Ex-Sumo Champ Attempting to Slim Down to 550 Pounds

Even sumo wrestlers can weigh too much, as Emanuel"Tiny" Yarbrough can testify.

Yarbrough, a former sumo wrestling champion and nationally ranked judo competitor, is trying to lose more than 200 pounds in an effort to improve his health and possibly return to the ring.

"I was sick and tired of being sick and tired," the 42-year-old said. "I want to just get back to my life."

Under a doctor's supervision, he's trying to drop from 752 pounds to about 550, hoping to take part next year in the U.S. Olympic judo qualifying match as well as the Sumo World Championships.

The deep-voiced Yarbrough is in some ways an oddity -- a 6-foot-7 black man in a predominantly Japanese sport where he outweighs even the other heavyweights. But his battle with the bulge mirrors that of many other Americans.

Yarbrough said he didn't intentionally gain the weight for sumo. He put on the pounds the same way most people do: not enough exercise, too much eating.

His weight has led to a host of health problems, including high blood pressure and congestive heart failure.

Yarbrough didn't want to undergo surgery to lose the weight because a friend died after having the operation. To even be a candidate, patients need to be about 500 pounds, said his doctor, Leah Solomon.

One week into changing his eating habits, he's already lost about 26 pounds.

"I think you've had a great first week," Solomon told him. "I think the first 100 pounds are going to come off quickly."

-- From News Services