After 36 days of eating only McDonald’s, Nashville, Tenn., native Kevin Maginnis is still “Lovin’ it.”
Maginnis, 56, started the unconventional diet challenge in February with the goal of losing 50 pounds in 100 days. Through his TikTok account, @bigmaccoaching, Maginnis has documented his fast-food order each day: a half portion of McDonald’s menu items for every meal.
On Tuesday, Day 36, Maginnis claimed to have officially lost 30 pounds. He weighed 238 pounds at the start of his journey but says he has now slimmed down to 208 pounds.
In the video, Maginnis shared his breakfast for the day: half an Egg McMuffin and half of a blueberry muffin (the restaurant forgot to add his hashbrown, but Maginnis took it as a sign he shouldn’t have the fried treat anyway). Maginnis, as per usual, reheats and eats the other half for another meal or for his breakfast.
Maginnis does not snack between his meals and swaps the McDonald’s fountain drink for water.
“Can this McMuffin with eggs get the weight off my legs?” Maginnis, who is, in part, known for his rhyming puns, asked in his Day 36 video. “It looks like it is! Thirty pounds down!”
Day 36 is also a big day for Maginnis for reasons beyond stepping on a scale. He’d been invited behind the line of a real McDonald’s to build his own sandwich. Though he wasn’t yet sure what he’d create, Maginnis suggested a Big Mac with Filet o’ Fish patties.
His weight has fluctuated day to day, but Maginnis said he anticipates the reduced portions to result in about a half pound of weight loss every day.
He claimed he is not sponsored by McDonald’s but chose the fast-food joint above all others because his last name, Maginnis, had earned him the nickname ‘Big Mac’ in the past.
On Monday, Day 35, Maginnis recruited his wife Melody to join the rest of his 100-day challenge. The decision was spurred by numerous comments on Maginnis’ page about how the half-portion McDonald’s diet may only be working for him to lose weight because he is a man.
“For all of you who have been following along saying, ‘Yeah, but you’re a guy, you don’t understand whether or not this would work for a woman’ — guess what? My wife of 32 years, Melody, is joining us for the last 60 days of this journey,” he said in the video.
“I know a lot of women have said, ‘Is this going to work for a postmenopausal woman?’ And I don’t know, but he’s been very inspirational,” Melody said of her husband.
The two shared a kiss and said “I love you” to commemorate their new status as McDonald’s running mates.
Maginnis has been slowly working his way through the entire McDonald’s menu.
Though he lacks solid proof that the diet is working, apart from claims the scale reads less most days, Maginnis has enjoyed the viral fame that has come as part of sharing the challenge. On Day 10, he even appeared on Today with Carson Daly and Sheinelle Jones to discuss his weight loss.
Maginnis said he’s spoken to several cardiologists about his new diet, some who “love it” and others who “hate it.”
He encourages naysayers of his McDonald’s diet to follow along on TikTok and watch the results for themselves.
Maginnis is not the first person to eat only McDonald’s for an extended period of time. The popular 2004 Oscar-nominated documentary Super Size Me saw then-32-year-old Morgan Spurlock eat only three McDonald’s meals a day for one month.
By the end of the 30 days, Spurlock had gained nearly 25 pounds, greatly raised his cholesterol and experienced near liver failure.