Kevin Maginnis wants to lose weight, but he’s not hitting the gym or stocking up on salad fixings.
Instead, the 57-year-old man from Nashville, Tennessee, is heading for the golden arches.
Maginnis decided on a unique weight-loss plan and announced it Feb. 21 in a TikTok video.
“So I woke up this morning and I weighed in at 238 pounds … and I decided that that is absolutely unacceptable,” he said.
“So I drove down to McDonald’s,” Maginnis laughed. “Because if you’re gonna start getting into better physical shape, McDonald’s is the place you go.”
From the twinkle in his eye and his ironic tone, it’s apparent that he was joking — at least a little bit. But then he got serious and continues.
“I know some of you are thinking that might be crazy, but I’m going to eat nothing but McDonald’s for the next 100 days.
“But instead of eating everything they give me, I’m going to go ahead and cut the meals in half, just to kind of prove to myself, and maybe some of the other people watching, that it’s not as much what you’re eating, it’s the quantity that we’re eating that really jacks us up.”
One adjustment he is making to the typical McDonald’s menu is drinking water instead of sodas.
“I know many of you are gonna think I’m crazy, but let’s find out,” he concluded.
Some followers did, indeed, think he was crazy.
“RIP bro,” one commented.
Since then, Maginnis has posted several videos a day, showing himself chowing down on sausage, egg and cheese McMuffins, hash browns, pancakes and biscuits for breakfast.
At lunch and dinner, the videos show him digging into Quarter Pounders or Big Macs with fries and sometimes even apple pies or Shamrock McFlurries.
As he promised, he eats only half of everything he orders and saves the remaining food for the next meal.
He told NBC’s “Today” show Thursday he had dropped 12.5 pounds so far.
“My belief is [I’ll] be down 50 pounds by the end, my health will be better, my bloodwork will be better. And if you don’t believe me, follow along,” he told Carson Daly and Sheinelle Jones in the TV interview.
Maginnis said he’s not being sponsored by McDonald’s, though he admitted that his size and name have frequently earned him the nickname “Big Mac.”
It’s likely that McDonald’s publicists will be holding their breath and praying he makes it through the three-month experiment with no adverse events. After all, they had to deal with a public relations tsunami after the release of the 2004 documentary “Super Size Me,” in which filmmaker Morgan Spurlock ate only McDonald’s food for 30 days.
Spurlock’s experiment called for him to eat every item on the menu at least once, and to “super size” the meal whenever it was offered — which, at the time, was often. He reportedly averaged about 5,000 calories per day on that plan.
The fast-food chain dropped the Super Size promotion altogether after Spurlock gained 25 pounds and experienced numerous health challenges as a result of the plan.
Maginnis is evidently aware of that weighty historical episode, as he has tagged many of his videos “100 Days Eating only McDonald’s — 1/2 Size me!”
As his waistline has shrunk, his TikTok following has grown, with some installments hitting over several hundred thousand views. His initial post has more than 680,000 views.
One TikTok follower told Maginnis, “I think you are perfect the way you are, but good for you. I’m following your adventure.”
Maginnis thanked the follower but added an explanation for his commitment to losing weight.
“The challenge is, I’m 57 years old,” he said. “I’ve got kids and grandkids.”
“I know some overweight 60-year-olds, but I don’t know anyone who’s overweight at 80 years old. I want to be here as long as possible, and I think that getting some of this excess weight off is going to help me do that,” Maginnis said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
