Saudi king orders obese man to lose weight

A Saudi man lost around 318 kilograms after the Saudi king personally ordered him to follow a weight loss plan.

King Abdullah personally intervened in order to help Khaled Mohsen Chaïri to be hospitalized in August as part of an obesity awareness campaign.

Since then, doctors have updated the local press on the patient’s health, such as his heart rate, breathing rate, body weight and emotional well being.

With obesity rates increasing across the Gulf states, the focus may now widen from one royal subject to an entire kingdom.

Populations in the Gulf have been rated among the world’s fattest, according to a new United Nations report.

Kuwait led the way in highest proportion of obese adults in the GCC, with 42.8 percent falling into this bracket in 2008, followed by Saudi Arabia at 35.2 percent. In the UAE, 33.7 percent of the population were identified as having a serious weight problem, while in Qatar it was 33.1 percent and Bahrain 32.6 percent.

This article originally appeared on CNN in August 2013.