A Shanghai man who wanted to gain weight spent 10,000 yuan (US$1,500) on online health products he thought would do the job only to end up losing 6.5kg in a month.

The man, surnamed Liu, has trended on mainland social media after his experience was reported by the Shanghai Morning Post.

Liu, a truck driver, who is 1.78m tall and weighs 53kg, always thought he was too thin.

In March, he saw the social media account of an influencer surnamed Chen who shared her knowledge about helping people put on weight.

Liu instantly added Chen’s contacts. Chen told him that the products she sold were all derived from herbs and functioned by adjusting people’s digestive system, posing no side effects, said Liu.