Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: beet1e on March 23, 2006, 11:00:36 AM
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This is an interesting story about a man who is walking across America. The title of the thread is taken directly from the newspaper article.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/23/walk23.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/03/23/ixworld.html
I've added just a few comments of my own in blue.
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 [that's about 420lbs].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'm not trying to be a hero or an icon to anyone," he said. "I am just an ordinary guy, trying to take control of my life and figure out where it went awry. Most people see themselves in what I am doing. They wish they could do something similar to get over their own plateau, whether it is overeating, smoking or just finding a way to live a better life.
"The more I have gone on, the weight loss has become secondary, and the more I have seen the value in the journey."
This month, Mr Vaught discovered that he has broken bones in both feet.
"I have stress fractures from excessive pronation and supination - basically that means I walk like a duck," he wrote in his online journal.
Statistics show that 130 million Americans are overweight. The average American eats three hamburgers and four portions of chips a week. [:O - that's the average? I remember creamo saying he ate at Jack-in-the-Box three times a week, but I assumed he was an exception!].
Mr Vaught was trim after military service. But after he was involved in a car crash in which two people died, he went into a spiral of depression and over-eating.
In his journal, Mr Vaught has mused on other factors that make Americans so fat. When he left San Diego at the start of his journey, he passed 21 fast food restaurants in four -and-a-half miles.
"I thought when I got into the country I'd leave that behind," he said. "But I've walked through the Midwest, the breadbasket, and it is one of the most unhealthy places on earth. You have acres of farmland, and you can't buy fresh fruit and veg. The last apple I ate came from South America - and it looked like it had rolled here." [LOL].
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I take issue with the "statistics" of the article. Most "statistics" that show people being overweight is based of the BMI scale (body mass index) It's basically a formula that determines what your weight should be based on your height. My BMI is around 25.8 according to http://nhlbisupport.com/bmi/ that says i'm "overweight" but if I had about 5 or 6% bodyfat and more muscle my BMI would be even worse yet I'd be a healthier person. I'm 5'11" and 185lbs. SO the "statistics" IMHO are scewed.
That said, I hope this guy makes it. Stress fractures are the worst and hardly ever heal correctly.
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Mmm, so far in the last 3 days I've had...
Monday
3 Sausage McMuffins, 2 hash browns, and a large coke
Fast food lunch of 4 fajita tacos, chips & queso (molten cheese), washed down with 40 ounces of Coca-Cola
Ate out again for dinner, lasagna squares, dinner salad, cheese coated chicken breast, 3 side dishes, and a cheesecake. Washed all that down with, you guessed it, more Coca-Cola.
Tuesday
Same McBreakfast
Fast food lunch of mini-corn dogs (covered in chili & cheese), chili cheese fries, a frito-chili pie, a snicker cheesecake, washed down with another bladder bursting 40oz of Coca-Cola.
Dinner was a trip through Jack-In-The-Box for a sourdough bacon double cheese burger, with a jumbo Cola, jumbo curly fries, bacon-cheddar potato wedges, and I stopped on the way home for a pint of Ritter's Frozen Custard (so much better than ice cream).
Wednesday
An sausage & cheese omelet dripping with grease, home fries, grits, toast, an english muffin, orange juice, and a red bull.
First time I ate relatively light recently, met the g/f at a chinese cafe. One of the few I've found that serve really sticky rice. Good stuff. I was hungry and eating cheetos an hour later though.
Went out for dinner again, had an 18oz porterhouse, lobster tail, loaded baked potato, bowl of soup, fried onion appetizer, 2 loaves of bread, and washed it all down with a few glasses of Kendall Jackson.
I eat like this all the time. It's probably where most of my disposable income goes. I only weight 145 pounds, and I'm past the point where everybody in my family's metabolism slowed down drastically. All it takes is 2 hours of vigorous sex 3 or 4 times a week. It is, by far, the best workout I've ever found. I'm gonna stick to it until I'm dead.
Hope that guy makes it though, whatever works for each person!
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"weighed almost 30st [that's about 420lbs]."
Heh, today must be the archaic unit day. My wife came home a bit ago from some nursing test she had to take earlier and asked me, "What's a dram?". I don't think I want to go to a hospital that measures things in drams. They'd probably still be using leeches too.
Most of the guys my age I talk to--especially the unmarried ones--eat out a heck of a lot more often than three times a week. This wouldn't be a problem if not for the fact that most fast food is only marginally more healthy than rat poison.
J_A_B
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Originally posted by J_A_B
Most of the guys my age I talk to--especially the unmarried ones--eat out a heck of a lot more often than three times a week.
J_A_B
Being married means eating out at the same place all the time.
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Originally posted by stiehl
Being married means eating out at the same place all the time.
If you can't see the pun here, then you must go to church every sunday and sniff your socks when you take them off.
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Originally posted by RTSigma
If you can't see the pun here, then you must go to church every sunday and sniff your socks when you take them off.
