Obese Brit lost so much weight Thai Immigration refused to believe he was same person

[fasteddie]

In 1990 I think it was, on one of my many trips to Thailand, when I arrived I was 15 3/4 stone, when I went home 3 months later I was 11 1/2 stone. I was so thin my missus walked straight past me at the airport and all my mates thought I'd caught aids. I hadn't by the way.

[fasteddie]

Look carefully at the pics, it's not the same man, the first one has a yellow shirt.

I didn't believe you the first time, but as you insist, I can see what you mean.

[alyx]

What about some lady who was originally dark haired and went blonde. Is their any way she can change her passport photo or will she need to get a new passport.

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Biometrics.....

Photos on the passport are focusing on the face

Even a hair transplant wouldn't change someone's features

Edited May 14, 2014 by alyx

[BwindiBoy]

To those who don't know from "stones" this fine dude lost well over 100 pounds in a year. Wow! That is remarkable. Good luck to him to keep it going (the even harder part).

Do I get it right?

From the photo on the right side, he lost 100 pounds or 50 kg?

Well he looks fat but not that fat that he could loose 50 kg + has a lot more muscles than before.

If he has on the photo 120 kg, than he would have now 70 kg?

Or do I get something wrong?

He was 294 pounds / 21 stone / 133.6kg. Now he's down to 182 Ibs / 13 st / 82.7kg.

Still an exceptional loss of 112 Ibs / 51kg Hats off to him :-)

[BwindiBoy]

What do you know about the Blether. You are only coming away with that comment because you know he cannot answer back.

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What's happened to him? Hope he's OK. (Don't know him, but he amuses me with his posts)

[Friendly Stranger]

In a year he would have made at least one visa run out of the country? Another pic coming back in would have made him more recognizable.

Maybe not.

[kamahele]

While I'm sure he was a bit frightened during the experience, it is something he can be proud about that he lost so much weight that the officials couldn't recognize him from his passport photo. I'm sure he'll be laughing about it soon enough.

[NoshowJones]

Lets just say he is Ok and is a great guy.

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[NoshowJones]

I see. So what is all the fuss about the Brit and his passport. His face will not have changed.

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[KhunRon]

To those who don't know from "stones" this fine dude lost well over 100 pounds in a year. Wow! That is remarkable. Good luck to him to keep it going (the even harder part).

Stones? LBs(sic) come on guys. This is a metric country!!

Yes it's a metric country. So why do they use "rai" and "talung wah"? I don't think they are SI units.

[Balance]

About a year ago I completely quit drinking beer and lost a great deal of weight. Last month I was in Australia and the immigration officer didn't believe I was the person on my passport photo. It took 2 supervisors to sort it out.

I moved here 21/2 years ago weighing 107kg and now weigh 87kg. I did have to get a new passport while here so will avoid this. What did I do. Stop eating bread and cheese and stopped drinking. My wife is a very good Thai cook and she does not eat Farang food so this was very easy to do. Also swim about 1km 5 days a week on top of an active yoga practice. Do these things and losing weight is guaranteed.

[JohnThailandJohn]

To those who don't know from "stones" this fine dude lost well over 100 pounds in a year. Wow! That is remarkable. Good luck to him to keep it going (the even harder part).

Stones? LBs(sic) come on guys. This is a metric country!!

Yes it's a metric country. So why do they use "rai" and "talung wah"? I don't think they are SI units.

Good point but know both measurements are based on meters. I am more curious to know if stones is really still commonly used in the UK to the point it would be used in an article instead of pounds.

[Showbags]

What if you came a boy and left as a girl ?

[Jingthing]

What if you came a boy and left as a girl ?

Note from the doctor!

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[wilgoster]

Now this is a weighty discourse, I have one fast question based on quick assumption: since this dude was concerned with his rapid acceleration through the exit process, shouldn't his weight be measured in Slugs or Newtons? Kilograms are so umm... ubiquitous, Pounds are money and money is time - ambiguously closer to the acceleration issue, but Stones are also ambiguous: some are thrown, some are rolling, and some are theoretical constructs. Lending further weight: check your birth certificates, your weight is in millislugs, right? No ambiguity there. you were born pure mass and acceleration. (I've definitely got too much time on my hands.)

[Showbags]

What if you came a boy and left as a girl ?

Note from the doctor!

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Show us yours !

[Jingthing]

What if you came a boy and left as a girl ?

Note from the doctor!

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Show us yours !

No need. I'm a real he man!

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[Lupatria]

Note to myself: don't color your grey hair and don't grow a beard in the next ten years!

Edited May 15, 2014 by Lupatria

[Sandman77]

When I was come firs time to Thailand I also loose 15 kg in 3 month because the diaherra not want stop !

[Ayemanomad]

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About a year ago I completely quit drinking beer and lost a great deal of weight. Last month I was in Australia and the immigration officer didn't believe I was the person on my passport photo. It took 2 supervisors to sort it out.

I moved here 21/2 years ago weighing 107kg and now weigh 87kg. I did have to get a new passport while here so will avoid this. What did I do. Stop eating bread and cheese and stopped drinking. My wife is a very good Thai cook and she does not eat Farang food so this was very easy to do. Also swim about 1km 5 days a week on top of an active yoga practice. Do these things and losing weight is guaranteed.

