so , -LSB- I -RSB- spent the next ... 12 years on the couch and watched my weight constantly going up . '' Watch more on Alonzo Bland 's transformative journey '' At one point he needed an emergency tracheotomy because fat around his neck was crushing his windpipe . Earlier this year , while watching TV on the couch , he did an Internet search for weight-loss competitions . He entered one offering a first prize of an all-expense-paid trip to one of China 's most famous boot camps for the obese . The weight-loss clinic is housed in a drab building , far from the city center . `` It 's a beautiful place . It really is , '' Bland said . `` It is difficult though : I am away from home -- all my family and friends . But my goal here -- my goal is to lose the weight , so I think in the end I will be healthier and happier . '' Being this far from home , Bland said , has been a clean break from his bad habits . He simply does n't know where the restaurants are , or
BEIJING , China -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- At the Aimin Fat Reduction Hospital in the Chinese city of Tianjin , they have never seen anyone so big . Bland said he misses his family and friends , but his goal is to lose the weight and be `` healthier and happier . '' `` Yes this is our record , '' Dr. Su Zhixin proudly boasted . He 's talking about 33-year-old Alonzo Bland of Green Bay , Wisconsin . When Bland stepped off the plane at Beijing Airport in May of this year , he weighed 640 pounds . In fact , he struggled to take more than a few steps , and as he lay flat on his back , exhausted , airport staff called an ambulance . After repeated warnings from his doctor , Bland decided to come to China as a last-ditch effort to shed the pounds . `` I needed to take it serious because we were talking about my life . '' Bland 's weight yo-yoed for years , ballooning after he lost his job 12 years ago . `` Nobody wanted to hire a guy who could n't move , you know and