When most people want to drop weight or meet a fitness goal, cutting out fast food is one of the first things to eliminate, but not for Tom Carroll. The 32-year-old credits Chick-fil-A for losing an astounding 132 pounds in 14 months and saving his life.
“Back before I was on my health journey, I would have never thought of a fast food restaurant as something that would be my engine for losing weight,” he exclusively tells us. “Fast food was the thing I would turn to because it was fun, easy, and delicious,” he says, but now it’s completely changed his life for the better.
Carroll’s struggle with weight started as a child, which hurt him in different ways, especially when it came to sports.
“I remember as a kid wanting to play for the town youth football team, but there were weight limits based on what age you were,” he says. “Knowing I would never make the weight for my age’s team, I never even tried to sign up.”
He continues, “My brother is a year older than me and was on the team, and he would always struggle like crazy to make weight. I’d see how hard he would try to get to that number and it scared me from ever even giving it a shot.”
The situation was further fueled when he visited the pediatrician every year and was told how overweight he was, which sparked adulthood issues.
“This is why I had such an aversion to stepping on the scale, even when I wasn’t at the doctor’s appointment. It was wholly embarrassing.”
He was so ashamed that at times he hid how much he ate from his wife. He would sneak out when she was asleep to binge on tacos, burritos and Mountain Dew. But he finally got fed up, took control of his health and is sharing his story.
Carroll, who lives in Rhode Island and works in Boston as a digital content producer for a local sports radio station, wrote an essay titled “Chick-fil-A Saved My Life.” In great detail he revealed how experiencing terrifying chest pains that he thought was a heart attack and the humiliation of looking at himself in photos prompted him to turn things around, which is now inspiring others.
At 6′ 2″ and 360 pounds, his heaviest, Carroll made a decision to overall his lifestyle and get serious about his health. He spoke to Eat This, Not That! about his journey and how he’s kept the weight off.
Why Chick-fil-A Played a Big Role
Fast food has played a role in Carroll’s life since he was a kid, but it was an unhealthy relationship until he committed to his weight loss.
“I was always completely conscious of the fact that all the fast food I was eating was keeping me from being healthy,” he says. When I thought ‘health foods,’ fast food was the furthest thing from my mind. But when it finally clicked for me that this salad from Chick-fil-A was not only healthy, but also fun, easy and delicious just like the burgers and tacos I had been eating my whole adult life, it immediately changed my perception of what fast food could be.”
He Ate the Same Salad Every Day
Carroll got into a routine of ordering the Chick-fil-A’s Spicy Southwest Salad that’s 680 calories with 33 grams of protein. He loved the salad so much, it never bothered him that he ate it literally every day. To prepare for Sundays, when the chain is closed, he ordered the day before and kept it in the fridge until he was ready to eat.
“You can find healthy options at almost every restaurant, and I find that to be especially easy at a place like Chick-fil-A, where you can always opt for a grilled chicken version of everything they have,” he explains.
He also made health-conscious choices at his favorite fast food spot.
“Instead of the waffle fries – as delicious as they are – you can go with their fruit cup or kale crunch side salad. I know I’m probably biased because of my specific journey, but I find it to be easier to eat healthy at Chick-fil-A than at any other fast food establishment.”
Eating Chick-fil-A Helped Carroll Stay Focus
Although the nearly 700 calorie salad was high in sodium–1,570 milligrams with 49 grams of fat, it kept him full and focused on his goal.
“I think the biggest thing for me with the spicy southwest salad is that it’s low carb and high protein,” he tells us. “I try to consume as little sugar as possible, and obviously carbs equal sugar. So having found a salad that is super tasty, super filling, and also helps keep me within my little-to-no sugar goal, I can see why it has been such an effective tool for me to lose weight.”
Keeping the Weight Off
Carroll’s journey wasn’t seamless. He went through periods when there was no progress and he wasn’t always totally committed.
