Introduction to Weight Loss
Alarmed by his growing weight and the toll it was taking on his health, Tom Carroll lost 132 pounds in a unique way: eating a Chick-fil-A salad every day. He’s been following that routine for more than a year, always ordering the restaurant’s Spicy Southwest Salad for lunch — his big meal of the day — then making a homemade version of it for dinner.
The Power of Consistency
Carroll, 32, says he’s not bored eating the same thing every day — a strategy dietitians say can have important advantages — noting he just really likes the taste. The 680-calorie salad contains mixed greens, tomatoes, roasted corn, black beans, chiles, red bell peppers, cheese, grilled chicken, and comes with tortilla strips, pepitas and a creamy salsa dressing. “I was really lucky that I found the thing that works for me,” Carroll, who lives in Lincoln, Rhode Island, tells TODAY.com. “There are a lot of Spicy Southwest Salads in my life, but I’m more than happy to stay on that path.”
Tom Carroll before and after losing 132 pounds by eating a Chick-Fil-A salad every day for lunch for a year, plus giving up alcohol and making other changes. Courtesy Tom Carroll
Shocked by Weight Gain
Carroll says he was always a big kid, with an “element of obesity in my DNA,” and just kept gaining weight in school and as an adult. He loved salty, cheesy foods, like pizza, hot dogs, fast food and potato chips, washing it down with sugary soda or sports drinks. As a digital content producer for a Boston sports radio station, Carroll sometimes works odd hours, so he’d reach for quick, unhealthy meals to fuel his body.
The Turning Point
He didn’t weigh himself for years — an aversion to the scale left over from his childhood days when nurses and doctors would make comments about his weight. So Carroll was shocked when he discovered he weighed 360 pounds in July 2023 — his highest recorded weight. At 6 feet, 2 inches tall, he says he felt heavy and “terrible.” “It was awful,” Carroll says. “Going up and down stairs was an issue. … Sitting on an airplane and getting a seat belt put on was an absolute challenge. Finding clothes that fit and feeling good when you dress up wasn’t fun.”
Carroll and his wife, Morgan. He weighed 360 pounds at his heaviest. Courtesy Tom Carroll
Weight Loss Success
Carroll was determined to lose weight. The first step was to stop drinking beer and other alcohol, which he mainly drank on weekends. “After having a bunch of drinks at the end of the night, it always made me want to eat poorly, so I would order pizza and eat the whole pizza,” Carroll recalls. In late 2023, he started to eat Chick-fil-A’s Spicy Southwest Salad every day for lunch, an option that “felt like a real treat while also being healthy,” he wrote in his essay.
Carroll poses with Silvia, an employee at his Chick-fil-A location. He says the restaurant staff became a support system for him as he came by every day to order the salad. Courtesy Tom Carroll
Current Status
After a year of this routine, Carroll weighed 228 pounds, losing 132 pounds in all. He also joined a gym and started exercising. He’s been able to maintain that weight and has a healthy blood pressure with the help of medication. Carroll still eats the
