World's ex-fattest man poses nude in bid to get 112 pounds of extra skin removed

Paul Mason, 52, of England, once weighed nearly 1,000 pounds but lost 644 through gastric bypass. But he says his chances at a healthy, active life are being squashed by the 112 pounds of loose skin he still carries around.

Once named the world's fattest man, Paul Mason has nothing more to lose — except 112 pounds of loose, sagging skin.

Now he's posing in the nude to draw attention to his plight.

The 52-year-old man from Suffolk, U.K., weighed 980 pounds at his heaviest but lost 644 through a gastric bypass surgery that shrank his stomach to the size of an egg.

Mason's weight loss surgery was paid for through England's National Health Service, but the removal of his excess skin — an operation to the tune of $100,000 — won't be covered until he has kept the weight off for two years.

In the meantime, he says, his condition is not only embarrassing but painful.

Paul Nixon 'Once I get rid of the spare skin I also hope to be able to go swimming and cycling and join a gym — and find a girlfriend,' he says.

"I want health professionals to have a look and think, 'It's about time we helped this chap,'" Mason said.

"Around my middle and on my legs the skin keeps splitting because of the weight of it.
"People think skin will shrink back but it doesn't. If they find it shocking perhaps they will think twice [about gaining weight]."

The National Health Service relies upon a panel of clinicians and other experts to decide whether a patient qualifies for an operation, a spokesman for the group told The Sun, adding that a patient such as Mason must demonstrate "a stable weight before he or she is considered."

Mason has lost 644 pounds, but the government won't pay for Mason to get rid of his flappy skin until he proves he can keep the weight off.

Mason has been struggling with his weight since the mid-1980s, when he was in his 20s.
He began eating for comfort after a series of personal tragedies, including a breakup with a girlfriend, the death of his father and the deterioration of his mother's health.

At the height of his food addiction, he was estimated to be eating around 20,000 calories a day. He could no longer wash himself and was forced to wear diapers, which in-home caretakers changed for him.

He underwent gastric bypass in 2010, and in three years the weight fell off.
But he still suffers from a lack of mobility and painful sores due to the dramatic folds in his skin, which are putting a damper on what he hopes will become an active life.
"It is stopping me from being able to get on with my life," he told The Sun in January.
"Once I get rid of the spare skin I also hope to be able to go swimming and cycling and join a gym — and find a girlfriend."