Fat Man Walking

Have you heard about this guy walking across the US to lose weight?

His name is Steve Vaught, a 39-year-old happily married dad who is unhappy with his weight. He's also a former Marine, so he's not been fat all of his life. Steve describes why he wants to do this and what it will cost him:

Being fat is physically and emotionally painful. It diminishes the quality of the good things in life and it will ultimately bring about an early demise. So being overweight darkens every good thing that you achieve in your life and even prevents some things from happening at all.

If I had a drug or alcohol addiction I would go to rehab. Well, what I have in mind is rehab for the fat guy.

We have become conditioned to believe that there is an answer in a pill or cream or drink or machine that will fix it for us. We lost sight of the fact that we are the most incredible machine ever built, capable of great heroism, ingenuity and strength.

This effort is not going to be without sacrifice, my family and I know and accept that. I will probably see my wife and kids only once or twice during this time. I am not in the best condition financially to go six months without income and have resigned myself to the fact that I will lose my car and property. Those things however, pale in significance when reckoned with the consequences of doing nothing.

That last bit is amazing to me. He's willing to lose his car and house to do this. It must be really painful to weigh so much.

He tipped the scales at 375 pounds when he started his trek. He's down to around 355 and it's taking him a lot longer to get across the country than he expected. He started April 10 in California and he's only into Arizona three months later. He had expected the entire trip to New York to take six months. Still, he keeps going and you have to admire his perseverance. I hope he makes it.