Fitness Advocate for the Obese
If anyone can encourage overweight people to enjoy their lives, it would seem that Benny McCrary can.
McCrary is 41 years old and two years ago weighed 814 pounds. That’s right, 814 pounds.
Billed as the “World’s Largest Living Man” when he was into rodeo clowning and professional wrestling, McCrary gave all that up in 1985 to promote his book, “The Benny McCrary Exercise Book: for People Who Can’t Lose Weight.”
A year later he was down to 595 pounds.
Along with other tips, his book gives clothing advice for the overweight.
“Don’t be ashamed because you’re overweight,” McCrary says. “Ride a bike, wear shorts and dress up and go out. Deal with it and have the right attitude toward it. Enjoy your life.”
McCrary, originally from Hendersonville, N.C., has been overweight since a bout with red measles when he was a child. A high temperature apparently unbalanced his body metabolism and he was diagnosed as medically unable to lose weight.
He and a twin brother, Billy, who also weighed more than 400, left home at 16 and traveled around, including tours for “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” and the “Guinness Book of World Records” as the world’s largest twins.
