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Man weighing more than four baby elephants dies after being bedridden for 5 years
Russian man weighing over 616lbs dies of heart attack despite efforts to lose weight.a
A 60-year-old man who was heavier than four baby elephants has passed away after spending five years trapped in his bed.
Leonid Andreev, from Armizonskoye, Russia, weighed over 616lbs - 44stone- when he died of a heart attack, despite trying to lose weight to save his life. He had started to eat less and avoid flour products, but it was too late to reverse the damage caused by his obesity.
He shared, “I tried to lose at least a little weight - I ate less and did not indulge in flour products.” He also shared his daily routine, “In the morning, I get up, cook food, eat a little, watch TV. Tried to move here, move there.” Doctors had warned him that he needed to lose at least seven stone to have a chance of living a normal life again.
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Andreev had a very different life before he became obese. He was an athlete who weighed just 11 stone and ran his own farm. He hunted and harvested crops.
“I used to have porridge - the heaviest, well, and buns, potatoes, bread. That’s how I got fat, probably,” he stated. He blamed his weight gain on leaving the army, where he quickly gained five stone in three months. He dreamed of moving out of his home and living in a city apartment, but he never got the opportunity.
Andreev’s story is similar to that of Lupe Samano, a US woman who was bed bound for 12 years due to her food addiction. She weighed 642lb when she appeared on My 600lb Life, a TV show that documents the struggles of morbidly obese people. She had been overweight since she was a teenager, and even slipped into a diabetic coma once.
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“I’ve lost motivation to do anything for myself. My body is starting to break down,” she expressed. Now she relied on her husband for everything.
Samano’s food addiction stemmed from a childhood trauma, when her father left her and her sister in a bathtub and never came back.
“I stayed in the tub for hours waiting for my father to come back. When he didn’t, I turned to food as a coping mechanism.”
She managed to turn her life around after following a strict diet and exercise regime and undergoing gastric bypass surgery. She lost an amazing 400lb and reached 220lb.
