You know you have a weight problem when all of the king’s horses and all of the king’s men struggle to whip you into shape again.

CNN reports that a Saudi man lost 700 pounds, roughly half of his body weight, after the nation’s monarch personally intervened with a weight loss plan.

King Abdullah had Khaled Mohsen Chaïri hospitalized in August as part of an obesity awareness campaign. Since then, doctors have regularly updated the local press on the patient’s heart rate (improving), breathing rate (improving), body weight (dropping) and emotional well being (uplifting, despite the media circus).

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

[CNN]

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