14 DAY TRIAL // Michael Hebranko is perhaps the world's most famous yo-yo dieter, having shed over the years no less than 4,004 lbs (1,816 kg) in total. Today, he's dying of organ failure, after his weight ballooned again.
Today, Hebranko weighs 558 lbs (266.7 kg) and doctors have already warned him and his long-suffering wife that they should probably come to terms with the idea that he won't live to see 60.
He is now 58 years old.
In an interview cited by the Huffington Post, Hebranko says he's more or less at peace with the idea that he doesn't have long to live.
However, he wants to use his own example to sound the alarm on the dangers of obesity: for a man whose weight bounced back and forth for years, he knows what he's talking about.
“My wife, Madeleine and I have been told to put our affairs in order,” he says.
Madeleine is the sole breadwinner of the house. A cancer survivor, she works a desk job for 12 hours and then comes home to care for her husband, who is bedridden and requires around the clock care.
During the day, he has a nurse who does that. In the evening, Madeleine steps in.
Mr. Hebranko sleeps with an oxygen tank by his bedside and has so many health problems he won't even get into them.
He's spent years in hospitals and is the record holder for the most weight lost at once. He was crowned with Highest Recorded Weight Loss title in the Guinness Book of Records after fitness guru Richard Simmons put him on a strict 1,200 calorie a day diet.
Before that, he was known to ingest over 13,000 calories a day – the amount a healthy man needs to survive for an entire week.
He relapsed on the very day the Guinness Book acknowledged his record, “treating” himself to a hamburger and chips.
Today, he is dying because of a lifelong addiction to food.
“If I lose the weight, my heart may improve slightly and my kidneys and liver could start functioning normally. If I can see my grandchildren grow up that would mean the world to me,” he says.
“I want everyone to know that obesity is a disease. If you’ve got it, get help straight away. You don’t want to end up like me,” Mr. Hebranko adds.
Madeleine believes that, if he did before, he can do it again.