Kevin Maginnis is celebrating his birthday on Tuesday, but he isn't having any cake. After all, it's not something you typically find on the McDonald's dessert menu.
For the past 43 days, the 57-year-old has eaten nothing but McDonald’s — his goal is to eat only from the fast-food chain for 100 days in an effort to lose weight. And he hasn’t faltered once yet.
"If it doesn’t come through a McDonald’s, it’s not going into my body for this 100 days," he tells TODAY.com. "A birthday cupcake is not going to cause me to not finish this."
Maginnis’ approach is quite simple: Order three McDonald’s meals a day but only consume half of each meal to reduce caloric intake. He then saves the rest for his next meal.
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Since embarking on the challenge in February, Maginnis has lost 33 pounds, and he's lowered his cholesterol significantly, he says. He's even convinced another person to join him on the journey: his wife, Melody, who has already dropped 3 pounds.
“She’s Mclovin’ it,” he quips.
The Nashville resident was surprised when his wife recently decided to join him on the 100-day challenge because he hadn't suggested it.
“Not once did I bring up anything because I’m a smart man,” he says.
But gradually, Melody saw how well her husband was doing and decided to join in.
"I think she’s beautiful now so it’s just the health reasons (that are motivating us)," Maginnis says. We want to get into a better overall healthy weight."
Since Maginnis first went viral for his unconventional approach to weight loss — which he's been documenting on TikTok — many people have called his 100-day challenge a “diet,” but he’s quick to clarify that it’s not.
“You can’t call me eating McFlurries and Big Macs and quarter pounders a diet,” he explains.
Instead of depriving himself of certain foods, the Nashville resident is focused on portion control and only eats when he is physically hungry.
“I wait until I have that actual heat, not my head craving foods but my body actually at that place where it’s really truly hungry,” he says.
Maginnis adds that he's not bored with the food he's eating, and he's hardly been tempted to eat elsewhere since there's plenty of variety on the McDonald's menu.
“Hunger, it turns out, is one of the best seasonings you can add to anything,” he says.
Since he’s focused on portion control and not eliminating certain foods from his diet, Maginnis doesn’t have a need for “cheat days.”
“I’m never depriving myself. I’m eating McFurries, I’m eating cinnamon rolls, I’m hitting Big Macs, I’m eating French fries," he says. "I’m just delaying myself because I’m going eat the whole thing. I’m just not going to eat it all in one sitting."
Maginnis' goal is to lose 50 pounds in 100 days, and he's well on his way to achieving it.
Of course, he’s also aware that he has critics, particularly those in the medical field who have pointed out that eating McDonald’s for 100 days straight isn’t exactly a healthy choice. But he feels strongly that shedding the pounds first is more important for his health than changing the foods he eats.
"Eating different macronutrients that are going to help my brain function — if I’m dead, my brain function is not going to improve, so let's get rid of this (obesity) killer first," he says.
Registered dietitian Frances Largeman-Roth previously told TODAY.com that while you can lose weight while eating fast food, some of the ingredients aren't ideal for a healthy diet.
“Even though Kevin is cutting his meals in half, he’s still getting well over the recommended 2,300 milligrams of sodium daily. One bacon, egg and cheese biscuit contains 1,330 milligrams of sodium, and a Big Mac has over 1,000 milligrams without ketchup or mustard,” she explained.
In addition, Largeman-Roth said Maginnis will eventually need to add physical activity to his regiment once the weight loss plateaus.
"And let’s remember that health isn’t just about the number on the scale. It’s also about cardiovascular health and other measures,” she added.
In the long term, Maginnis agrees that exercise and vitamins are important. But for the remainder of his 100-day challenge, he's just going to focus on portion control — "and on my body, it seems to be working," he says.
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
