Fat Men Walking Walking is a great way to start getting fit, if you are a fat man. Steve Vaught walked across the United States from San Diego to NYC to lose weight and regain his life.  His story and travelogue is HERE at www.thefatmanwalking.com Another man who walked was Roy Dye - let me use his words " Four years ago doctors discovered a heart problem brought on by tension, inactivity, added weight, and a right knee problem caused by a torn cartilage and added stress associated with the prosthesis. Eventually they had to operate and open the amputated leg again. Pack it and let it drain because a new infection had popped up. Talk about a set back. Back in a wheelchair and on crutches again. Weight out of control. Up to almost 300 pounds and cholesterol up over 250. Give up, or do something about it! I had never given up... why start now? I followed the doctor’s instructions, declined any operations on the right knee for the torn cartilage and took cortisone injections while I tried to regain my walking ability once again. I now have proof and I am a firm believer that if you don’t use it you lose it. With prosthesis on one leg and a damaged knee on the other, I started practicing walking again. They have already explained the benefits of replacing the right knee with an artificial knee, but why hurry! If it has to be replaced eventually why not wait as long as possible? Although it’s taken four years to get to this point I feel I have accomplished the impossible. It’s very hard to exercise and lose weight with sub-par limbs an overweight condition, or both. However I have lost over fifty pounds and have lowered my total cholesterol to less than 120 with the LDL under 93 (without cholesterol medication). Still my ideal weight is forty pounds below where I am now. Although at seventy I can’t run any of the funding events, I walk in many of them and have decided that when the time comes I will participate in a wheelchair if necessary, providing I am able, which is why I am walking today, while I can. Corporate sponsorship is becoming extremely difficult since corporations, out of necessity, have geared their efforts toward groups and pre-established charities.  Many individuals with outstanding abilities willing to contribute are passed over because of this ever increasing corporate change. If successful, I intend to use proceeds to establish a charitable trust, or foundation, IRC Section 501(c)(3), and continue helping others. If I can help someone regain their health, learn to walk again, slim down, get their lives back, and enjoy life a little more, then the “The Iron Man Walking, Biking, Hiking Our Way Across America Marathon Expedition” will be worth it. However, make no mistake, I am walking for me. I need to walk across America for me and my family, past and present! If I can accomplish this, many will benefit. I realize the odds are great and that some have died trying to accomplish such a feat" many thanks to Gene for bringing Roy to our notice A great resource for those who are just about to start walking can be found at www.walking.about.com If you have any further news or stories on Fat Men Walking please use the contact us pages