Reality TV star who lost 32 stone dies of heart attack after putting weight back on following dad and brother's death

37-year-old Gabriel Freitas, whose 70,000 Instagram fans followed his weight loss journey, died in bed of a heart attack on Monday December 30. He had gone to bed for a nap before his death.

Close friend Ricardo Gouvea announced his death earlier this month. He also revealed that his late friend was attempting to lose the weight again without surgery or medicine.

He said: “Gabriel died practically sleeping, he didn't suffer. He died trying. He fought to the end, he was very strong and I have a lot of respect for him. He was a very good person with a very good heart.”

Freitas first came to public attention in 2017 in his native Brazil when he appeared on a TV programme called Programa do Gugu, or Gugu Program in English, which featured a section called Virou Outra Pessoa or Became Another Person in English.

Millions of viewers watched as Freitas, who had started putting weight on as a teenager, managed to shed 30 stone by eating a balanced diet and embarking on an exercise regime.

Viewers were told how, in 2015, Freitas, who was 6ft 4ins, weighed just over 50 stone. However, after just 18 months he managed to drop to 18 stone. At the time, programme host Gugu Liberato congratulated him for “going further than most people could imagine” as Freitas showed off his body transformation.

Later, however, Freitas lost both his father and brother. This lead to him putting the weight back on and before he died he weighed nearly 60 stone.

Freitas had also discussed his weight loss on his YouTube channel called My Parallel Universe. At the time, he recoreded a video and told his followers: “My name is Gabriel Freitas, I'm 29 years old, I'm 1.94 metres tall, I weighed 320 kg when I started my weight loss process and 310 kg when I started recording for YouTube.”

“I decided to share my struggle to lose weight with all of you in order to help you with motivation and to show that it is possible to lose weight without surgery or medication. Here you'll see all the changes from a guy who weighed 320kg to the body he always dreamed of. Welcome to my life.”

Then, last October he told his followers he wanted to lose the weight again as he was struggling to get out of bed. He said: “A new phase is about to begin for me. Whatever it takes I'm going to get out of bed on November 1 with the help of God.

“Until then I'll take it to the extreme. Total fasting to day one to recover my legs. Getting closer to God in prayers.”

Reacting to news of his death, one follower spoke to his friend directly who had announced the news, and called the late star a “warrior”. They said: ”What sad news Ricardo. My condolences to you and Gabriel's family. May God protect him. We know he was a warrior.”