Fast food is not usually part of a weight loss plan, but for one Rhode Island man, a daily trip to Chickfil A was the unexpected key to losing pounds and turning his health around. Of course, there's a twist. The story involves a man in his 30s named Tom Carroll. Tom Carroll works as a sports radio host in New England, swelling to 360 pounds in the summer of 2023, wearing the biggest outfit of his life, sprinting through every day in fear of a heart attack. Subsack.
“I liked being a big guy who had a good time. WBZ In Boston.
Disappointed by his weight and appearance, Carol decides it's time to lose the pound. He didn't want to make a big show of it. He didn't want to tell his friends. And he definitely didn't want to exercise. Still, he wasn't completely committed. At least, it's not yet.
“For a few weeks I saw a family cookout picking salads instead of the usual two saugi and cheeseburgers,” he writes. “After my wife fell asleep for three tacos and a burrito, I creeped up and woke up a large mountain dew a little past midnight.”
His meal was turned off again. That's until he gets an idea that includes Chickfill A. He and his wife have long been fans of chicken chains, “consuming shaking, sides, sandwiches. You gave it a name and we ate it,” he writes. However, the key to his meal was to move away from the famous sandwiches. Instead, Carol's go-to was Chick Phil A's spicy southwest salad. He wrote, “the perfect blend of vegetables mixed with tortilla strips for a very rich crunch,” he wrote. He was always topped with cold spicy grilled filet and creamy salsa dressing.
“It's all just dancing with taste buds in a way that I had nothing else throughout my journey,” he said. I wrote it. “After years of dieting, I found out that I'm always “relapsed” from pure boredom from the mundane lifestyle of cutting out fun foods, so I found something to check every box. ”
Here's a sentence I didn't think I wrote:
I lost 132 pounds of food @chickfila Every day for lunch, and in the process, saved my own life.
I stepped on a waaay outside my comfort zone and wrote an essay about my up and down journey to get healthy.
✍✍️ https://t.co/dzp55gqysx pic.twitter.com/62an8kdso9
– Tom Carroll (@yaboitcfresh) January 22, 2025
Carroll has promised to eat delicious salads every day at his local Chickfil A in South Attleboro, Massachusetts.
“I knew there at the time. I had to make this salad a regular part of my routine. I knew that if I could have a pleasant meal, I could get back on track,” he wrote.
A few weeks later, after the horrors of health that landed him in the hospital, Carol is shocked to learn that he had lost 60 pounds.
“My daily trip to Chickfill A for the spicy Southwest salad was working, but I wasn't going to stop anytime soon,” he wrote.
The spicy southwest salad is not part of his new meal. He also gave up on alcohol. Still, Chick Phil A's salad was at the heart of his transformation. The 6-foot-2 carroll fell from 360 pounds to 228, losing 132 pounds. Chick-fil-a employees get excited when he comes in. He hopes his story will help others.
“Chickfil saved my life, and I can't wait to become a loyal customer for years to come. I know this meal works for me, and I can't wait for it to roll it as the year unfolds.”
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Brandon Bell/Staff
Michael Foot For 20 years, I have covered the intersection of faith and news. His stories appear in the Baptist Press, Christianity Today, Christian Post, Leaf Leaf, Toronto Star, Knoxville News Sentinel.
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It was originally published on March 27th, 2025.
