Chick-fil-A food plan helps man lose 132 kilos, he says of his dramatic weight reduction

[ad_1] Chest pains — plus a priority for his weight and well being — prompted a Rhode Island man to take a wellness journey that he stated saved his life. The unlikely rescuer? A Chick-fil-A salad .

"I knew I wanted to make a change," Tom Carroll, 32, a digital content material producer from Lincoln, Rhode Island, instructed Fox Information Digital.

At 360 kilos, Carroll had tried and failed to alter his food plan and way of life. However after Thanksgiving 2023, he had "probably the most severe chest ache" he'd ever skilled.

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"I knew that was a second the place I could not fiddle anymore," he stated.

"I wanted to buckle down and take this severely."

At 360 kilos, Tom Carroll had tried earlier to alter his food plan and way of life. However his weight-loss journey started when his spouse, pictured with him at a Boston Pink Sox recreation, bought him a Spicy Southwest Salad from Chick-fil-A. (Tom Carroll)

A number of days later, Carroll's spouse, Morgan, determined to select up Chick-fil-A for dinner and requested her husband for his order. His stunning reply was a Spicy Southwest Salad.

"Unbeknownst to her, I had made this promise to myself that I used to be going to go on this well being journey and take it severely," Carroll stated. "I hadn't talked to anybody about my chest pains or my want to lose weight , which, in hindsight, I remorse. I simply requested her to select me up a type of salads."

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One thing clicked.

"This salad was scrumptious," he stated. "I've all the time preferred one thing a bit spicier and I like Mexican food . This has all these Tex-Mex components."

<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/04/672/378/tom-carroll-split-chick-fil-a-spicy-southwest-salad.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/04/1344/756/tom-carroll-split-chick-fil-a-spicy-southwest-salad.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="378" width="672"><source media="(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/04/931/523/tom-carroll-split-chick-fil-a-spicy-southwest-salad.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/04/1862/1046/tom-carroll-split-chick-fil-a-spicy-southwest-salad.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="523" width="931"> Carroll ate a Spicy Southwest Salad from Chick-fil-A day by day, which helped him shed pounds, he stated. "This salad was scrumptious." (Tom Carroll; Chick-fil-A)

The salad has grilled spicy rooster breast on combined greens and is served with tomatoes, cheese, roasted corn, black beans and peppers, topped with pepitas and a creamy salsa dressing.

It is 680 energy with 49 grams of fats, 27 carbs and 33 grams protein, in accordance with Chick-fil-A.

"I believed, if I [could] eat this salad day by day, I would not get bored consuming a salad."

"I believed, if I [could] eat this salad each single day, I would not get bored consuming a salad," Carroll recalled.

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As a result of there's no Chick-fil-A in Lincoln, Carroll started making the 4-mile trek to the closest one in Attleboro, Massachusetts, each single day. Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays, so he'd choose up an additional salad on Saturdays to assist him keep on monitor.

Carroll additionally gave up drinking alcohol – initially simply on weekdays.

Carroll additionally in the reduction of on ingesting alcohol. "It might all the time simply result in dangerous meals selections," he stated. (Tom Carroll)

"However once I would drink on the weekends, it might all the time simply result in bad food selections."

Nonetheless, he "wasn't stepping on the size" to know the way a lot weight he'd misplaced – till one evening when he had a relapse.

Carroll ate a whole pizza by himself whereas watching soccer and began to really feel chest pains once more.

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"They had been persistent that evening," he stated.

After waking up his spouse in the course of the evening to take him to the emergency room, Carroll weighed himself. He'd seen "a video of a nurse saying it is good to know the way a lot you weigh earlier than you present as much as a hospital, in case they should administer drugs as quickly as you get [there]."

"So, I bought on the size."

Carroll first discovered how a lot weight he'd misplaced after an evening of persistent chest pains. He spouse took him to the ER. (Tom Carroll)

He had misplaced greater than 60 kilos.

"I used to be elated," he stated. "It was the weirdest feeling ever to go from pondering I used to be going to die to then being so glad I had misplaced a lot weight by consuming the salads."

On the ER, Carroll stated he noticed individuals in a lot worse form than he was — and after discovering out that he was not having a coronary heart assault, he turned much more motivated to not find yourself there once more.

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He made a health care provider's appointment, joined a health club and continued consuming a day by day salad, finally creating a do-it-yourself model to eat for dinner.

Carroll credit the workers of Chick-fil-A for his weight-loss success. They had been a few of the first individuals to know he was making an attempt to shed pounds and enhance his health, he stated.

"They turned my help system," he stated. He known as them his "greatest cheerleaders."

Carroll known as the workers of his native Chick-fil-A his "greatest cheerleaders." (Tom Carroll)

Carroll stated he felt protected sharing his weight reduction with the workers.

"It was a no-judgment zone," he stated, "and I knew they had been going to be optimistic no matter what I instructed them."

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Kelly Springer, a registered dietitian based mostly in Skaneateles, New York, stated Carroll appears to be getting protein, greens, vitamins and nutritional vitamins and "is aware of precisely what his energy are."

She added, "With that consistency, he might see that change over time."

Carroll, proven in each photographs above, misplaced a complete of 132 kilos. (Tom Carroll)

Springer stated she usually recommends extra styles of fruit and veggies to assist diversify gut bacteria .

However "it was [healthier] for him to get right into a weight vary that does not put him in danger [of] power illness," she stated.

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Carroll has misplaced 132 kilos. He stated he is in "upkeep mode" now, feeling higher than ever at 228 kilos.

Carroll, at left, is pictured with a good friend at a Boston Celtics recreation. He stated he feels higher than ever at 228 kilos. (Tom Carroll)

"I have been capable of preserve that by sticking to my salads day by day, making do-it-yourself salads for dinner, consuming a lightweight breakfast and understanding an hour within the health club nearly day by day," he stated.