I agree, it is easy to lose weight here in Thailand. I've also lost 20kgs just in the last 8 months. I'm not a drinker, but eating thai food and lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and walking a lot has done the trick for me. I feel much fitter and healthier for it and life in Thailand suits me perfectly.

[Windy]

Isn't it unusual for immigration to strip him down to his shorts for the photo on arrival?

Plus, is it just me or isn't it a bit odd that we don't see a proper "after" photo to compare to the "before" one. TBH, from his face he doesn't look like he's lost a huge amount of weight.

Your !kin kidding! From the photos of his face it is obvious he has lost a large amount of weight.

A small change in the fat on a face is a lot on the whole body.

Edited May 15, 2014 by Windy

[KhunRon]

To those who don't know from "stones" this fine dude lost well over 100 pounds in a year. Wow! That is remarkable. Good luck to him to keep it going (the even harder part).

Stones? LBs(sic) come on guys. This is a metric country!!

Yes it's a metric country. So why do they use "rai" and "talung wah"? I don't think they are SI units.

Good point but know both measurements are based on meters. I am more curious to know if stones is really still commonly used in the UK to the point it would be used in an article instead of pounds.

The original article was a direct quote from a British "newspaper", the Daily Mirror, so the answer is yes, stones are still commonly used in the UK, not instead of pounds (lb.) but in combination with pounds. A person's weight is almost never quoted in pounds alone. It is usually expressed in stones and pounds. For example, an 87kg man would weigh 13st. 10lb. (approximately). In general usage, it is probably a 50/50 split between between younger/older people. Smart a_r_s_e_s can use both.

[TechnikaIII]

Bring on the finger print machines!! ... that so many of you are grumbling about.

[KevinB]

A lot of those posting seem to have missed a key bit of evidence. He was stopped because the picture Thai Immigration had of him when he entered was different from how he looked at the time he was exiting the country. Remember - "the please stand there (on the footprints) while we take your picture". Those cameras have a unique lens that captures your facial features but also records your shoulders and top of your torso.

The original story actually states that even he had difficult recognising himself in the picture Immigration had taken of him. So it actually had nothing to do with how he looked in his passport photo.

So all I can say is well done Immigration you are using the technology the country has provided you with and are following new directives issues to all ASEAN nations about tightening up on physical / visual checks on people boarding flights here and heading to Europe, the UK and USA. This is partly a result of the laxness noted on those passengers that boarded the MH370 flight in KL. Plus the fact that further investigations that there is thriving business of Iranians and Afghans asylum seekers using a number of ASEAN ports of departure and forged passport to get into the rich industrialised nations where life is a lot better than Tehran and Kabul.

Edited May 16, 2014 by KevinB

[GentlemanJim]

I shaved my beard and mustache, turning more than a bit gray, and dyed the hair at the wife's insistence, Nana Hotel didn't believe I was me either. Finally they relented when I held white paper over my face where my beard had been....

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Did you use to have a white A4 beard then ? Or was it more of an A5 goaty?

[GentlemanJim]

Bring on the finger print machines!! ... that so many of you are grumbling about.

There will be a lot of people worried in LOS if they start doing finger prints There could well be an exodus of people heading for the quiet life in Lao, Cambodia or Myanmar.

[connor1981]

Wow 6 pages on this.

Just to make it clear, it was me that lost the weight I was NEVER moaning about Thai customs... I'd rather get on a plane bit later knowing all is safe and I flew out of phuket the day after that plane went missing with a phuket connection hence security prob tight.

I lost 8 stone total but only 7in phuket. I was 21 stone at my heaviest jan 2013 then lost about a stone before I went to Thailand in march.

The after photos were mainly taken in dec so was more 14 stone so most pics press have only show 6 stone weight loss but its 7 in total since entering and leaving Thailand (8 in total)

Yes I did do visa runs however they're not strict on photo and at airport the first screen only brings up first photo... He was then able to bring up the visa run photos as well as look at pics on my iPad. My visa had gym name on it and my reason for entering country was always Weightloss so it was sorted quite quick.

[connor1981]

A lot of those posting seem to have missed a key bit of evidence. He was stopped because the picture Thai Immigration had of him when he entered was different from how he looked at the time he was exiting the country. Remember - "the please stand there (on the footprints) while we take your picture". Those cameras have a unique lens that captures your facial features but also records your shoulders and top of your torso.

The original story actually states that even he had difficult recognising himself in the picture Immigration had taken of him. So it actually had nothing to do with how he looked in his passport photo.

So all I can say is well done Immigration you are using the technology the country has provided you with and are following new directives issues to all ASEAN nations about tightening up on physical / visual checks on people boarding flights here and heading to Europe, the UK and USA. This is partly a result of the laxness noted on those passengers that boarded the MH370 flight in KL. Plus the fact that further investigations that there is thriving business of Iranians and Afghans asylum seekers using a number of ASEAN ports of departure and forged passport to get into the rich industrialised nations where life is a lot better than Tehran and Kabul.

You're right... Nothing to do with passport photo that was what 7 years back and way off my heaviest

The pic of him stopping me and the screen he saw

[ALFREDO]

=Connor=

seeing the monitor photo, I understand the problem. Well done.

[harrry]

So- can any of you stone-age guys convert that into kilograms?

Weeeeeeeell, some folk like yourself can only work to the power of 10, some of us can work in any mode. ................

And some of us never work...which is a good thing as working needs a work permit.