July 22, 2005
Fat Man Frying
Is leaving one’s family and job to walk through America’s heat-scorched deserts the best way for a 400 pound, 39 year old man to lose weight?
Fat Man Walking Steve Vaught has gotten a lot of publicity for that strategy this month, including stories in the Washington Post and on MSNBC, an interview with Katie Couric and a feature on AOL. But asthe Post article points out,
Doctors, certainly, would call it inadvisable. A seriously overweight person who embarks on any kind of strenuous physical activity could place dangerous stresses on his joints and heart, said Samuel Klein, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis.And such activity is especially worrisome in an area of environmental extremes, without someone to support him, Klein said. Even if he weighed 100 pounds, "walking across a desert without someone standing next to him with an umbrella and a fan and Gatorade might really be a problem."
Vaught’s justification for the long walk is that it is the “hard way,” as opposed to “high dollar fast fixes” like “miracle weight loss drugs or fad diets that never seem to have lasting results or dangerous surgeries that cost about the same as a luxury car.” The problem with this reasoning (as the doctors said), is that his alternative is too hard, and lot riskier than the surgery. There may be health benefits for the first few vultures who spot this walking feast coming their way, but it seems that “worrisome” is an understatement for the fate likely awaiting Mr. Vaught. What point he’s trying to make about the costs I don’t know, since he admits that the walk will bankrupt him: “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.”
Wouldn’t an hour or two a day in gym at 5 a.m. be a relatively inexpensive option, and just hard enough to satisfy Mr. Vaught’s taste for suffering?
Vaught also says that he hopes the walk will motivate him to change his behaviors and inspire others. It’s true that setting a concrete goal, even if unrealistic, can encourage a person make genuine progress. Mr. Vaught may be especially motivated now that his goal has been so widely publicized and the eyes of the world are upon him. But if he does succeed, it will probably be because his task will made easier, not harder, by concerned volunteers intervening along the way to motivate him to slow down. But future Fat Men Walking won’t likely get the same level of media and public support, so they’re best off not being inspired to follow in his footsteps. And gyms shouldn’t let themselves be too inspired either -- blasting the heat to 110, setting the treadmill to 3,000 miles and abandoning clients on it for six months won’t do very much for the membership.
Posted by Kristen at July 22, 2005 12:06 PM
Comments
As a fat man myself in a transition, I can sense the guy's frustration. He should have picked up Abs Diet by David Zinczenko, though. If he thinks walking around the desert is doing things the "hard way", he should try exercizing moderately for 6 months. Hard isn't doing it all at once, but forcing yourself to do it over a long period of time (months, years, etc.) To me, it seems as if his way is more hard-headded than difficult.
Posted by: justin at July 23, 2005 12:57 AM
Thanks for the article links. I had never heard of this guy before, but it sounds fascinating. It seems like more of a spiritual journey as well as physical. Like trying to figure things out along the way. There is plenty of time for thinking and reflecting in a trip like that, and it can certainly turn your life around in an awakening of sorts.
Posted by: janet at October 2, 2005 08:31 PM