Americans take fat man walking to their hearts

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/23/walk23.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/03/23/ixworld.html

An obese man who is walking across America to lose weight has become an icon to a country where two thirds of the population are fat.

Steve Vaught, 40, a former marine from Ohio, weighed almost 30st when he set off last April from the coast of southern California. Now, 2,310 miles into his journey and travelling at a steady three miles per hour, he has reached Columbus, Ohio, and has lost eight stone and suffered stress fractures in both feet along the way. Mr Vaught has 500 miles and six weeks to go to his destination, the Rockefeller Centre in New York.

En route he has been interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, attracted more than 700,000 hits a month on his website and been showered with promotional offers.

But he has rejected a reported £2.5 million to advertise a diet pill and has refused endorsements for shampoo, vitamins and smoking patches.

The aim of his walk was not to make money but dodge an early death after he realised that walking along a supermarket aisle made him out of breath.

I assume it means "thirty stone," but what's that in American? LOL!

...with a bag of chips and a 2 liter bottle of root beer balanced on their guts.

I read that in an English lit. textbook one time.

A square fathom? 2000 Leagues? Ten Acre-Feet? Two cords? A peck?

I've been to his website. He's actually accomplished something this past year, as opposed to Shrub . . .

but then again I rarely watch Oprah

make it if he does not slow down. I hope it is not already too late for him to slow down - if he has stress fractures already - he probably will not finish.

...if I read his dispatches correctly, and only has about 500 miles to go.... You should check his website-- he's really done a remarkable job. It has been a life transforming experience for him.

this guy has my heartfelt respect and admiration.

No impact injuries unless you fall off. Distance bikers have a tendency towards bone loss, but fat folks are usually way ahead of the curve on bone density, so that shouldn't be a factor.

But I've adapted to that so thoroughly that it doesn't have much effect, exercise wise.

Though if you are fat and get regular exercise, no weight loss is going to last unless you commit to permanent semistarvation.