Manuel “Meme” Uribe, once the heaviest man in the world, passed away Monday at 48, Guinness World Records reports.

The Associated Press reports that the passing of the Monterrey, Mexico, resident was confirmed by the health department of Nuevo Leon state. The cause of death remains unknown, but he was hospitalized earlier this month because of an abnormal heartbeat. A crane had to be use to transport him there.

Uribe, a former mechanic, had been bedridden since 2002, but did leave the house to get married to his longtime girlfriend Claudia Solis, who would cook him chicken fajitas and help him bathe, according to People. He arrived at the Oct. 26, 20o8, ceremony sitting in a white canopy bed in a white suit atop the back of a pickup truck. For the first dance, the bride and groom sat holding hands, swaying from side to side to the rhythm of a romantic song. His mother Orquedia Garza told the AP that he stuck to his diet that day and did not eat the wedding cake.

When Guinness World Record certified Uribe as the world’s heaviest man in January 2006, he weighed 1,235 pounds. The records organization said he reportedly slimmed down to 840 pounds in 2007, but gained some of it back, reportedly weighing 980 pounds by March 2012. He was on the Zone Diet at one point, and The Discovery Channel documented his weight loss journey in general.

As he once summed up the struggle to the AP, “People think that I can eat a whole cow but it’s not just overeating, it’s also a hormonal problem.”

Manuel Uribe jokes as he holds a fruit cake with his girlfriend Claudia Solis outside his house in the suburb of San Nicolas de los Garza in the northern city of Monterrey, Mexico, June 11, 2008. Tomas Bravo / Reuters

In this June 9, 2008 file photo, Manuel "Meme" Uribe, 42, shows how he exercises from his bed during an interview in Monterrey, Mexico. Monica Rueda / AP

Manuel Uribe talks on the phone at his home in the suburb of San Nicolas de los Garza, in Monterrey, Mexico, August 8, 2008. Tomas Bravo / Reuters

Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com.