Posted on 07/25/2005 1:56:07 PM PDT by Responsibility1st
When simple-minded Hollywood hero Forrest Gump ran across the country, he gathered followers faster than he grew facial hair.
Steve Vaught--a 350-pound self-described "Forrest Lump" who's walking across the country to shed weight--has the same such following, only his real-life fame has been fueled by the Internet.
Tens of thousands of people are regularly checking in on 39-year-old Vaught's progress through his busy Web site, TheFatManWalking.com. Vaught's wife, April, who has been penning his online journal, alludes to a Web audience of about 100,000, and that was before Vaught was featured on the "Today" show earlier this month.
Vaught left his hometown outside San Diego on April 10 in an attempt to walk to New York City to "lose weight and regain my life." While he embarked on the journey for personal reasons, he hoped his story might "serve to encourage others to take their lives back--to get up and do something about it today," according to a Web site posting written before he left.
As of Friday, Vaught was only near Flagstaff, Ariz., where it's monsoon season. He's fallen way behind his goal of traveling about 20 miles a day, which would have put him in Missouri by now.
But he's already accomplishing his goals. He's lost about 50 pounds (he was 400 pounds) and has been the source of great inspiration. That's been made evident by the countless postings and e-mails to thefatmanwalking.com--so many that the site was overwhelmed and had to be taken down for a few days last week while it was put on its own server.
"For the record, I have chills running though my body and am blinking away tears as I write this," wrote an Akron, Ohio, blogger named Joshua, who called Vaught a hero. "I hope I can complete my own journey of weight loss and do that same. I salute you Steve. I bow to you. I honor you...Rock on."
Even the more skeptical bloggers, like Erin Slick, said she's intrigued despite not always being so keen on extreme weight loss plans. "Will he lose the weight? More importantly, will he keep it off?...I have to give the guy credit for originality. Go fat man go!"
Father of two Vaught says he went from lanky teenager to muscular Marine to overweight pre-middle-ager. He could not be reached for an interview, but his Web site tells of the darkness that for him came with being overweight and putting his life at risk.
"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," he wrote, adding that diets didn't work in the long term. "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...I don't want to miss out on birthdays, graduation, marriages and grandkids because I chose not to take my life back."
Previous Next Vaught started gaining his weight about 15 years ago, when he was driving too fast against the setting sun and struck and killed an elderly couple crossing the street, he told The Washington Post.
Vaught's Web journal offers both grueling and enlightening accounts of his adventures on the road, from the loss of three toenails due to the weight on his feet, to being sick with dehydration, to the kindness of perfect strangers who have come to his rescue.
For more information, visit Vaught's Web site, but be careful not to type in www.fatmanwalking.com without the "the." That will get you to a Web site for a man offering insights and information about backpacking on the Appalachian Trail.
Walking Off the Fat, Across the Land
The Washington Post ^ July 8, 2005
Amy Argetsinger Posted on 07/08/2005 9:36:29 AM CDT by Cecily
Michael Moore?
That is classic!
Naaa, Moore would have been roadkill within 5 miles.
I'd suspect that his initial goal of 20 miles per day was too opimistic by far..it should increase as he loses more weight. Anyone who has ever served in the military can attest to the "joy" of a 20 mile forced march in with full gear, including a 50lb pack...rocks optional...
There's nothing remarkable about losing weight by walking and the loss of three toenails isn't that big a deal.
OTOH,I'm glad he can take time off from work to address his health as most people can't do that.
My mistake, I thought this was about Ted Kennedy!
Wow, cool story. Walking will definitely do the trick if you stop over-eating. I know this fellow's story all too well.
Bad timing to be walking in this heatwave. He should have planned it so he would be walking acroos the south in winter.
Check out what some of my fellow Bucknell Alumni did -- The ran from the Pacific to the Atlantic. It's a great story. Of course, they were xcountry runners to begin with. http://www.runtheusa.com/
Good for him! A pox on the naysayers who wonder if he will keep it off.
Yeah - 20 miles a day, day after day, would test someone who was already in excellent condition. Now, coupling that with a couple of hundred pounds of extra flesh AND walking through the Southwest United States in the middle of July...yipes...not me, thanks.
correction to my post -- they went from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Teddy could NEVER walk across America.
But he COULD swim across Chappaquicick.
I don't want to be a downer here, I have a lot of respect for his determination, but his opening entry says he's probably going to lose his car and property. If so, who's going to take care of the wife and kids? How are they going to live? Does he mean he is just going to default on everything?
He was 400 lbs. He was depressed. He was on a downward spiral.
And if he did die, then who would then take care of his family?
Not for me to say if he's wrong or right; he could collapse and die at any time out there in the desert, but at least he got off his fat (literally) butt.
I was thinking the same thing.
This guy doesn't need to walk across America. He needs to get some healthy food and a treadmill.
I agree...unfortunately unless he maitains all of the changes in his lifestyle and diet, he will gain back the weight in a couple years...not to be a downer...maybe he could get a treadmill...oh well, at least he is trying to drop some pounds while I am sitting at my computer, typing...giving him advice...still, seems drastic if he has others to support.
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