:rofl :aok
personally I love to hate fast food. I eat it when I'm in the mood but I find it much easier to keep a budget if you bag a lunch and stick to pizza and grocery store delis when you need a meal in a pinch.
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If you're going to walk 2500+ miles, there are better routes.
http://www.fs.fed.us/pct/
Of course, you probably won't end up on Oprah.
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bla bla bla...
folks, eat what you like, but DO some exercise on a daily base!
I eat at Burger King & Mc Donalds often, hey and i'm still alive!
1 day cardio, next day muscle training, 5 days a week 30min is
really more then enough. My body fat percentage is at 14% (age 37, weight 183lbs)
Beside Burgers, I eat high protein and low carb food.
No, i dont smoke, but i like to have some drinks ;)
Live long, and prosper!
Gh0stFT
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Eat what you want..live..enjoy..for tomorrow you may die! I'll be damned if I go through life eating twigs and berries only to end up getting flattened by a truck.
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Junk food= Yuck!
The closest thing I've eaten to junk food in the past 5 years is a Subway Sandwich shop (Whole wheat, Turkey, no mayo)
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Originally posted by Ripsnort
Junk food= Yuck!
The closest thing I've eaten to junk food in the past 5 years is a Subway Sandwich shop (Whole wheat, Turkey, no mayo)
no mayo:O
That's like roast beef without the horse radish
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I found a fantastic breakfast the other day, ironically at a fast food place. Carl's Jr. has a protein bowl, which is a bowl with a scrambled egg with bacon bits mixed in served on a small sausage patty. A little bit of cheese for flavor.
Super great tasting, and more importantly, it was something I could physically eat in the morning (tricky with my gastic band).
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ok, I'll play. 45, 6ft, 190lbs. 33 inch waist. I sit all day at work in front of a computer, except for 3 nights of bowling, no real exercise, some walking When I was 35, I weighed 160lbs and had a 31 inch waste.
When I was in my teens, I would eat 10 tacos at supper, 12 Pancakes for breakfast, 4 sandwiches for lunch. Some people go back for seconds, I used to go back for thirds and fourths. Dinner wasnt over until I ate everything, my mom didnt have to put away alot of leftovers. I didnt hit 100lbs until I was 15. at 18 I only weighed 140lbs. In basic training for the Air Force I actually hit 180lbs for a couple of months, but from the age of about 20 to 38 I maintained about 160lbs, never more than 170.
Lunch for me was almost always two foot long chili dogs or half a pizza, couple of subway sandwichs. Breakfast was pancakes and sausage, eggs hash browns, bacon, coffee, juice and milk.
People have told me I am blessed with a high metabolism. That may have been true years ago but I think as I get older my metabolism doesnt work as well as it used. Along with that I dont eat any where as much as I used to.
typical day for me
Breakfast, bowl of cereal (usually Coco Krispies, Krispy Kreme chocolate dount, a two small 8oz bottles of 2% milk.)
between breakfast and lunch, 4 - 5 cups of coffee with 1 packet of Nestles Hot Chocolate and either a bag of chips (doritos, fritoes)
Lunch - depends on the day it varies, I hate to eat the samethings all week. Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich, small fries / 2 fajita tacos (beef or Chicken) / Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas / Quiznos sub / Burger King Texas Double Whopper with mustard and jalapenos / pizza. All those eaten with at least one can of coke or a large coke.
between lunch and supper - couple candy bars.
Supper - varies - Bowling 3 nights a week its usually fast food, hot dogs, burgers. When I can eat at home tacos, lasagna, baked or broiled chicken, steak, roast, sausage, pizza Peas, carrots, corn, beans, potatoes etc.
This all varies with me because I only eat when I'm hungery. I have skipped lunch, and then only had a sandwich for supper.
I think this is why some people tend to get overweight. "Hey when I was 19 I could eat a large pizza and drink a pitcher of beer all by myself" and now 30 years later they keep eating like that
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Fat Man Walking
Subtitle: A Journey Across America
Author: Steve Vaught
Publisher: Harpercollins
ISBN: 0060899387
Format: Hardcover
MSRP: $24.00
Version: 2006
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Nuff said.
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Ok... 6' and about 190.. 34" waist. I exercise daily and have a high metabolism I guess. I don't really care much about food... I eat to live not live to eat.
Can't cook.. Hate resteraunts of any kind but just as soon have fast food than sit down in a resteraunt.. for one... it is a waste of time... for another... as part of my job I had to inspect a lot of grease traps and that meant that I also had to inspect kitchens in all kinds of resteraunts. I try not to think about it.
Eat what you want and get some exercise... stay away from the TV and don't eat while at the computer.
I also find that girlfriends and wives will make you fat... they all seem to feel that they need to make enough food for 5 people even when it is just you two. I eat everything that is in front of me so that is a problem when I am married or if the girlfriend is around too much.
lazs
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Originally posted by lazs2
I eat to live not live to eat.
