AVERAGE-WEIGHT PEOPLE, AND "OVERWEIGHT" PEOPLE ARE HEALTHIER THAN AVERAGE WEIGHT PEOPLE, AND THE SICKEST OF ALL ARE THOSE WHO ARE THE THINNEST. GET EDUCATED. GET EDUCATED. GET EDUCATED. Google "The Obesity Myth", "Big Fat Lies" and the Junk Food Science blog. DON'T BELIEVE THESE DANGEROUS, HATEFUL LIES!!!!!!!

Theri
Theri
15 years ago

This was a great documentary! It's saddening how a lot of people around the world are obese! This documentary really nailed Morbid obescity! Thank you