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.