One time, he ate so much pizza, he had chest pains again causing him to go to the ER, according to his essay. But his daily routine of eating Chick-fil-A and encountering familiar people at the same restaurant helped him stay on track.
“I really believe that the process of going to the restaurant every day and interacting with the community I developed at my local Chick-fil-A is what has helped keep the weight off,” he explains.
“In addition to the salad being delicious, it’s become fun for me to go retrieve the salad and see Silvia and the rest of the friendly faces at the Attleboro, Mass. location. In the past when I would lose weight, I would inevitably put it back on because I would get bored with eating healthy and revert back to late night fast food. This time around, I’ve been able to find a system that works for me and keeps me interested in staying on the path.”
Plans Meals Around the Salad
Carroll typically eats the salad for lunch and plans how many calories he eats the rest of the day around it.
“In addition to the mental side, having the Chick-fil-A salad be the main meal that I build the rest of my eating off of the rest of the day has been huge,” he shares. “I know that I’m getting most of my calories in with that salad, and that it’s got enough sodium and fats in there to trick me into thinking I’m eating something much more exciting than a bowl of veggies with cold chicken filet.”
He adds, “Everything else I eat calorie-wise is based off what I have for lunch. It keeps me to a lighter breakfast, and lower-cal version of the salad for dinner that I make with ingredients from the grocery store.”
Stopping the Cycle of Bad Food Choices
While Carroll credits Chick-fil-A for the weight loss and a second chance at life, he also made big changes like stopping drinking, which he says was one of the “best things” he did for his diet.
“Even though I really only ever drank on the weekends, it was those beers on Fridays and Saturdays that always led to me making awful food decisions late at night”, he shares. “Those late night pizzas and hot dogs would then make me feel like crap on Sundays, which then would lead into more unhealthy eating, and then I’d be into that cycle of bad choices with food until about the middle of the week.”
He adds, “By the time I’d string together a couple good days of salads, it was the weekend again and it was time to make excuses for myself to eat poorly after drinking with friends. Cutting that element out of my life entirely has taken that temptation and excuse away.”
Incorporated a Gym Routine
In addition to changing his mindset and getting rid of bad food habits, Carroll hit the gym.
“After I lost enough weight to where I didn’t feel like I would die at the gym, I started incorporating daily power walks on the treadmill to my routine,” he says.
“I go for an hour, and I add speed and incline throughout the hour until I’m at level 4 for both. It burns somewhere between 450-600 calories for me, depending on if I want to listen to what the treadmill tells me or what my Apple Watch tells me, but I’m not too focused on that exact number there.”
The biggest thing for him was “getting a good sweat in” and being physically active in a way that was “attainable on a daily basis.”
Carroll says, “I never wanted to be an IG model type posting gym selfies or trying out exercises that might injure me. I was focused on finding something that I knew I could accomplish, and was enough of a burn to keep me on a healthy path. It’s also a great way to zone out and relieve stress. Depending on my mood or what’s on my mind, I’ll either listen to podcasts or music every single time.”
Overwhelming Positive Response
Carroll was apprehensive to share his story because he was worried he couldn’t keep the weight off. But now that it’s been a few months since his life changing transformation, he wrote the essay, which has resonated with others.
“Almost every single day since posting the story, someone has reached out to me to let me know that the essay has impacted them in a positive way,” he says. “I’ve heard from close friends that have told me they started eating the salad every day as well, and that they’ve started to lose weight.”
He continues, “I’ve heard from guys that I haven’t spoken to in 10-15 years that have told me that the essay forced them to make the doctor’s appointment they’ve been putting off because of embarrassment from gaining weight. I’ve heard from total strangers in my DMs across social media – moms and dads and grandmas and college students and dudes in their early 30s working weird hours who have all said the essay helped them get on the health journey that they’ve been putting off for any number of reasons.”
The experience has been rewarding and Carroll says, “every time someone reaches out, it makes me so happy to hear that another person is choosing to get healthy. It’s the best.”
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