Jerry and Jeanne Poole are only half the couple they used to be -- and they couldn't be happier!

Jerry went from a scale-crunching 705 pounds and whopping size 82 trousers to 308 pounds and size 42 pants, while Jeanne slimmed down from 320 pounds and a size 30 dress to 142 pounds and a size 8.

The miraculous shrinking couple tied the knot on July 12 -- after shedding a combined total of 595 pounds through gastric bypass surgery and diet.

"What we lost in weight we gained in love!" gushed Jerry, 40.

Jeanne, 43, added: "In marrying Jerry, I've gained an exercise and diet partner, as well as a husband."

Before he slimmed down, Poole worked as a ship captain and ran a restaurant in the port of Los Angeles.

JERRY was a whopping 705 lbs. and wore a size 82 pants.

"But I lost both jobs because I couldn't stand on my feet for long," he said. "In fact, within three months I lost my business, my marriage of 15 years and my home.

"I was so large I had trouble getting out of bed in the morning. So I slept in a recliner. The only thing I could do was lie around and watch TV.

"One day while channel surfing, I stumbled across a news story about an obese man who'd lost a considerable amount of weight through bypass surgery and controlled diet. I got on the phone immediately and made an appointment to see the doctor."

On April 2, 1997, Los Angeles surgeon Dr. Mal Fobi performed obesity surgery to limit Poole's food intake.

"And what a difference it's made!" said Poole. "As a 705-pound man I had no life. Now every day is a new adventure."

Like Jerry, Jeanne had tried everything to lose weight before undergoing gastric bypass surgery in June 1995.

JEANNE weighed in at 320 lbs. and wore a size 30 dress.

When Jeanne came to the Center, she was desperate. She had disk problems, back problems and swelling in her extremities.

Jeanne had already lost a considerable amount of weight post-surgery when she met Jerry at a support group meeting.

"We began talking on the phone as friends and saw each other occasionally at meetings," said Jerry.

"What makes Jeanne special is that, like me, she knows what it's like to be big and treated as an outcast."

"Surgery is presently the only effective treatment for the morbidly obese," said Dr. Fobi. "But Jerry and Jeanne deserve all the credit for their newfound happiness."

-- PATRICIA TOWLE

The Associated Press
Bellflower

A 547-pound woman underwent surgery Wednesday to close off the majority of her stomach in what she called a last-resort effort to curb her eating and lose weight.

The 6 1/2 hour operation left Emory Lee Hardgrave s stomach with only a 1 1/2 tablespoon capacity, said surgical team leader Dr. Mal Fobi, who also removed more than 105 pounds of excess skin and fatty tissue.

She went in weighing 547 pounds and came out at about 440, said Fobi, medical director of The Center for Surgical Treatment of Obesity at Bellwood General Hospital, where the operation was performed.

Hardgraves, 54, was listed in critical condition - as expected- but her vitals were stable, Fobi said. She was expected to be hospitalized for about for about 10 days, he said.

Hardgraves was in high spirits before the surgery, telling reporters that while she was a little scared. She was convinced she would come through the procedure with flying colors.

Hardgraves, who lives on permanent disability in the Los Angeles community of Watts, said the surgery was her last resort. Her weight, she said, made her a prisoner in her own home.

Fobi went into the surgery expecting to remove about 50 pounds of excess skin and fatty tissue, but took twice that amount to help improve Hardgrave s  mobility, he said. She donated the excess skin to a tissue transplant bank, he said.

Hardgraves will be able to eat solid food in about six weeks, and her diet will consist of liquids and pureed food until then, Fobi said.

Fobi said conditions of extreme obesity have nothing to do with behavior.

It s a medical problem, he said. It s in the genes of a person. These are the people who would have survived in times of famine. Now, in a society of abundance and affluence, they have a fat storage disorder. This has nothing to do with behavior modification, willpower or bingeing.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal

Ralph Gerard, who six months ago weighed 850 pounds, plans an operation that could save his life.

By Ray Parker
Review-Journal

Ralph Gerard, a former casino worker, plans to ease his 556-pound frame out his front door Saturday and undergo a life-saving operation in Los Angeles.

Six months ago, I didn't want to live, said Gerard, 42, who had been bed-bound for two years, weighing as much as 850 pounds. "I didn't have hope then." This operation is either going to cure me or kill me. But I couldn' t be in better hands than Fobi.

Mal Fobi, an obesity surgeon, will perform the Fobi Pouch Gastric Bypass operation on Gerard at the Center for the Surgical Treatment for Obesity in Bellflower, California. The doctor s procedure is one of the modifications of gastric bypass operations.

My operation limits the food intake by reducing the size of the stomach to a tablespoon and a half, said Fobi, who has performed the operation on more than 5,000 patients. He said the operation has a 95% success rate.

After the operation, Gerard will be able to eat small food portions that will take longer than usual to digest. Fobi said severely obese people process food more efficiently than average and therefore Gerard should have no nutritional problems.

The way we think about obesity is wrong, said Fobi. It s a genetic variant. They have very efficient metabolic systems. There are three components to the severely overweight. They must have the genetic makeup, food available and able to afford the food.

Gerard said people don t understand his condition and he finds it frustrating explaining when people have their own ideas and I can t change them.

When I tell them I don t eat any more than anyone else, they say I m just rationalizing, he said. I have heard it all my life. Doctors are just beginning to understand the genetic components.

It s not a matter of will power. If that were the case I would have lost it long ago, I have lost 300 pounds in six months on the Lifestyle liquid diet. I just needed a plan of action.

A former casino porter and laundry room worker at such hotels as Tropicana, Sahara and MGM Grand, Gerard said he s been looking for help for the last five years. He found help for turning his life around only after meeting Fobi, Gerard said.

I m here now because I know there are other people who are trapped like me, he said. I just want them to know there s something out there for them.