McDiet helps man drop 79 pounds - and he's lovin' it
Wednesday, Jun 11, 2008 - 12:09 AM Updated: 08:30 PM
By REED WILLIAMS
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Chris Coleson was a surfer, a hiker and a two-time most valuable player on his high school soccer team.
He weighed about 185 pounds when he got married in 1998.
"After the kids came, she lost her pregnancy weight, and I kept mine," said the 42-year-old New Kent County businessman.
During the next decade or so, the 5-foot-8 Coleson ballooned to about 300 pounds. He gained 45 pounds from last August to November.
Frustrated by a number of false starts with losing weight, he made a bold prediction to his wife, Tricia Sumner -- that he could lose weight and do it by eating only at McDonald's. He chose the fast-food chain in part because its locations are convenient for his busy schedule.
"There was a level of fear after I said that," said Coleson, who has no affiliation with McDonald's other than eating almost every meal there during his diet. "At that point, I had to stick with it."
He eats mostly salads, wraps and apple dippers without the caramel sauce, and he has the occasional cheeseburger without the bun. He generally eats two meals a day and tries to keep his daily intake at 1,200 to 1,400 calories.
Mary-Jo Sawyer, a registered dietician at VCU Medical Center at Stony Point, praised Coleson's discipline but said an average man should be eating more calories -- 1,500 to 1,800 -- or his metabolism could slow down. She also said Coleson's diet doesn't include enough variety of nutrients and that he should be eating breakfast.
"A year from now, he will probably not want to look at a salad or a wrap or apples," Sawyer said.
Coleson dropped from 278 pounds when he started the diet Dec. 3 to 199 as of yesterday, the last time he weighed himself.
He is a partner for NEIE Inc., a provider of environmental, industrial and engineering clean-up services. The company is based in Massachusetts but has offices in Henrico County. He and his family live in Quinton.
Coleson said the stress of a busy work schedule and raising a son and daughter left no time to exercise. After someone stole a large amount of money from his company last year, his gorging spun out of control.
"I was a stress eater," he said.
He would eat straight from the refrigerator, sometimes consuming enough for a family meal in one evening. And sometimes, his wife said, she would make school lunches for the children and he would scarf them down.
Coleson said he got to where he couldn't fit into a booth at restaurants, barely could tie his shoes, and had to sleep sitting up to be comfortable. His children, James and Meghan, would call him old and fat and pound on his belly as a joke. He put "OLD-NFAT" on the license plates of his car..
Coleson said he was inspired to change his life after hearing about a blind war veteran who rode cross-country on a tandem bicycle. He also wanted to improve his health so he'd be around for his children.
He kept receipts from his nearly daily visits to McDonald's and taped them on the pages of four journals that also include regular entries.
At his request, the Chickahominy Family YMCA started a program called Mission Possible that's modeled after the TV show "The Biggest Loser." As many as 100 people participate in the program, said Celia Givens, executive director of the Chickahominy YMCA. Coleson is a member of the YMCA's board of managers.
For his wife's 40th birthday in April, Coleson spent $274.18 on McDonald's food, which he catered at the YMCA for about 35 people (the receipt's in one of his journals). But the big present for his wife came when he put on his wedding ring, which he had removed from a painfully swollen finger seven years ago.
The license plates on his vehicle now say "MCFIT." His waist size has dropped from 50 to 36.
He became something of a celebrity in New Kent after a local paper profiled him this year. His wife, with some embarrassment, recalls someone yelling "Mrs. McFit" across a softball field at their daughter's game.
Sandra Hillquist, who works with Coleson, joined his Mission Possible team.
"It kind of inspired me to kind of get a grip on my own weight issues," Hillquist said, although she added there was no way she could eat only McDonald's.
Coleson said he plans to quit the McDonald's diet June 19 -- Day 200 of his diet -- but continue to eat healthier and keep portion sizes under control.
Day 200 comes two days before his 10th wedding anniversary. He's hoping to weigh 185 by then, his weight when he walked down the aisle. He's got some work to do between now and then.
