Back in 2016, a 10-year-old boy from a small Indonesian village made international headlines. Weighing 423 pounds, Arya Permana was considered one of the heaviest children in the world.
Photos of Arya left readers and medical professionals baffled. While his health declined, Arya's family tried putting him on an emergency diet of brown rice.
Since he was barely able to move from his bed, the morbidly obese boy was isolated from his peers and trapped inside his home. He couldn't get to school, and the only relief he had came from sitting in a small pool to cool himself down from the scorching heat.
In April 2017, Arya underwent gastric bypass surgery. That, combined with a consistently strict and healthy diet and regular exercise, has helped him shed nearly 200 pounds!
Thankfully, his lifestyle is drastically different and much more normalized than it was just a couple of years ago.
This story first appeared on LittleThings in December 2018.
In this clip, watch as Arya slips into one of his old T-shirts to show his incredible before-and-after transformation.
