First picture: World's heaviest man is mobile again after losing an incredible 20 stone through gastric bypass surgery

He told a friend:'All I want to do is be able to walk again and live like a normal human being. I've got a second shot at life and I'm not going to waste it.

Mobile: Paul Mason sits in his motorised chair on a rare day out near his home in Ipswich after losing 20st

'I don't want to go back to the old me. I'm determined to carry on losing weight until I'm a normal size. I'm much happier and healthier now.'

He smiled and chatted to well-wishers last week as he headed towards a shopping complex with one of his NHS carers, according to the News of the World.

The former postman, who is is still believed to be the world's heaviest man, had part of his stomach stapled off so that all the food he ate went into a small 'pouch', vastly restricting the amount he could eat.

He was driven 143 miles in an ambulance with reinforced beds to have the operation at the specialist St Richard's Hospital in Chichester.

Doctors put him on a crash diet to bring his weight down to a safe level so the operation could go ahead.

Paul Mason languishing in a reinforced bed before he went on a crash diet after undergoing gastric bypass surgery to staple part of his stomach

Paul with friends: He used have a daily intake of 20,000 calories - eight times what most men eat

Mr Mason admitted to eating 20,000 calories a day, eight times the amount needed by an average man.

His care bill costs taxpayers an estimated £100,000 a year and is believed to have topped £1million over the last 15 years.