You get that from the movie Ravenous?
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My dad used to say that about 30 years ago.
lazs
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Gotcha. I just instantly thought of that movie when I read that.
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never heard of it. What is it about?
lazs
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IN!
42, 183 lbs (no idea how many rocks that equals ;) ), 35" waist, 6'1", cholesterol 165, size 13's...
No breakfast, limited lunches - turkey or ham and cheese sandwich usually, maybe a McD's now and then 'cause I like 'em.
Dinner...whatever the Food Fairy puts in front of me. Luckily, she's pretty careful about the worst stuff (fat, sugar, salt), and limits the junk food to just enough to keep me from griping when I get a craving, but no so available that any of us are fat.
I refuse to adopt any of the diet-du-jour's, since every one of them involves what I personally consider nutritional extremism, which I believe is quite unhealthy. The one principle that's always worked for me is simply to control fat, sugar and salt intake...including the hidden sources of these three.
The part that bugs me is this "national icon" stuff. Says who?
I wish that guy all the luck, and really admire what he's done. I hope he inspires a few others to make successful changes in themselves. But, I never heard of him before today.
However, considering the people that often DO become icons...he's probably a better choice than most! At least he's doing something worthwhile, without an apparent need to glorify himself.
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Plot summary: Captain John Boyd receives a promotion after defeating the enemy command in a battle of the Mexican-American War, but because the general realizes it was an act of cowardice that got him there, he is given a backhanded promotion to Fort Spencer, where he is third in command. The others at the fort are two Indians, George and his sister, Martha, who came with the place, Chaplain Toffler, Reich, the soldier; Cleaves, a drugged-up cook; and Knox, who is frequently drunk. When a Scottish stranger named Colquhoun appears and recovers from frostbite almost instantly after being bathed, he tells a story about his party leader, Ives, eating members of the party to survive. As part of their duty, they must go up to the cave where this occurred to see if any have survived. Only Martha, Knox, and Cleaves stay behind. George warns that since Colquhoun admits to eating human flesh, he must be a Windigo, a ravenous cannibalistic creature.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0129332/
I saw it HBO and thought it was a pretty good movie. The whole windigo thing isn't involved much in the movie.
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Slightly OT.
My friend is soon to do a ‘walking for love’ from San Dimas (Los Angeles County) to Colombia.
http://www.myspace.com/walkforlove
(all of my attempts to use reasoning didn’t work)
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You all can eat McDonalds and Burger King and Carl's Jr. all day and not gain a pound? That's fine. You look great on the outside, but when was the last time you had a blood analysis? Especially you guys over 40, or probably even 35. You look great, lean, buff, on the outside, but on the inside that cholesterol is just packing your arteries and veins. You don't have to be fat, to die from it. It is, after all, the silent killer.
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Nirvana, my last cholesterol count, 150 last year, BP 110/60
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I know what my arteries look like cause while they were in putting in somebody elses heart they looked at em.... never seen cleaner they said.
my grandma just turned 97. Her theory is that if you go to the doctor they will find something wrong... can't say that I dissagree too much.
lazs
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Originally posted by lazs2
my grandma just turned 97.
Is that the one that lives in Arkansas?
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yep the other one died at 87
lazs
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Right, like I was saying, ateriosclerosis, athrosclerosis, high blood pressure, etc. It all leads downhill to a nice big quadruple bypass, or if you are unlucky, death at an unfortunately early age.
And my Great Grandmother turns 89 this year.
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Nirvana, read my posts here: http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=158560
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Yea but Lazs, lugging all that heavy iron on each hip must burn some calories and keep ya fit, right?
(http://www.cardsquad.com/images/2005/09/yosemite-sam2.gif)
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Does this guy have another guy to walk behind him & play the tuba?
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Originally posted by nirvana
You all can eat McDonalds and Burger King and Carl's Jr. all day and not gain a pound? That's fine. You look great on the outside, but when was the last time you had a blood analysis? Especially you guys over 40, or probably even 35. You look great, lean, buff, on the outside, but on the inside that cholesterol is just packing your arteries and veins. You don't have to be fat, to die from it. It is, after all, the silent killer.
Nirvana you know that exercise have positive effect on cholesterol ??
Latest studys saying, that individuals who did not exercise deteriorated
as rapidly as they did in measurements of blood cholesterol, weight gain and overall health.
Guten Apetitt!
Gh0stFT
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Nirvana you know that exercise have positive effect on cholesterol ??
Latest studys saying, that individuals who did not exercise deteriorated
as rapidly as they did in measurements of blood cholesterol, weight gain and overall health.
Not quite. Had you read that link I posted (which I'd be willing to bet you didn't...), you would see the truth.
The truth is that the rate of heart problems and health problems was the exact same between a group that exercised and ate well, versus a group that did not.