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Man Who Weighs 1,000 Pounds Begins Incredible Weight Loss Battle

A man who once weighed more than half a ton has lost 321 pounds under the care of doctors, and he hopes to lose 450 more. Patrick Deuel, 42, of Valentine, Neb., weighed 1,072 pounds when he was admitted to a hospital eight weeks ago. Deuel, who is just under 6 feet tall, is on a 1,200 calorie-a-day diet. He has battled heart problems, thyroid problems, diabetes, pulmonary hypertension and arthritis, and he needed help just to roll over in bed. Deuel, who has battled weight problems all his life and blames his condition in part on genetics, said it took months to find a hospital, as hospitals close to his home would not admit him. The article doesn't say what makes up Deuel's 1,200 daily calories, but eliminating grains would be essential in this case. The body's storage capacity for carbohydrates is quite limited, so when you eat an excess of grains (and sugars) here's what happens to all the excess: they are converted, via insulin, into fat and stored in the adipose, or fatty, tissue. It looks like he got help just in time, and let's hope he continues to lose weight successfully.

The Seattle Times August 12, 2004