"I've got a lot of running to do," he said.
Wednesday, Jun 11, 2008 - 12:09 AM Updated: 08:30 PM
By REED WILLIAMS
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Chris Coleson was a surfer, a hiker and a two-time most valuable player on his high school soccer team.
He weighed about 185 pounds when he got married in 1998.
"After the kids came, she lost her pregnancy weight, and I kept mine," said the 42-year-old New Kent County businessman.
During the next decade or so, the 5-foot-8 Coleson ballooned to about 300 pounds. He gained 45 pounds from last August to November.
Frustrated by a number of false starts with losing weight, he made a bold prediction to his wife, Tricia Sumner -- that he could lose weight and do it by eating only at McDonald's. He chose the fast-food chain in part because its locations are convenient for his busy schedule.
"There was a level of fear after I said that," said Coleson, who has no affiliation with McDonald's other than eating almost every meal there during his diet. "At that point, I had to stick with it."
He eats mostly salads, wraps and apple dippers without the caramel sauce, and he has the occasional cheeseburger without the bun. He generally eats two meals a day and tries to keep his daily intake at 1,200 to 1,400 calories.
Mary-Jo Sawyer, a registered dietician at VCU Medical Center at Stony Point, praised Coleson's discipline but said an average man should be eating more calories -- 1,500 to 1,800 -- or his metabolism could slow down. She also said Coleson's diet doesn't include enough variety of nutrients and that he should be eating breakfast.
"A year from now, he will probably not want to look at a salad or a wrap or apples," Sawyer said.
Coleson dropped from 278 pounds when he started the diet Dec. 3 to 199 as of yesterday, the last time he weighed himself.
He is a partner for NEIE Inc., a provider of environmental, industrial and engineering clean-up services. The company is based in Massachusetts but has offices in Henrico County. He and his family live in Quinton.
Coleson said the stress of a busy work schedule and raising a son and daughter left no time to exercise. After someone stole a large amount of money from his company last year, his gorging spun out of control.
"I was a stress eater," he said.
He would eat straight from the refrigerator, sometimes consuming enough for a family meal in one evening. And sometimes, his wife said, she would make school lunches for the children and he would scarf them down.
Coleson said he got to where he couldn't fit into a booth at restaurants, barely could tie his shoes, and had to sleep sitting up to be comfortable. His children, James and Meghan, would call him old and fat and pound on his belly as a joke. He put "OLD-NFAT" on the license plates of his car..
Coleson said he was inspired to change his life after hearing about a blind war veteran who rode cross-country on a tandem bicycle. He also wanted to improve his health so he'd be around for his children.
He kept receipts from his nearly daily visits to McDonald's and taped them on the pages of four journals that also include regular entries.
At his request, the Chickahominy Family YMCA started a program called Mission Possible that's modeled after the TV show "The Biggest Loser." As many as 100 people participate in the program, said Celia Givens, executive director of the Chickahominy YMCA. Coleson is a member of the YMCA's board of managers.
For his wife's 40th birthday in April, Coleson spent $274.18 on McDonald's food, which he catered at the YMCA for about 35 people (the receipt's in one of his journals). But the big present for his wife came when he put on his wedding ring, which he had removed from a painfully swollen finger seven years ago.
The license plates on his vehicle now say "MCFIT." His waist size has dropped from 50 to 36.
He became something of a celebrity in New Kent after a local paper profiled him this year. His wife, with some embarrassment, recalls someone yelling "Mrs. McFit" across a softball field at their daughter's game.
Sandra Hillquist, who works with Coleson, joined his Mission Possible team.
"It kind of inspired me to kind of get a grip on my own weight issues," Hillquist said, although she added there was no way she could eat only McDonald's.
Coleson said he plans to quit the McDonald's diet June 19 -- Day 200 of his diet -- but continue to eat healthier and keep portion sizes under control.
Day 200 comes two days before his 10th wedding anniversary. He's hoping to weigh 185 by then, his weight when he walked down the aisle. He's got some work to do between now and then.
"I've got a lot of running to do," he said.
ope:
