- He ate 20,000 calories a day - ten times the recommended intake for a man
- £100k-a-year care costs have racked up £1m bill for taxpayers
- 'I've always said there's a thin man inside all of this packaging'
The world's fattest man has told how the break up of a relationship with an older woman spurred him to binge eat his way to 70 stone. But it is the British taxpayer who should be the one feeling heartbroken.
Paul Mason, from Ipswich, was given life-saving bypass surgery last year and now weighs a comparatively slim 37 stone. But his care bill costs taxpayers an estimated £100,000 a year and is believed to have topped £1million over the last 15 years
The 50-year-old former postman, who now travels by motorised wheelchair after being bedridden for years, claims his gargantuan size was not down to greed but the heartbreak he went through in his youth.
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Fattest man: Paul Mason pictured weighing at least 60 stone prior to a life-changing operation
Binge eater: A documentary about Britain's fattest man Paul Mason will air on Channel 4 this week
At the worst of his compulsive eating, Mr Mason was devouring a shocking 20,000 calories a day, funding his gorging through stealing money from letters at a sorting office until he was dismissed before convincing his mother to take out a second mortgage.
His breakfast alone would be enough to exhaust the appetites of most normal people, comprising an entire packet of bacon, four sausages and four eggs complete with bread and hash browns.
Lunch would involve quadruple portions of fish and chips along with two kebabs while Mr Mason would munch on roast dinners, curries, pizza and more chips for his evening meal.
Constant snacking throughout the day added to his astonishing calorie intake, with up to 40 packets of crisps, sausage rolls and pasties keeping his hunger pangs at bay in between his enormous meals.
But after gastric surgery put huge restrictions on the amount his stomach can consume, Mr Mason has spoken of the romantic pain that he believes inspired his binge eating.
HIS FRIDAY ORDER AT AN IPSWICH FISH AND CHIP SHOP
Four large cod
Four battered sausages
Six large portions of chips
Two pies
Mushy peas and curry sauce
All washed down with bottles of Coke
'This 24-hour eating was triggered by something that happened in my 20s,' he told The Sun. 'You could say that I ate to fill a crack in my heart.
'I met a woman when I was 21 and she made my world complete. She was different to other women I'd met. She was 39, much older than me. It still hurts to speak about what happened.
'I called her Char. I adored her and thought, "Right, that's it for the rest of my life".
'She had a house, which we spent time doing up. Then, out of the blue, once I'd helped her finish the place, she broke it off.'
'This was in 1986, when I was 26. I should have become suspicious because she instantly found another chap and became engaged to him soon after.'
Mr Mason's father died in the ensuing months and a deterioration in his mother's health saw him turn to comfort eating, a compulsion than later saw him forced to quite his job as a postman when his weight prevented him from completing his deliveries.
He was transferred to a sorting office where he worked until 1989 when he was sacked and imprisoned for six months for stealing from customers' letters.
Compulsive eater: Mr Mason was disowned by his family after persuading his mother to take out a second mortgage then spending the money on food
Life or death: Britain's fattest man being lifted at a hospital as preparation for the surgery that helped him lose 20 stone
Mobile: Paul Mason sits in his motorised chair on a rare day out near his home in Ipswich after losing 20st
Paul said he wants to have a female companion and revealed he has a friend he has become close to.
'For the first time in years there is someone who makes me think about romance,' he told the Sun.
But Mr Mason's size means he is incapable of taking care of himself alone and the demands placed on his carers has cost the taxpayer more than £1million since he became bed-bound in 2000.
Firefighters had to knock down the front wall of his former home so they could drive a fork lift truck inside to lift him out and put him into an ambulance when he needed a hernia operation in 2002.
But after an operation at a West Sussex hospital last spring restricted his appetite and helped him lose 20 stone in a year, he pledged to help others tackle their obesity.
'Food has taken my mobility away. And I've done it all to myself,' he added.
'I hate myself for what I've done but it's all in my head. Blood tests and scans showed I was relatively healthy inside. I've always said there is a thin man inside all of this packaging.
'Now I want to travel to every school in Britain with a cardboard cut-out of me at my heaviest.
'It's difficult for people to comprehend. They haven't the time to eat like I did, they're too busy.'
Charlotte Linacre, Campaign Manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance said the treatment costs will enrage patients on NHS waiting lists.
'It’s such a shame that so much time and resources have to go to help one person, these nurses will be sorely missed at a time when public finances are squeezed,' she said.
'Although there is sympathy for people struggling with health issues, taxpayers will not feel this is a fair allocation of funds as they sit on waiting lists while footing the bill for his personal care.'
TWO NURSES TAKE FOUR HOURS TO WASH BRITAIN'S FATTEST MAN
Two female carers take up to four hours to wash Britain's fattest man Paul Mason - because he is so big it is impossible for him to clean himself.
The women, who visit him three times a day, have to apply cream to every inch of his bulging body to stop chafing.
He manages to soap his upper body himself and the nurses wipe him down.
They used to look after him from 8am until 8pm but Ipswich NHS were forced to axe the service because of cutbacks.
Mr Mason, who wears incontinence pads, has not walked properly since 2000 and wears size XXXXXXXXL clothes.
Before surgery: Paul Mason languishing in a reinforced bed before undergoing a gastric bypass operation