Pound by Pound, Obese Man Sees Weight Drop by Walking Across Continent
By PETER JAMES The Associated Press
NEW YORK - Steve Vaught is trying to shed unwanted pounds the long, slow way: step by step as he walks across the United States.
Vaught, 39, began his trek last April in Oceanside, Calif., and has covered more than 2,300 miles. As the distances have mounted, so too has interest in his journey, with supporters monitoring his progress online and newspapers and television stations tracking the adventure.
Vaught began the trip to lose weight and break the bad habits that led to his obesity.
"When I first started this walk, I weighed around 410 pounds, and I was carrying an 85-pound backpack," Vaught wrote on his Web site earlier this month as he crossed Ohio.
"Now I weigh 296 pounds, and I am carrying a pack that weighs only 30 pounds. That is an overall reduction of almost 175 pounds off of my feet. So it will only get easier from here," he said.
That is so cool. Here is one quote from his website that was great:
quote:
Losing the weight will be the easy part. I plan to keep the weight off in the future by maintaining a proper diet and level of activity needed, as well as remembering how easy it is to gain weight and difficult to lose it.
Love that last part
Lynne
Posts: 1104 | Location: NH | Registered: February 28, 2005
I went to his website, fatmanwalking.com, apparently a news report has brought a ton of people to his site. I think it is great that he is doing this and I applaud him. He has lost a lot of weight and spent some time off road meeting with a nutritionist and I believe a trainer.
Some days I have trouble getting myself to walk around the block and this guy is almost across the country !
Hey Denise, Lori, any other CA residents, maybe I'll walk over and visit someday LOL!!! Jill
PS: He mentions how few healthy food choices there are on the road-makes we want to cook up a bunch of stuff and ship it to him. In his journal he talks about having to eat in fast food places and restaurants-wouldn't it be cool if a family in each town he goes through would have him over for dinner!?
This message has been edited. Last edited by: jillybean,
Summer Challenge Goals: 1) Walk 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week 2) Plan weekly menus
Wow!!! You have to admit, he is loosing weight the right way, exercising and hopefully cutting out bad foods. I admire his conviction and his success so far!!!
!
