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World's 'heaviest woman' drops 200 pounds

Arden Dier

Newser staff

This handout photograph released by The Saifee Hospital on Thursday shows Egyptian patient Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty as she lies in a hospital bed at The Saifee Hospital in Mumbai, India.
Indian doctors said March Thursday that an Egyptian believed to be the world's heaviest woman had successfully undergone weight-loss surgery after losing over 100 kilogrammes (220 pounds). E

(NEWSER) – Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty could soon lose her title as the world's heaviest woman.

The 36-year-old Egyptian, who weighed an estimated 1,100 pounds when she arrived at India's Saifee Hospital a month ago in order to undergo life-saving weight loss surgery, surprised doctors by losing 210 pounds with diet changes, double the amount doctors had hoped she would lose.

She underwent a successful Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy on Tuesday, per India Today. That puts her current weight at about 900 pounds, but doctors expect her to drop another 200 pounds in six to eight months. The gastrectomy reduced Abd El Aty's stomach to 15% of its original size, meaning food intake will be severely limited from now on, reports the Hindustan Times.

"She is now on oral fluids and accepting them well," says the hospital, where doctors also removed some of Abd El Aty's stomach fat. The next goal is "to correct all her associated medical problems to get her fit enough to fly back to Egypt as soon as possible."

Doctors are also hoping to better understand how Abd El Aty came to be so heavy, reports the BBC. Born weighing 11 pounds, she was as a child diagnosed with elephantiasis, which refers to the swelling of body parts, and has essentially been bedridden since age 11. However, her surgeon suspects Abd El Aty may actually suffer from lymphoedema, an obesity-related condition that causes fluid retention and tissue swelling, usually in the arms and legs. (This man has lost more than 600 pounds.)

This story originally appeared on Newser:

World's 'Heaviest Woman' Drops 200 Pounds