Health officials said Manuel Uribe weighed 1,235 pounds when he made a desperate plea for help on national television in January.

Manuel Uribe sits on his bed at home in Monterrey, Mexico in a January 17, 2006 file photo. Uribe, who at 550kg (1,212 pounds) is possibly the heaviest person in the world, hopes to travel to Italy for a life-saving operation to shed weight. [Reuters]

Unable to leave his bed for five years, the 41-year-old mechanic in the northern industrial city of Monterrey longed to move again.

His plea was answered by doctors and nutritionists who prescribed a high-protein diet, helping him lose about 200 pounds since then.

Gilberto Montiel, health secretary for Nuevo Leon state, said medical officials have been monitoring Uribe's weight and confirmed the loss.

Doctor Barry Sears,left, and Manuel Uribe, poses during a press conference in Monterrey, Mexico on June 26, 2006. Manuel Uribe weighed 1,235 pounds when he made a desperate plea for help on national television in January. Uribe, 41, has lost 200 pounds since February following the high-protein diet. But he is not discarding having gastric bypass surgery. 'People think that I can eat a whole cow but it's not just overeating, it's also a hormonal problem,' Uribe said Tuesday. [AP Photo]

"I feel better now, I can stretch and move a bit more," Uribe said Monday, flanked by Dr. Barry Sears, creator of "The Zone" diet, who came to check on his progress.

Still, Uribe said he has just enough energy to sit up and move the sheet that covers his body. His goal is to lose another 770 pounds.

Uribe was a chubby kid, weighing more than 250 pounds as an adolescent. Starting in 1992, he said, his weight began ballooning further.

Uribe drew worldwide attention when he appeared on the Televisa television network in January.

For the last five years, Uribe has been bedridden. He keeps a television and a computer he uses to update his Web site near his iron bed.

"People think that I can eat a whole cow but it's not just overeating, it's also a hormonal problem," Uribe said. "For now, I'll keep doing the diet and if I get stuck I'll consider the surgery."