Copyright (c) 2007 Derek Clontz.4-Page Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

DOCTORS recommended gastric bypass surgery to help 476-pound Jack Gras lose weight, but when they sliced open his overly-ample belly they found they had triple the work – because he had three stomachs in there.

“No wonder I was always hungry,” Gras, 33, of Omaha, Nebraska, told me exclusively.

“I’d eat and eat and eat and never fill up, and everybody thought I was pigging out because I was a glutton.

“Now I’ve been vindicated. I’m not a slob. I’m more a freak,” he chuckles, “or at least I was until the operation.

“These days, I feel great and I’m losing weight like crazy. Of course, these days I’ve got only one stomach – and even that one’s been surgically bypassed.”

Surgeons were unprepared to remove the baker’s extra stomachs when they went in for the simple bypass they expected, “but we worked quick,” one told me, “and sliced them right out of there.”

After debating whether to leave a single stomach full-sized and intact or perform the bypass by moving the end of his esophagus closer to the beginning of his colon, they decided to “go with the original plan and shorten things up,” the surgeon who requested anonymity says.

“Mr. Gras wasn’t just fat – he was really fat,” continues the doctor. “At 476-pounds, he weighed more than his wife and two children combined.”

And that’s saying something, Gras’ wife, Millie, 36, told me, “because if you reach for the last pork chop with any of us at the table, you’re liable to get a fork in your hand.”

Gras says he’s battled the bulge all his life. As a kid of 10, he tipped the Toledos at 275 pounds – the average weight for a boy that age, according to U.S. government statistics, is a mere 100.

“I had bosoms bigger than my mom’s,” says Gras, who still claims to “sting” with the shame of it.

Growing up tubby wasn’t easy,” he continues. “All the kids teased me, and so did my Dad.

“Every time I’d leave the dinner table he’d say things like, ‘Dub-a-dub-a-dub-a – tha … tha … that’s all folks!’ like Porky Pig in those old TV cartoons.’

“But I couldn’t help eating so much – I felt like I was starving to death all the time. Now I know why. I had three stomachs to feed.”

Gras decided to do something about the flab when plopped down on the toilet one day – and the porcelain throne groaned and cracked under the strain.

“I found a surgeon on the Internet and we decided gastric surgery was right for me,” says Gras. “And the rest, as they say, is history.”

Since going under the knife in May, Gras has shed 142 pounds. He’s now down to 334 and his medical team has assured him he’ll be under 200 by next spring.

The docs gave me my stomachs in a jar of formaldehyde to keep at home,” he says. “I put them on the mantle in my living room. They’re a great conversation piece.

“Everybody who comes over and sees them for the first time says, ‘What in the world is that?’ And then I just tell them the story. They’re all in awe of it.”